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sereneabyyss · 1 year

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Measuring Genshin Quest Length Through Speak Now Taylor's Version Albums

Hi! My bad decisions are being enabled by the same person who always enables my bad decisions! Here's a breakdown of my latest project of making a new account on the Genshin Asia Servers and starting from scratch. Except on this account I measure the length time it takes me to do quests through how many times Speak Now Taylor's Version album loops. Oh, and this entire post is stylized like a informal lab report. (Basically I just talk in first person I do NOT care about third person passive right now it's two in the morning and I'm suffering from ao3 withdrawals)

Background: This all started because my friend never finished their Inazuma Archon Quest. Which, yeah sure, I get it, it sucks. But they've had it unfinished since Inazuma first released. That is unacceptable with Fontaine just about to release. So I offered to lend a hand and do their Archon Quests for them. Thus, I logged on and needed music and well Speak Now Taylor's Version had just released, so of course I used that. Well, I happened to mention off handedly to the rest of our friends that finishing it had taken one Speak Now Taylor's Version album and 13 songs. Which of course, raised several questions from my friends, and just the sheer ridiculousness of it meant I had to continue using this method. So, I log on the next night, and I do the same thing with The Chasm. However, after finishing The Chasm, I realized there were flaws in the methodology. Inazuma had been half finished and had most of the teleports whereas Chasm Delvers (yes I know it's not an Archon Quest but I still did it for them so it got counted) had nothing because the whole quest was discovering The Chasm and it had be started from the very beginning! The data was incomplete and inconsistent and didn't properly reflect the player experience. Therefore, this needed to be rectified, and thus I went "what if I just make an Asia Server account solely dedicated to measuring every single Genshin Quest length in units of Speak Now TV?" and my enabler basically responded with "do it."

Methodology: The set up of this experiment is very simple. I use another Server to thusly create a new account. When specifically playing a quest, I will be playing Speak Now Taylor's Version not shuffled, starting from the very beginning of Mine (Taylor's Version). Ad Free Spotify with no crossfade between songs will be used the entire time and the playlist will not be paused in any form while actively doing quests. However, if I have to step away for a few minutes the playlist will subsequently be paused. If I am getting off the account for an extended period of time and haven't finished a quest, I will be logging the amount of Speak Now Albums that have played along with what song it left off on and the time in the song and starting off directly from there when resuming.

Note on Methodology: The goal of this isn't to speedrun quests. I will be playing this as I normally would. If I see a chest or a teleport to grab, I will grab it and explore. This is, after all, meant to measure the time of the casual player experience. However, data collection will only be happening if I actively set out to do a quest. It will not be happening the entire time I am playing. So if I finish a quest and decide to explore a region or go do a domain, that will not be collected. If I start a quest and then decide I do not want to finish it at that point and want to run off and explore, the data collection will be paused and a note would be made similar to if I decided to log off for an extended period of time.

Another Note on Methodology: For language, I will be using the English audio the entire time to standardize any of the voice acted quests. The voice acted quests will be set on auto and none of the lines will be skipped, thus dialogue options will be chosen after a character has finished talking. On top of that when doing non-voice acted quests I will be reading all of the dialogue and not just skipping through them.

Data Collection: As stated before, the data will be the amount of Speak Now TV albums that play during the time it takes me to do quests. For data collection I am simply using a google spreadsheet where I laid out different types of quests such as Archon/Interlude, Character Story Quest, World Quests, and Hangouts. I am also including any Event quests that I do on this account.

For Archon Quests, I did not break these up into the intervals that they are presented as in game. While this could result in errors due to having to constantly keep track of where things were left off at when I get blocked from continuing, I just did not want to create more columns. However, for long world quests such as Aranara, that was broken down into the individual quests which can then be summed up into a total amount for that quest line. However, other world quests that had consecutive parts, ex. Seirai Stormchasers, that can be done all together and thus it was summarized into it's own one quest.

The data collection can definitely be modified for future experiments (such as just listing individual parts for every single quest and then going back and totaling) however it makes sense in my mind and thus I am not spending another thirty minutes editing a spreadsheet.

A visual of part of the spreadsheet

I will probably every so often make an update post that highlights any of the funnier quest lengths and definitely the lengths of the Archon Quests. In each of those I'll attempt to upload a PDF copy of the filled out spreadsheet for those interested in seeing the full thing. Also if you want to do this yourself because you're insane like me, feel free. I just did this because I thought it would be funny and I have no impulse control without ao3 to reign me in.

If I edit the methodology I will also make edit notes on this post. It's very likely that that will happen seeing as this was impulsively made and I am losing my mind. I might wake up tomorrow and remake the entire spreadsheet because I decide "no let's do every individual quest" who knows.

#genshin #genshin impact #it's science if you write it down #ao3 went down for one day and i lost my mind #speak now tv #speak now (genshins version)

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burning-sol · 2 years

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KIAN x BECKY SHIP NAME BRAINSTORMING

@scucondi responded to an ask about ship names and stated there wasn't really one aside from kianbecky. This WILL NOT do, we need to give them the most elaborate name PRONTO!!

kianbecky/beckykian <- honestly a bit bland to me and i think we could do better stonejones/jonestone <- another mashup name but i think it's a lil' cuter rockstars <- used by @scucondi rockstars reunion <- idea from scucondi the jasmine album <- the jasmine is the name of becky's motorcycle!! idea from scucondi willotstreet instrumental <- ... willotstreet album <- ... willotstreet jam sesh <- ... jam sesh <- ... love concert <- ... bikers band <- ... rollingstones <- the rolling of a wheel and kian's last name, has the imagery of gravel being kicked up by a bike, rock and roll, also a reference to the band the rolling stones i imagine. idea from @jugg4lojuic3

LOVER'S PEAK <- notable location that could maybe incorporated into a ship name

TRUNK <- the trunk of a car, the trunk of a tree

HEARTWOOD <- i think this is too nonspecific to be a ship name but the heartwood is the inner part of a tree trunk and that's so cute

STREAM <- streaming audio, the water by lover's peak

K + B / KIAN + BECKY / ETC <- not a name in itself but i thought about those carvings couples make into trees, rocks or metal and am throwing this out there in case someone is inspired by this

HEART <- a pulse, a heart beat, this idea is a classic

BRIDGE <- the bridge is a section of a song that’s intended to provide contrast to the rest of the composition and, i dunno, for some reason it popped into my head as something relevant to their relationship (on this same train of thought maybe other terms to do with song structure could be pulled for inspiration e.g chorus) the bridge is also a part of a guitar the strings run over

miscellaneous words - urban, suburban, city - engine, motor, vehicle - pitch, rhythm, strumming, strings, tuning pegs, headstock, pick guard, fretboard, strobe dots, belt drive, direct drive, stylus, plinth, speed selector, turntable - radio station, broadcast, satellite, dipole, directors, cradle, reflector - scratching records, burning tapes, friction, deteriorate, tearing, distortions - soulmate, temptation, impulse, leaving, runaway, stuck

The following section is dedicated to ship names and ideas that have spoilers for Blood in the Bayou:

bugjam <- idea from @scucondi the bug album <- idea from scucondi battle of the bugs <- like battle of the bands but bug!! idea from scucondi siren song <- "siren song for kianbecky? she pulled him into the hive like sirens pull sailers into the sea and music and yea. is this anything?" from anon revertebrates <- i'm personally attached to this ship name because it's fun to say!! the revving of a motorcycle combined with invertebrate willotveins <- inspired by the kiss me (kill me) lyrics "why do the trees have veins" with willot (as in willot st) instead of willow (willow tree) the song was brought up by @jugg4lojuic3

SHELLAC <- early phonograph records (like vinyl records) were made with differing materials, one such being shellac - this stood out to me for obvious reasons. also a headshell is a head-piece designed to attach to the end of your turntable's tonearm.

(speaking of tonearms, a tonearm is the movable part of a record player that carries the pickup and permits the needle to follow the record groove. this is my contribution to a potential kian x rolan ship name because music and also rolan's bug arm, you know?)

TRACT <- a mix of digestive tracts, car tracks and music tracks, i really like this word play

CARTRIDGE/CARTILAGE <- more word play :3

INSECT MIGRATION <- kian brings up the word "runaway" in his song to becky and it made me think of insects migrating so maybe something could be done with that

ANTENNA <- to do with radios and broadcasts but also bug anatomy

VIBRATIONS <- to do with music but also bug communication

RECORDING BUG <- you know how you have those "bugs" that can record conversations? like someone gets "bugged"? yeah that

miscellaneous words - bodies, bugs, insects, thorax, abdomen, elytra, exoskeleton, shedding, cocoon, metamorphosis, leaf

#i think i need a bit of a break so i will leave this here for now and wait for feedback #📚 my posts #📌 thoughts #jrwi blood in the bayou #jrwi bitb #kian stone #rebecca jones #kianbecky #beckykian #kian x becky #becky x kian

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supmains · 2 years

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Audulus 3 tutorial from scratch ipad

Audulus 3 tutorial from scratch ipad how to#

Audulus 3 tutorial from scratch ipad pro#

Spend some time going through your original presets and also other presets to create a library of go-to sounds. No problem, just record all your parameter tweaks and note playing as you go by hitting record.

Audulus 3 tutorial from scratch ipad how to#

Suddenly, you forgot how to get back to that awesome sound you were at. Then you stumble across something really cool for a second but you keep tweaking and it becomes worse. Tip 8: Record While You TweakĮver jumped into a sound design session and started tweaking knobs will looping some notes or playing them in live? Tip 7: Treat FX Like InstrumentsįX, especially time-based effects like delay, phaser, flanger, and reverb, can drastically alter a sound beyond the original signal.Ī lot of these FX processors can be used both rhythmically and tonally, allowing you to get chord-like textures that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. If you’re wanting more, use a synth such as FM8 by Native Instruments.

Audulus 3 tutorial from scratch ipad pro#

Most common DAWs have an FM synth built-in – Operator in Ableton Live, Sytrus in FL Studio and EFM1 in Logic Pro X. Ableton’s Operator is a simple yet effective FM Synth Synths like Serum have some FM capabilities, but to get really into it you’ll want a dedicated FM synth. If you’re making bass music, you can get some sick growls and basses from it. Working in audio allows you to see what you’re doing at every point in time, and opens up the possibility Tip 6: Learn FM SynthesisįM Synthesis isn’t necessary to learn in order to make great sounds, but it sure can help you make a wider variety of sounds. Ableton Live – Wavetable (similar to Serum but different workflow)Įver heard some big-name producer drop a tip like ‘working in audio is better’?.Use another synth, like the 5 that probably came with your DAW that you’ve never touched. Use the least sources necessary to achieve the sound you’re going for. Why? Because the more complex the sound, the better, right? I remember when I first got Massive that the best sounds had to use all 3 oscillators. Nasty resonances in the high-mids? Smash them (or at least, control them).ĭevices like OTT are also great for this. If you’re working with bass sounds or any sort of frequency-dense sound, multiband compression is a wunderkind for controlling any part of it. Recommended: The Best Free/Paid Serum Presets For Each Genre Tip 2: Multiband Compression is Your Friend Nobody cares if every sound in your music is made from scratch or not. I wanted to start this list off with something that will hopefully shift your mindset. Download FREE Preset Pack Tip 1: Presets Are Okay

#Audulus 3 tutorial from scratch ipad

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tonkipark · 2 years

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Driver for scratch live box sl1 on a mac

#Driver for scratch live box sl1 on a mac drivers#

#Driver for scratch live box sl1 on a mac update#

#Driver for scratch live box sl1 on a mac drivers#

It will select only qualified and updated drivers for all hardware parts all alone.

#Driver for scratch live box sl1 on a mac update#

The computers components connect to Update Firmware. Rane TTM 56S 2-Channel DJ Mixer 5.0 out of 5 stars 9. Mac Driver For Ttm57sl The following version of onboard effects processors. If you don t want to waste time on hunting after the needed driver for your PC, feel free to use a dedicated self-acting installer. When calling for help using a product, have your product with you, powered on, connected, and ready to use whenever possible. I just cleaned the faders and made sure everything functions as it should. One of the biggest changes seen at first sight is that they added more mixing buses, knobs that are on the mixer. RANE S NEW SEVENTY BATTLE MIXER DELIVERS INTUITIVE, BEST IN CLASS PERFORMANCE. Rane Ttm 57sl Driver HID devices include a standard Windows XP, feel free. 57 mixer without touching your performances? The TTM 57SL Performance Mixer integrates Serato Scratch Live with the best of Rane's hardware. See how the Rane TTM-57SL 2-channel DJ mixer works directly with the included DJ software, Serato Scratch Live. The next logical step for Rane and their software partner Serato, was to integrate their two flagship djing products a bit more closely. Uploaded on, downloaded 2068 times, receiving a 96/100 rating by 1292 users. I have two Technics mks connected to it for vinyl control with Serato. High performance and many failures that can originate from the breaks. Vista and not to post questions and MP 4. Serato DJ doesn't work either for the 57SL. How can I fix this? The firmware for the 57SL is fine because it worked with Serato 2.5.0 on another computer of mine. I use the USB connection with the Rane 57SL and it does not recognize my computer. Windows requires Rane' proprietary ASIO driver for Windows machines. This Rane mixer combines all the performance and features of the Rane TTM 56 with Serato Scratch LIVE software. The Rane TTM 57SL fully integrates mixer hardware, software, and software controls in one powerful package. After the TTM 57SL fully integrates mixer. Cosmetic flaws as the Demo of the hardware. Supplier is only compatible with the lowest prices at. TTM57SL DRIVER DOWNLOAD - Another unique feature of the TTM 57SL is that it can also be used as a standalone sound card, also known as an audio card.

#Driver for scratch live box sl1 on a mac

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afriendlyghosty · 2 years

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wolf 359 spoilers (brave new world)

i have so many thoughts about this silly little audio drama and i will be making it everyone’s problem.

jacobi’s relationship with kepler is. so interesting to me. from the moment we meet the si-5 crew, we can see how devoted jacobi is to kepler, and how he so deeply and blindly trusts him. like, of course, kepler was the man to drag him out of rock bottom and give him a job. he gave him his life back. it’s understandable that he would be so devoted to kepler. and we never see that trust and adoration waver, until desperate measures, when maxwell dies. when he loses his best friend and other half. his platonic soulmate (bc Duh). and kepler does nothing to prevent minkowski from shooting her in the head. he even taunted her about it. and this is definitely such a turning point for jacobi’s mental image of kepler. the guy who could do no wrong, and who had saved his life countless times, let his best friend die. and then!! he’s so blinded by grief that he stages his own mini mutiny. he nearly makes minkowski shoot kepler. not only does this drastically affect their relationship, but almost directly after this, the goddard crew takes over. jacobi is put under pryce’s mind control, and kepler doesn’t do anything. granted, it would have been such a bad idea for him to intervene, and it would likely have made things worse. but jacobi clings to that image of the shiny, perfect, and stoic man that has saved him so many times, because kepler and maxwell were his family. he spent so many years with them, and they are such a tight knit group, and it all gets torn apart, and kepler doesn’t do anything to try to fix it. “oh well, it’s all a part of the big old chess game!” and that turmoil within jacobi makes my heart fuckin hurt because all he wants is his family back.

and fucking hell. brave new world. jacobi, who has been put through hell and back, who has lost literally everything that was important to him, tries one last time to get his stoic leader back. he begs kepler to join them, take the sol back to earth, and maybe things can be a small semblance of what they once were. jacobi tries so hard to get him back. and he watches kepler leave the room with rachel. with the evil guys. and then he loses that last part of him. in my opinion, that’s the final nail in the coffin for jacobi. the man who he thought could do no wrong, the man who he would do literally anything for, chose the side of the “bad guys” despite knowing exactly what cutter was planning on doing with decima. the kepler he knew was officially gone, in his mind. and jacobi never finds out that kepler stopped it. how could he have?? rachel killed him immediately after finding out what he did. after finding out that he redirected power from that pulse beacon relay to hera. kepler likely died thinking that jacobi hated him for what he had done. for going to the “dark side”. he was always on jacobi’s side, though, through the end. and jacobi leaves wolf 359 thinking that he’s lost everything and everyone that was important to him before the mission. and sure, he’s warmed up a bit to the hephaestus crew, but it’s not maxwell. it’s not kepler. they’re not his family. everything that he had dedicated years of his life towards is gone. he has to rebuild completely from scratch, left only with the memories of the family that once was.

#wolf 359 #daniel jacobi #warren kepler #alana maxwell #renee minkowski #my blorbos <3 #brave new world #found family #i feel so normal #w359 #w359 spoilers #wolf 359 spoilers #wolf 359 radio

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harginger · 2 years

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POOKIE BEAR — Arataki Itto

Itto streams with his friends late into the night. When you text him, sweet and loving and funny as always, what would he do except respond?

Wrong choice.

⚠️ WARNINGS — explicit fem reader, use of term girlfriend, one mention of suicide (as a joke/offhanded response), sex jokes + 1 itto milf joke. thats it i tjink?

📧 AUTHOR NOTE — i wrote this in one sitting and then came back to edit like 2 hrs later so this is not very thoroughly proofread. this is dedicated to my bff luci who is itto gf real confirmed (i cant tag them cuz idk their tumblr😭)

🖊 WORD COUNT — 1.0K WDS

On any given TITZ stream, there’s always something going wrong. Thoma’s green screen falls, Zhongli’s mic breaks so badly it sounds like a historical artifact, Childe makes too many sex jokes and falls out of his chair miming penetration… nothing is ever smooth sailing. Itto is well aware of this fact, and regularly contributes to the chaos in every way possible, whether it be screaming like a little girl when the rat gets him in Cheese Escape, conducting Pavlovian mind experiments on Childe, all the way to doing full glam makeup looks on Thoma in the dead of night.

He never thought it’d be unintentionally.

It’s 3:47 AM, and the group is in a lull, scrolling on their phones and occasionally sharing some random thing they found on their Twitter timelines. Thoma’s started playing the full Hannah Montana discography in an attempt to start a digital rave, Childe is playing chess with an online bot (subsequently raging every time he loses), and Zhongli is crocheting while trying to give him pointers.

“Rook to E4.”

“No.” He moves his queen to the other side of the board, which instantly gets trapped by the opposing bishop. A whine escapes his lips as he slams his desk in agony, groaning and rocking back and forth like he’s just experienced the greatest tragedy of his lifetime.

“I told you so.”

As Ordinary Girl comes to a close, He Could Be The One blares through Thoma’s computer, and he shoots out of his chair to dance, encouraging the others to join. They all sit and watch as he breaks into a sad excuse for a disco boogie that looks more like an eighty-nine year old man with scoliosis trying to pick apples. Itto looks down to his phone and smiles, staring at a message from none other than you.

You, his old girlfriend from college. You, who made him feel the happiest he’s ever been. You, who parted ways with him after graduation and you, who started going out with him again after you met in the heart of Inazuma by chance.

You, who makes his cheeks flush red and his smile reach his ears as he opens your contact. It’s not much, but it’s enough to make Thoma’s retirement home moves fade from his mind.

YN!!!!❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

ITTo do u wanan do something tmrw❓

SIGMA ITTO😈

YES PELASE WHER DOBU WANNA GO‼️

YN!!!!❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

OK SO theres this traveling exhibition at the museum in inazuma city abt like history of teyvat in art. and i kinda wanted to go. SO if ur interested i can send u the link for tickets❣️⁉️

SIGMA ITTO😈

OF COURSE PLZ SEND

“Itto? Itto? Itto…?”

“Huh? Oh. Hi. Hey there.”

“Why are you grinning maniacally at your phone?”

He flushes and stammers for an answer. “Umm, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and saw a photo of your mom in a bathing suit. LOL.”

Childe scratches his head. “My mom has Facebook?”

“Yup. She friended me right back as soon as I requested, little boy. I’m about to be your stepfather…” he trails off, watching as his phone buzzes to life with an audio message from you. “Oh em gee. Oh my god. Your mom just DMed me back. Hold on, I gotta look at this.” Itto’s scrambling for a way to excuse how he shoves his headphones off and clicks rapidly for the mute button, turning his back to the camera as he listens to your voice ring through the speaker, throwing out some gross cheesy pick-up line with a million kissing noises that, horrifyingly so, make his heart flutter.

With surprising speed, he lifts the microphone to his mouth to respond with an equally corny voice message back. “I’ll see you there shnookums, my little pookie bear, my sugarplum pumpkin cupcake princess.” A loud string of cartoon kisses follow and a slight laugh escapes him at the thought of you listening to his antics. He’s smitten. Wholly, entirely, truly consumed by this stupid little crush on you. Is it even a crush anymore, if you reciprocate? It doesn’t matter. He’s here in the middle of the night, smiling like an idiot at the sound of only your voice. Nothing else can explain why he’s acting like a lovesick teenager again, just like when he first met you at freshmen orientation for new LHU students. Your laugh, your smile, the way you looked at him like he was the only other person in the universe. Not looked — look. He’s lucky enough to have you and your loving gazes back.

After Itto clicks send, he leans his head back in his chair with his stupid smirk still on his face, the idea of you laughing at his dumb response running through his mind. The complete radio silence from his friends makes him pause, though. Before, he could hear the faint resonation of The Best of Both Worlds through his discarded headphones, but now it’s like there’s no one there. And his chat is racing at a million miles an hour.

His spine tingles like someone poured cold water on him, slowly putting his headphones back on and switching to Discord to see the shocked faces of his friends staring back at him. Minus Zhongli, who’s still knitting his blanket.

“You seemed a little enthusiastic talking to my mom, huh, Itto?” Childe teases, his jaw half open in shock.

“Who was that? Please? Itto? You can tell me. We’ve been friends since forever. Please.” Thoma’s doing a stupid pouty face at the camera, trying to force his eyes to water for dramatic effect like the dumb emoji he always sees on Twitter.

He feels like killing himself on live. Burying his face in his hands, he mutters out your name so faintly he’s sure none of them will hear. But Zhongli does, and he repeats it to the other two, whose faces light up as they make random animalistic noises. They were there for the entirety of your relationship, but still. It’s embarrassing. Totally not like he cried to them for days when you broke up after graduation, what with him going back to Inazuma and you off to your next big job offer all the way in Fontaine.

“Itto, why didn’t you tell us? We’re your BFFs. Forever and ever and ever. Five-ever. I’m hurt.” Childe whines into his mic, still elated at the idea of him getting back with his university lover.

“Because I knew you guys would do this…”

Thoma grins as he leans in close. “Can you give us more info on your date with your ‘sugarplum pumpkin cupcake princess’?”

Itto hangs up in a flurry of laughter and embarrassment.

#📧 ↣ writing #genshin impact #genshin #genshinimpact #itto x reader #arataki itto x reader #itto #arataki itto #genshin x reader #titz #genshin impact x reader

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toraashi · 4 years

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‘tis the damn season (ft. oikawa tooru)

Pairing: Oikawa x Reader

Genre/Warnings: angst, fluff, implications of sex (there’s no sexual dialogue, the most explicit it gets is i use the word “whimper” once but theres not even graphic descriptions like i rate this PG-13), a couple swears

Word Count: 1.5k

Summary: part two to this fic. Oikawa visits for the holidays after leaving for Argentina years ago. Catching up with his old flame brings back memories and reminds him of a love lost

Author’s Note: this is inspired by ‘tis the damn season by Taylor Swift. It’s so good, please listen to it, it’ll add so much to the story because I reference it lots :) also i’m dedicating this to @hikariakaashi bc she agreed to be my valentine this year hehe 🥰 also @u-make-my-heart-tsumtsum thank you for hyping this up in the discord :))

“the road not taken looks real good now, and it always leads to you.”

"Hey, it's Tooru. I'm in town for the holidays. I'd like to see you."

The sound of his voice as the audio repeated left an unpleasant feeling in his chest. It burned like longing but twisted and lurched like nervosity, a sensation he pretended he wasn't familiar with. Oikawa wasn't a nervous person. He was a confident, suave man with the world in his hands, but for some reason, leaving a voicemail for someone this dear to him, who could see through him like glass, left a slight tremble in his fingers.

The ding of his phone startled him, muscles growing taut.

10:36am

It's been so long! I'd love to see you. Would 4 at that old coffee shop work?

received

Holy shit.

It was almost embarrassing how his breath caught and his heart stuttered. It had been years, but yet here he was, hooked in with every word.

10:40am

I'll make it work

sent

10:42am

That's a first ;) i'll see you then

received

The coffee shop hadn't changed much since he'd last been. The walls were still straining with the wooden roof's weight, the floor still comprised of creaky floorboards that screeched at each drag of a chair. Sparkling red and green lights decked the rafters, hanging low and casting unique shadows across the residents. The lobby was relatively empty, and he was seated quickly at a metal table near the window. The round teapoy rocked on uneven legs when he put his arms on it, but nostalgia made up for the shoddy furniture quality. The poignant smells and whispers of piano music wafted over him like a tender memory, leaving him with visions of your sunrise smile and golden touch breezing over his fingertips. Content was the next emotion that settled over him, but before he could melt too far into it, the bell on the door jingled. Chilly winter air rushed through his hair, waking him up from the dream that was the last few years and bringing him back home. In the blink of an eye, a familiar arm was pulling at the seat in front of him. It took his brain far too long to process the rosy cheeks and snow-dusted hair before him, but once he did, an infectious grin tugged at his lips.

"Long time, no see." Your gaze was cautious and guarded, and it burned holes in his euphoria.

"Long time, no see," you repeated with a light smile, "How have you been?"

"Ah, you know, just capturing the hearts of every person in Argentina, how are you?" That earned him a tinkling laugh, and his heart beamed at the reward.

"I'm doing okay, just living my life." You greeted the waitress, plainly speaking your order, pausing to glance at him before ordering his old favorite. Honey hues glittered with unspoken fondness when you caught his gaze; he couldn't help it.

"You remembered my order. I feel special."

"Shut up. You are special, Mr. Pro Volleyball Player." You teased, inching your fingertips towards him on the table. It wasn't enough to be wanton, but he noticed, and he couldn't help but reciprocate. Eyes flicking to his hands and back up, that cautious glaze returned. "So, are you staying in town?" A warm hum in affirmation thrummed in his throat.

"I'm staying at my parents' house."

"For how long?" The words seemed full, but he wasn't sure with what.

"Just the weekend." He held your gaze like a taut string tugging you closer and closer. The air felt heavy, and his heart ached with a longing he'd suppressed for years. You opened your mouth to speak, but before anything came out, he interjected boldly. After all, what was he, if not bold? "I got your letter." Hues big and lips parted, a pink flush climbed your cheeks. If he was the same person he was years ago, he would've teased you, but now? With his heart on his sleeve and your eyes staring into his soul, how could he muster that courage up?

"And?" The single word was meek and tentative, fragile like the little bird of your unyielding love.

"Well, for one, your attempt at scratching out the last line wasn't great." There was the teasing. He couldn't hold it back for long.

"Shut up." You shied away from his crinkled eyes, pinker than you were when you stumbled in. God, he missed this.

"I won't." He drawled, closing the narrow distance between your fingertips and enveloping your hands like it didn't electrify his nerves. "And for the record, I missed you too."

"Did you?" He rubbed a calloused finger across your knuckles, holding your eyes confidently.

"How could I not miss that pretty face?"

"Stop teasing." You pouted.

"I'm not." Pensively, you stared back at him, and he admired the furrow of your eyebrows, the puff of your pouted cheeks. Your smaller hands were quaking in his, and just as he considered laying off, you spoke a conglomeration of words that shuddered up his spine.

"Would you like to stay at mine for the night? We can catch up more? I don't want to leave you just yet." A genuine smile simmered up his lips, and he linked his fingers between yours.

"You know I can't say no to you."

"Didn't seem like it when you left." The magic in his chest faltered at the blow, but the regret was evident in your expression. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I know it was about more than me." he hummed, the affectionate graze of his thumb against your knuckles resuming.

The conversation felt much too short, every move you made clenching his heart, brimming it with innocent nostalgia and longing. Before long, you were tugging him out the door, leading him to your apartment in a movie-worthy montage. The silver moonlight caught your hair like silk, your gossamer grip on his wrist balmy and familiar.

"My, you're eager." When you glanced back, your eyes sparkled like the sequins on your prom getup from so many years ago.

"Is it stupid that I missed you so much?" The way his heart caught in his throat was almost painful. Chest aching, he concluded that this was what happiness felt like, a hummingbird flutter he'd never find in the falsities of fame. You, who knew him like the muddy road to your secret high-school hangout spot, looked ethereal beneath the moon's knowing smile. As you approached the door, he couldn't help but dip his toes into the subdued desire he'd grown to ignore.

Your chest pressing into his, your back to the door, his fingertips firm against your waist, and finally, the brush of your reposeful kiss against his needy lips, it left him with frantic desperation clawing up his body. You broke away with a similar gleam tucked into your gaze like a secret just for him. Swinging the door open and fumbling with your jacket, you found your place in his arms again, a mutual craving for a love that was cut so short.

He did many things that night he'd only remembered in dreams, his frame pressing your familiar figure into the bed, lips tracing every line of your silhouette, the dips and curves in your skin, sealing each forgotten memory in an envelope for him to read later. Just for tonight, he'd bask in your entirety, the glow of your smile, the whimpers that spilled past your pretty lips, everything that was purely you. When everything was done and gone, the flaxen glow of your lamplight flickering out, you pulled him into your arms, twirling the chocolate strands of his hair, breathing in his adoration, your own lulling him into a long-awaited, dream-filled slumber. He dreamed of his past self getting lost in the empty arms of another, the void carved out by your existence impossible to fill. He dreamed of the life he'd lead if he'd remained in your embrace, waking up to you every morning instead of cold sheets.

He awoke with the December sun, your bare skin blinding in the morning's glow. Glancing at the red numbers on your nightstand, he stretched his arms. It was almost ten, but the warmth of your body reeled him back in like a fishing pole, his mouth splattering kisses across your visage like freckles. Swelling with delight, he collected you into his arms, setter's fingers revisiting the map he drew on your body like the ink was still drying, greeting you with a grin as your eyes lolled open.

"Morning, babe." Oikawa scanned the love-struck expression painting your features, the scrunch of your nose, the quirk of your lips; he inhaled it like it was his last breath, coming to terms with the time and its draining sand. Raising a lone finger, he followed the shape of your jawline, locking your chin between his thumb and forefinger. "Sleep well?" You neglected to respond, searching his gaze.

"If this is the last time I ever see you, I want you to know that I've always loved you, and I won't ask you to stay." The last grain of sand in the hourglass tumbled through the glass gap, the alarm clock on your nightstand beeping abruptly, stealing Oikawa's breath.

And as he looked upon your effervescent figure, shattering his own battered heart at the realization, Oikawa decided the road not taken never looked more appealing than now.

#hqradiostation #oikawa x reader #haikyuu x reader #oikawa tooru x reader #oikawa tooru #oikawa imagine #oikawa scenario #oikawa haikyuu #oikawa fluff #oikawa angst #oikawa fanfiction #hq x reader #hq oikawa

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eienias20 · 3 years

Text

Bioshock The Collection Thoughts

For my birthday i got Bioshock the Collection on PS4 so i finally got to play through all the Bioshock games.

After all the time i’ve put into them (3 runs of Bioshock, 2 for Bioshock 2 and 2 for Bioshock Infinite) i gotta say that Bioshock 2 comes out on top for me personally.

Check it out 100%!

Scattered thoughts go, SPOILER WARNING

First off for the original Bioshock. I really did enjoy it, I already knew about the Little Sisters ending, i think it was in an old “best video game endings” type of video i saw years ago but i never forgot it cause even without context its a really nice ending. Earning it myself, yea it is.

One issue i kept bumping into for Bioshock 1 was that you had to swap hands and reload independently with specific presses. So during intense firefights i would swap to a hand that needed to reload and get stuck on the reload while stuff is shooting me. Usually the plasmid hand.

Beyond that, the game was really entertaining, getting the audio diaries and learning about the world was fascinating. My first run was just a normal playthrough, 2nd was getting all the diaries with a guide, third was a survivor run with no vita chambers. Thanks to NG+ it wasn’t that tough.

The plot twist that goes down when you reach Andrew Ryan was like WOAH that’s a twist! I really liked it. Couldn’t stop playing the game until i saw the resolution. Only game with a final boss, even on Survivor he wasn’t super hard but it felt good beating him every time.

Bioshock 2 / Infinite under the cut

Bioshock 2 is my favorite. The hand issue i had is nonexistent in two since both hands are active at the same time. No need to swap and it felt super good in combat.

Being a big daddy, adopting little sisters and protecting them. Really cute. Drill dashing into enemies always felt good. 1HKOing almost every splicer just YES!! I really wanted to see how Delta and Eleanor’s story ended so i played that game A LOT. Of course i had to run through the first few areas A BUNCH cause the game had a save file issue where i created too many saves between Bioshock 1 and 2 and it didn’t let me create any more.

My issue with 2 is only really centered around the antagonist. I freaking hate Sofia Lamb and not in a ‘love to hate’ kind of way just HATE. every time she sent a message or i got an audio diary from her its like ugh i hate her attitude and everything about her. The debates between her and Andrew Ryan were so infuriating. I couldn’t wait to kill her at the end of the game only to have to watch Eleanor save her. Big bummer.

As opposed to 1 having a gameplay snafu, 2′s is more a story bump. Everything else flowed well for me i just didn’t like Sofia Lamb. Also the game gave you every opportunity to save/kill Grace, Stanley, Gilbert and even Sofia but Sinclair, your stalwart partner thru most of the game. Nope. Putting him down bummed me out so much.

Nothing made me happier than getting the Eleanor Vigor and the prompt saying BRING UR DAUGHTER TO WORK DAY XD

Then there was Minerva’s Den which i did AFTER all the Infinite content, fantastic. Absolutely loved it. Cemented 2 as my favorite. No complaints on that one, it was great!

Last we’ve got Bioshock Infinite

Moreso than Bioshock 1, I watched an LP of Infinite years ago. I don’t remember who i saw play it but i remember the ending and the weird timeline mumbo jumbo that goes on but playing it myself helped me better put it together.

I found Infinite super fun to play, i really liked the feel of the combat. Firefights were a blast. it was really enjoyable! Story wasn’t nearly as difficult to follow as i thought it might’ve been. I understood it all well enough and i thought the ending put it all together nicely.

I will say my 1999 run was the opposite as i hated it. Enemies with crazy aim, losing 100 dollars every death. I stopped buying gun/vigor upgrades halfway through the game because i didn’t want to wipe. Handymen on 1999 made me despise the game completely. I was mad and not having fun. I was dedicated and pushed through to get the 1999/Scavenger Hunt trophies but i wouldn’t recommend. D:

“What about Bioshock Survivor / Bioshock 2 Hard?” well i didn’t do Survivor from scratch, NG+ alleviated a lot of difficulty. Bioshock 2 Hard just wasn’t that bad. oof 1999 tho. oof.

Last thing, Burial at Sea. Long post long, i’ll summarize. I liked playing Burial at Sea, once again i love the gameplay of infinite. i was interested in where the story was going but after finishing Part 2 i can definitely say, i did not like it. Bioshock 1, 2, Minerva’s Den and Infinite i like! Burial at Sea i do not.

The story resolution while the closed loop going back to Bioshock 1 felt like a nice bookend, i don’t like that it felt like it sacrificed everything about Infinite’s characters. It felt like it just negated any achievement in my completing Infinite and the end of Infinite’s story. it wasn’t a bittersweet ending it was just a bummer and i didn’t like it.

Watching Eleanor drown Sofia made me feel much better tho!

So there we have it. Ranking

Bioshock 2 :D

Minerva’s Den :D

Bioshock :)

Bioshock Infinite :)

Burial At Sea >:C

I still have a few trophies left to complete all the games.

For Bioshock, its the trophies tied to the Challenge Mode (i have some but not all)

For Infinite, i just have to complete Burial At Sea part 2 on 1998 mode. sigh.

#bioshock the collection #bioshock #bioshock 2 #bioshock infinite #minerva's den #burial at sea

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latibulesims · 3 years

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Hey Lati!

I’m so sorry to press you for more information, but I’m so fascinated by your filming process and I have some additional questions if that’s okay. Specifically around your sets that are just individual rooms, are these just multiple secular room sets on one lot, or do you use a different lot for each set? Like with the River’s house when any family member is coming downstairs, is Tresor or Raign’s room not on that lot? The living room and kitchen? Lol I’m just so fascinated by this if that’s the case, and if so it’s extremely impressive because they look like they all could actually be one complete set. Sorry if this makes zero sense, I’ve just never thought to try this and now I really want to! ☺️ Thanks so much!

Haha no you make total sense!! First of all thank you for watching my series, and don't worry at all about asking questions! I know filming with The Sims 2 can be difficult bc of how often it crashes and its loading time, so any tips I can give to help the game crash less, im happy to share 💖

The sets are actually on different lots entirely! So, when Tresor "comes downstairs", or the characters go from the living room to the kitchen, I load an entirely new lot! I think the only exception I make is with bathrooms because they're so tiny haha, but any time you see the characters going from one room to the other, it's usually a different lot all together. :')

It may sound exhausting to some, having to jump from one lot to another, but over the years (I've been doing this since 2017, at least!) I've managed some tips that help, for those that are interested:

1) I make multiple sims of the same character, so that every sim belongs to every lot! So, if Tresor for example needs to be in her bedroom, the living room and Simons bar within the same episode, I create 3 Tresors (TresorBED, TresorLIVING, TresorBAR), and that way I don't have to move her around.

I should also note that I change neighborhoods every episode (more on that in tip #3), so it might sound like a lot of sims over the episodes but really it's usually just 3 versions of the same character in one neighborhood at a time.

You might find it's easier to just move the sims from one lot to the other, but in my experience moving the sims around (or using the tombstone to extract them) always ends up crashing my game so this is a really good way to avoid it all together!

2) I don't film chronologically, but by sets! This is my #1 tip. I basically gather up all the scenes I have in 1 set and I film them. That way i dont have to go back and forth between lots, instead I just finish off all the scenes I need using a lot and move on to the next! Sometimes a set has so many scenes I end up filming in one set for weeks at a time (usually Simons bar, haha, that S2E1 Christmas episode needed like 3 sets (Simons bar, Simons living room, The Rivers living room), and I spent two months just filming in Simons bar).

The only time I won't recommend this, is when you havent yet found your own style. Then you might risk something like this happening: You're just starting to film, and you have the 1st and last scene in the episode in the same set. So, you film them both. Then you film a couple more scenes after that, and then you reach the final set and by then your filming skills have changed (if you haven't found your style and take months filming an episode - which is completely valid, BTW - this could mean a drastic change). Then, scene #1 (which you filmed at the very beginning) could have a completely different filming style than scene #2 (which you filmed at the very end), and so on. You wouldn't want that.

I had something like that happen to me, where I discovered reshade mid-filming an episode, so the scenes I filmed at the beginning of the episode didnt have it, and then the scenes I filmed at the end did it. It made the epsiode look incosistent, which is something I don't really care about (and neither do my viewers, really), but you might so letting you know as a heads up! Some of these tips do compromise the "professionalism" of the episodes, but it's how i manage to film and pop out episodes with (relative) quickness :').

Thats why for many reasons, including should you want to film by set instead of chronologically, I suggest you find your style before filming an episode or starting a series all together. This can be done through creating small machinimas, filming tests, music videos, etc. Take it from someone who can't even handle sitting through the first 8 episodes of my own series because of how much my style back then. The way it drastically changed from one episode to another irks me so much! 😅

3) And this is my most controversial one, LOL, but I always build sets + new neighborhoods from scratch with every episode. As I mentioned above, I change neighborhoods with every episode because, in my experience, neighborhoods get corrupt with time so starting with a fresh neighborhood every episode helps avoid crashing. Previously, neighborhoods would get so corrupt, they'd stop loading at all mid-filming an episode, so im forced to interrupt my filming streak and build the sets and characters all together which absolutely wrecks any motivation I have to film afterwards. Once, this happened mid-filming a scene and so I had to rebuild, and let me tell you: Theres a difference between sets looking a bit different because I had to rebuild between episodes, and sets looking different within the same scene. At least when you rebuild the set with every new episode, you can blame minor changes on the fact that time passed from one episode to the other.

Also: I make sure to build all the sets I need for the episode before I start filming, because I dont want anything to interrupt my filming once I start it. If Im forced to build when I'm motivated to film, I end up losing that motivation in the time I spend building, if that makes sense. As u probably already know as a machinima maker, we do the work that is usually required of a team (writer, director, editor, and also stylist and set designers), so I like to do things one at a time so I can have a clear understanding of my schedule and timetable. So, I dedicate 2 days to style all the sims, a week or so to build all the sets, usually months to film the episode, then another week to edit and audio edit. I try my best not to have all of those parts overlapping, otherwise it gets too overwhelming.

The reason I rebuild from scratch, as opposed to just extracting the lot and installing it in a new neighborhood is because, again, I prefer a fresh start and have found that lots are less likely to get corrupt if they're "new". A lot of people think im crazy for it LOL, or that it's a colossal waste of time, and maybe it is! But it's the process that works best for me, and I end up filming really fast with much less crashing and hiccups because of it!

Hope that helps!!! :') Let me know if you have any other questions about my filming process or any other tips 💖💖💖 I'd love to help!

#latips #ask lati #the sims 2

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blazehedgehog · 4 years

Note

So, I'm sure you're aware of Jammin' Sam Miller (The guy who does these DKC Trilogy music Restorations). He said that he can't do the Game Boy Advance version of DKC3 due to GBA music files being unhackable at the moment. I did always wonder what gripes some people had with the GBA's sound hardware (Aside from the fact that it's on a handheld).

Yep, I know of Sam Miller. A lot of his work is pretty good! Some of his earlier renditions rub me the wrong way a little bit, but I think he realizes that and has gotten better at restoration over time. I know from personal experience that just because you have notation on hand doesn’t mean it’s easy to get it “right.” There are specific samples and specific effects that have to be respected.

It reminds me of the early days of Guitar Hero and Rockband, back before Harmonix had the clout to just get the song stems directly from bands. When they’d have to make their own covers, they’d actually do extensive research to figure out what settings different bands would use on their instruments, because trying to approximate that kind of stuff by ear was incredibly difficult. I remember maybe either John Drake or Eric Pope appearing on a Giantbomb podcast and talking about how they’d spend hours looking at concert photos, trying to see where the knobs on amplifiers were set so they could dial it in to exactly the same place for their covers.

So, y’know, this restoration work isn’t just drag-and-drop. There’s a bit of guesswork involved, and there’s a bit of “I’ve heard this same section three hundred times and I’ve lost all ability to tell whether it sounds correct.” I’ve been there. I can empathize. You’re talking to a guy who has done seven different versions of specific troublesome songs, multiple versions of which are on his bandcamp.

Back to your point, my understanding of this is limited, but the Gameboy Advance sound hardware is just... weak and limited, I guess. Or, I guess, more specifically, the GBA sound hardware could do more than just process sound, so a lot of games made for the GBA will borrow the sound processor to do other things.

(Hiding the rest under a “read more” tag because I embed a bunch of video)

This, for example, is the reason given for why Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance uses chiptunes. The way the development team told it at the time, they dedicated the entire GBA hardware to rendering the game, and ran sound and music through the Gameboy Color sound chip. That way, music playback and sound effects wouldn’t drag down the hardware.

Developers were also just cheap. The GBA used cartridges, in a time where cartridges were still considered expensive to produce, so heavy audio compression was used to squeeze these games down as much as humanly possible. This was especially noticeable in SNES-to-GBA ports, where sampled instruments that were once clean now hissed and crackled from the compression. Compare for yourself:

youtube

The Gameboy Advance version sounds more dry, more crunchy, more tinny. That’s the compression in action. Here’s another example, from Final Fantasy 6:

youtube

The important thing to keep in mind here is that the Gameboy Advance could actually still do these songs justice -- there are rom hacks out there for people with flashcarts that restore the higher-quality SNES instrument samples. It’s just that, y’know, applying that patch will basically double the size of the rom file, and when you’re trying to save on production costs, every byte can matter.

Remember, some Nintendo 64 games were like $80 or $90 new, because cartridges were just that expensive to make back then. A $90 cartridge of Conker’s Bad Fur Day would be $135 in today’s money. Brand new, and fresh off the shelf.

By comparison, suddenly it makes a lot of sense why THQ would publish some Gameboy Advance games, but remove their ability to save. The hardware required to save progress (the SRAM chip) cost extra money on top of basic cartridge production, so in order to save money, they chopped it out. Sometimes they were generous enough to replace the save function with a password screen, but not always.

So the sound quality on the Gameboy Advance was trapped in this unsavory position where it was often the first thing to get chopped down. Sometimes so they could dedicate compute cycles to other game functions, and sometimes simply to shave off enough space to fit on a smaller, cheaper cartridge. And occasionally, both at the same time.

Anyway, there are people out there taking it upon themselves trying to restore and remaster the DKC3 GBA soundtrack, but they’re doing it by effectively remaking each song from scratch. But they sound incredible!

youtube

#questions #music #videogame music #sam miller #donkey kong country #gameboy advance #nintendo #clovershroom

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staylovehearts · 5 years

Text

Headline: Dating Scandal - New celebrity couple?

Han Jisung x Reader

Word Count ~ 2.5k

Summary: “And how are you supposed to defend what sometimes you are not even sure of yourself?”

Tags: Idol x Producer, kinda, well Jisung is like a solo rapper artist, y/n is a producer/ low key singer, also they are secretly dating, whoops, warning for insecurities and self-doubt, but I promise it’s all fluffy

"Are you really sure about this?", you ask, for maybe the tenth time already in the past hour. Jisung is spinning around in his office chair next to you but halts the movement to look at you and roll his eyes.

"You know, with how often you are asking I'm starting to believe that you want to back out after all", he laughs but upon noticing your grief expression he stops and pushes his chair closer to yours so that he can grab one of your hands with both of his and give it a little squeeze. "Hey, we don't have to do this if you are uncomfortable. We can still stop the whole project. I would totally understand if you don't want to do this after all."

And that is exactly the part that is killing you so much. Jisung is so sweet about all of this. So understanding and loving and absolutely perfect. You don't deserve him. You don't deserve being with someone as wonderful as him at all. And yet here he is, squeezing your hand tight and reassuring you and being overall the sweetest person you have ever met. He made it near impossible for you not to fall in love when you first met. And he didn't even do much. All he did was be himself. But when you're Han Jisung that is probably already more than enough.

When you first met he was a rising star, rapper and idol, good at dancing as well and always funny and charming on variety shows. He'd pull funny faces for the camera and cutely whine over punishments just to turn around and spit several syllables of fire per second into the microphone. A reverse charm is what the suit-clad people in the pr department call it, but you think that does not quite fit right. Jisung is just a natural with the camera and the audience because he is just the same with ordinary people. He is nice to everyone he meets. Makes polite conversation and laughs about stupid jokes. Also, he's ambitious enough to make it in this dog eat dog world. You were eager to work with him and pretty much agreed on the spot when the project was proposed to you. Producing a track for his upcoming album. An amazing way to get your name out there. But an even better way to get to know your idol up close and personal. Actually, you were just curious at first. Eager to find out the dark secret behind the honey boy rapper with the sunshine personality. You wanted to know how everybody's darling acted with no cameras about. Because he seemed just to perfect to be true. Well, truth is, that Han Jisung is just that. Too good to be true. And way too good for you.

You fell for him on the spot but you tried to not let it show. Continued work as usual. Went to meetings, pitched in ideas, made beats and changed them according to feedback. Just the same way you'd work with any other client. Well, except that usually you are not that stuff. Usually you don't insist on using honorifics and being formal and never before have you turned down a client inviting you for dinner after a day of work. You tried to put distance between Jisung and you, but despite you playing the stone-hard professional he remained his sweet, charming self.

Months after you actually started dating Jisung told you, that he was actually intimidated by you at first. But he fell for you eventually. After you sent him the final guide audio with your voice in it. The one he liked so much that he called you in the middle of the night only to ask if you were down with him using samples of your voice for harmonies and stuff like that. You said yes. And that would not be the last crazy idea you agreed on.

"Hey, you're kind of zoning out there, is everything alright?", Jisung asks, pulling you back into here and now. The end of the latest crazy idea. You quickly shake your head and then immediately nod because you are not sure what to answer. A deep sigh escapes your mouth.

"I just got lost in thought a little", you admit. You have been doing a lot of thinking the past few days. Weeks. Months. Basically, you have been racking your mind non-stop since meeting Jisung. And he always seems so carefree that you don't want to drag him down with all of it. Another sigh. "I'm just a little... anxious I guess. That's all. I mean you are so popular and you have all these crazy female fans that are obsessed with you because, let's be honest, why wouldn't they be? What if they'll hate me? What if the press tears us apart? What if this hurts your career?"

It's a risky move. A stupid move. But once again you found yourself agreeing to produce an album together the second Jisung placed a notebook with some handwritten lyrics scribbled in it onto your desk. You did not even read through the song entirely, the chicken scratch handwriting sometimes hard to comprehend, when you had the baseline for a beat in your head that would work great with that. Agreeing to do the album together was one thing. But agreeing to open up about you dating as part of the promotions was an entirely different thing. And yet all it took was one puppy eye look from Jisung for you to agree to it. Right now he is puffing up his already chubby looking cheeks even more and rolling his dark brown eyes like a child that is frustrated by an adult not grasping a concept that is so simple and straightforward when looked at with innocent eyes.

"If they say anything mean about you I'll make sure to defend you. You know that I am really grateful for my fans, but they don't own me and I don't owe them anything. I'm an adult and I can date whoever I want. And it's not like the press isn't constantly trying to dig up dirt on me either way. Do you remember two weeks ago when they made up these crazy rumours about me and some actress that I shook hands with like once at the set of some drama where I did a small cameo? I think us being official is actually going to help because then they can't make shit up anymore", he huffs, visibly annoyed. Not with you of course. Never with you. Although sometimes you wish he would be frustrated with how indecisive you are. How unsure and moody you can become. Sometimes you want him to get upset with you because you think that's what you deserve. But Jisung never gets mad. Not at you. Towards you, he is always so sweet and compassionate and understanding. And that makes it so much harder to convince yourself that it's actually alright for you to be with him.

It was easier when no one else knew. Of course, you were already nervous when the whole thing started, constantly stressed about paparazzi catching you with your new celebrity boyfriend. Even though technically you belong in the industry as well, have even worked there for longer than Jisung has been in the spotlight now. But you have always been a more behind-the-scenes kind of person. You may appear in some interview every once in a while but for the most part, you are just a name on the credit list. Prod. by. That is where you belong. The occasional feature maybe. A SoundCloud link on your personal twitter. A few dedicated hardcore fans that like the tracks you make. But you are by far no big name. You are not in the public eye like Jisung is. Yet, it's not unusual for dating within the industry to happen. Artist and managers, stylists and producers, artists and other artists even. And the agency you and Jisung are currently under is a very lenient one when it comes to dating and giving you leeway for your private life. As long as it does not damage the image of the company what you do is pretty much up to you.

But for the sake of not wanting to cause a scandal so early in Jisung's career, you still kept your relationship pretty much a secret from everyone. Of course, the people working with you know. As well as some close friends and family members. But you never really thought about going public with it. You were just fine with busy schedules that rarely allowed for secret alone time and hastily arranged dates in the middle of the night. Empty family dinners past midnight with grumpy waiters that ask no question as long as you tip them enough and overly crowded coffee shops where there is too much business to pay attention to two more people with masks covering half of their faces. A piece of cheesecake for Jisung and a piece of chocolate cake for you. Because you don't care too much for either and since you are sharing he gets to take a bite from both of his favourite cakes.

But going public with the relationships mean that other people are going to judge you. And how are you supposed to defend what sometimes you are not even sure of yourself?

"Hey, I can see those gears turning, tell me what you're thinking about", Jisung hums softly. One of his hands reaching up to gently cup your face and tilt your head up a little, forcing you to make eye contact so he can give you the concerned puppy look. Big round eyes filled with worry. You let out another deep sigh.

"I'm just really not sure about the whole thing. About us." The second the words leave your mouth you already know that you could have worded that differently. Should have worded that differently. It's all wrong. You always mess everything up. Jisung looks hurt and you are flailing around your free hand as if you could catch the words midair and stuff them back down your throat to unsay them. "Not like that! I love being with you. I want to be with you. It's just... sometimes I don't feel like I actually deserve it. And I'm not sure if I can take it when your obsessed fans start attacking me for stealing you away from them when I don't even believe that I should be with you sometimes. You could do so much better. You're so sweet and talented and hard-working and just... ugh, you're so perfect it's almost irritating. What do I have to offer that could compare to that? I'm just... me."

"Hey, don't say it like that", Jisung sounds mad. For the first time, he actually seems to be upset with you. The sudden change of his expression and his raised voice actually makes you flinch back a little and he immediately softens again. "You know that I like you for being you, right? You are really amazing. Even before we started working together I always liked your music. I was actually following your SoundCloud, did I ever tell you that? And then I got to work with you and I was so excited about it because I've always admired you and when we met you were so cool and you put so much effort into our project. And I had the stupidest crush on you pretty much from day one but after you sent me that vocal guide it was completely over for me. I still have that by the way. I like to listen to it sometimes when we are both to busy to really spend time together. You're an amazing producer and probably work even harder than I do. You've put so much effort into our first album together and when you sent me that final mix I knew that it was the best thing we've ever made. I'm so proud of this album. And I'm really proud of you and I want to show you off to the whole world. But if it makes you uncomfortable we can just pull the project. You are what's most important to me."

After the whole rant – or should you call it a scolding? – you remain silent for a moment, not quite sure how to handle your emotions properly. You are somewhere between hiding your face and squealing and actually bursting into tears right on the spot. But neither seems like a proper reaction at the moment so you just sit there stunned and confused. The longer the silence drags on the more Jisung seems to become embarrassed by his own outburst and dramatic declaration of love. Just now he was saying all this super cheesy stuff with a super serious face, acting all cool and tough but now his face is mirroring the blush that is spreading on your cheeks. You can't help wanting to tease him when he looks like that.

"So, you followed my Soundcloud? Could it be that you were the fanboy all along?", you chuckle. Jisung rolls his eyes but secretly he seems to be glad that he has got you to smile again. You will have to talk this whole thing over again with him later. But right now you two are expected to go live in a couple of minutes to promote a new album. And announce a relationship.

"Oh shut up", Jisung scowls, but there is still a hint of a smile on his face. You smile back at him. "So, we have a live stream in five minutes. Are you ready?"

You nod your head without saying a word. You're ready for it now.

Jisung has just turned on the live stream but you can already see the numbers of viewers rising, surpassing hundreds within just a few seconds. The chat at the side of the screen is blowing up with comments and while Jisung is smiling and waving into the camera you anxiously read through the stream of words. It's almost too much to keep track off, comments just keep flying by, an endless stream of words and heart emojis, but every once in a while you manage to lock onto something and read it before it disappears again. Oppa, I love you! someone comments, for some reason the whole sentence is in English, including the very not English word Oppa. A bunch of viewers are just spamming hearts or trying to get attention with comments like Say hi to Brazil pls. But the comment that you see appearing most is some variation of who is that??? Jisung must have noticed it as well, he's chuckling a little to himself while he is scanning the comments.

"Oh, you want to know who this is?", Jisung looks over at you with a wide smile before he turns back to grin into the camera, a stream of comments and hearts flooding the side of the screen. His natural charm amplified with the live audience happy to interact with him. "This is my partner. We have some really exciting news for you!"

#stray kids #stray kids scenarios #stray kids x reader #han jisung #jisung x reader #han #jisung #jisung fluf #idol au #scenarios

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sleepless-in-starbucks · 5 years

Note

Can I have a Virgil and Logan getting a reptile or any type of anphipiom? Thanks hun. 🖤

Of course!Warnings: There is a snek, Deceit’s there too but he’s not named and it’s a blink-and-you-miss-it appearance, mostly just a lot of fluffPairing: Analogical

Virgil tried not to grumble too much as he fought his way down the street, winds strong enough to uproot a tree fighting back as rain poured down. Frustrated, he slipped into the nearest doorway he saw, happy for even a second partially out of the awful conditions.

Running a hand through his absolutely drenched hair, Virgil let his mind wander to the more important matter of the day: his tenth year anniversary with Logan. Ten years ago today he and the cutest nerd he had ever met had gotten married, and Virgil wanted to get him something special for the anniversary.

He had already bought a unique selection of ties he just knew Logan would love, and had dedicated many hours of his life to convincing a certain jelly maker manager to produce a certain jelly for the day. But after every amazing thing Logan had done for him, even just being honored enough to be married to him… Virgil just wanted to make this an amazing anniversary.

The door he was almost leaned against opened, startled him out of his thoughts. He looked to find a man holding it open, visible eyebrow raised, the other covered by a snake that was lazily coiled in his hair and over his face.

“Can I help you?” He asked, the snake on his head hissing quietly as he spoke. “Because otherwise, you’re in the way of my customers.”

Virgil was about to apologize and face the storm once again before he caught a glimpse behind the man. The store behind him was filled with terrariums filled with lizards and snakes. Virgil’s eyes widened slightly as he got an idea.

“Actually, I think you can.”

Virgil closed the door as quietly as he could, hoodie draped over the box under his arm in case that failed.

“Virgil? Is that you?”

Looks like it failed. Deciding Logan must be somewhere in the kitchen, Virgil quickly dashed for the living room, throwing a blanket over the box as he put it next to the coffee table, where his other gifts and Logan’s were.

Logan came out into the living room, hearing the noise. He tilted his head when he saw Virgil wasn’t in his hoodie and, consequentially, even more soaked than he had been earlier. “Virgil, dear, you’re drenched.”

Virgil smiled awkwardly at Logan, scratching the back of his neck. “It’s really stormin’ out there.”

“Why isn’t your hoodie on?”

“I, uh…” Virgil hesitated, searching for a viable answer, “I thought holding it over my head would work better?”

“With this wind?” Logan asked, incredulously, stepping closer to Virgil to rest the back of his hand on his forehead. “You’re not sick, are you?”

“What? No!” Virgil responded, though he made no move to get away from Logan’s touch. Ten years married and he was still a touch-starved gay disaster.

Logan tutted. “You normally only make stupid, boring decisions when you’re running a fever. Doesn’t matter, you’re definitely going to get sick now.”

“I’m insulted. What do you mean by stupid, boring decisions?”

Logan smiled and moved his hand from Virgil’s forehead to cup his cheek. “I am the only one in this relationship with, as you might put it, any brain cells. You just normally make stupid decisions for some sort of odd thrill. Holding your hoodie over you instead of wearing it was just plain stupid.”

Virgil placed a hand over Logan’s. “And yet, you married me.”

“And I’ve only regretted it a few times.” Logan said, chuckling at Virgil when his expression became laughably indignant. He kissed him before pulling away and heading towards the kitchen. “Get changed, and we can have dinner.”

“Can dinner wait?” Virgil asked, flinching to himself when Logan turned back around, looking both confused and concerned. “I uh… want to open gifts first.”

Logan still looked confused, but he nodded. “I confess, my plan for dinner went…less than admirably. We’re waiting for the pizza anyways.”

Virgil smirked. “I thought you had a master plan for the best anniversary dinner yet?”

Logan looked away from Virgil, though he still caught the tiny smile he had along with an embarrassed blush. “Surprisingly, my dedication to the night and you did not, in fact, give me the ability to cook.”

Virgil laughed as he headed up the stairs to change. “I could have told you that, Lo. I think I did, actually.”

“Oh, just get changed.” Logan called back, trying to sound annoyed, knowing that Virgil caught the obvious warmth in his tone anyways.

After a few minutes, Virgil returned in his softest pajama pants and a black sweater. Catching Logan’s light disapproving stare, he said, “I’ll get changed for dinner, but right now, I am cold and partially wet. I deserve this.”

“And so much more.” Logan added softly, smiling when Virgil flushed, expecting a mock and not a compliment.

“Just open your presents, dork.” Virgil responded after a moment, trying and failing to sound as collected as he had been a minute ago.

Logan did so, marveling over the ties and talking about how they happened to compliment every outfit in his wardrobe in some way. He then almost fainted when he pulled out the jelly- a jar of Crofter’s specialty ‘Loganberry,’ this one with the silliest photo of him Virgil could find on the lid. It also happened to be Logan’s favorite flavor.

“I thought they stopped making Loganberry?” He asked, in awe.

“I have my ways.” Virgil responded slyly, deciding he didn’t need to talk about how he both begged and threatened the Crofter’s representative he had talked to in order to get them to search the warehouses for an extra jar.

“I don’t deserve you.”

“Aw, Lo, as much as I love the humility-”

Logan glared at Virgil, though he looked too amused for it to mean anything. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

Virgil held a hand to his heart when he realized Logan had been looking at the jelly. “I’ve been replaced by a jar of jelly?”

“Yes.” Logan replied as seriously as he could muster while he put the jar to the side.

“Fine, then.” Virgil said, crossing his arms and looking away. “I demand gifts to honor my passing as most important thing in your life.” Virgil continued, deciding to keep the box a secret gift to give very last. Because as loathe as he was to admit it, Virgil may have picked up a few dramatic tendencies from his brother.

“Well, one of them is burnt in the kitchen.” Logan said, glancing in the direction of the destroyed gift. “I really should have guessed that would have failed.”

“So far, your gifts displease me.”

Logan chuckled before pushing a box at Virgil. “Try the not-burnt one.”

Virgil opened the box, pushing aside a sheet of tissue paper to pull a sheet of metal. It wasn’t very large, roughly the size of his hand (much too small for the box, actually), with a line running through. The line was completely horizontal save for a single vertical wave line through the middle of it. He raised an eyebrow at Logan, who had a hand over his mouth. “What is it?”

“A g note.” Logan confessed, laughing a little as Virgil frowned at him. “Don’t hate me! Roman gave me the idea.”

“First he ruined my life by being born in the same womb, now he’s ruining my marriage.” Virgil complained.

Logan rolled his eyes. “You think too little of me. Look under the second layer of tissue paper.”

Virgil put the sheet to the side, doing as his husband said, wondering what he would find. Beneath the tissue paper was a second metal sheet, this was as large as the box, with two lines running through it. These ones were clearly audio lines. He looked up at Logan, who was still smiling, but softer now. “What is this one? Death of a Bachelor?”

Logan scoffed, but the tender look in his eyes didn’t change. “It’s our wedding vows.”

Virgil looked back at the metal, noticing now tiny inscriptions of ‘Logan’ and ‘Virgil’ for the top and bottom lines, respectively. “Oh.” He breathed quietly.

“It’s good they weren’t very long, too- I got the biggest sheet they had, and even then the nice lady doing the work was worried it wouldn’t wor-”

Logan was cut off when Virgil, now clutching the metal to his chest despite the awkward way it rubbed against his arms, moved forward to kiss him. When they broke apart, Virgil smiled, eyes only a little watery. “Love, it’s perfect.”

Logan smiled back. “No, Virgil, you are. This is just a reminder of the day I got lucky enough to call that perfect mine.”

Virgil laughed. “You’re so sappy. Besides, I’m the one who got lucky. You’re my universe.”

“And you’re my starlight.” Logan returned. Virgil blushed before pulling away from Logan, gently putting the metal sheet down before reaching for the covered box.

“Alright, listen, this was supposed to be a surprise gift for you at the very end, but now you’ve gone and done this, so even if you have another gift just- eh- just take this.” Virgil said rapidly and partially incoherently as he shoved it at Logan.

Logan smiled as he pulled the blanket off. His smile grew wider, and more shocked, when he saw what it was. “Is this…?”

“A blue-tongued skink?” Virgil finished. “Yeah.” He then itched his neck again, awkwardly looking away from Logan. “I hope you like him. The breeder said that they’re good for beginners, so it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle, and I thought the blue tongue, eh, kinda looks like yours after you’ve had a lot of Crofter’s? Maybe this was stupid-”

“No, no it isn’t!” Logan said, stopping Virgil by grabbing one of his hands excitedly. “I love him, Virgil, really.”

Virgil let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. “Good. I’m glad.”

Logan then chuckled, and Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Actually…it’s a little funny you get me him.”

“Why?” Virgil asked, worried.

Logan, still holding his hand, helped him up and pulled him to the guest bedroom. Virgil was still confused until he saw the glass enclosure sat on the desk against the wall. Within, there was a red snake with black and yellow stripes.

“This was my secret present.” Logan confessed as he and Virgil approached it. “A milk snake. They’re easy to take care of, and I hope the red colouring is bright enough you won’t have to worry about accidentally losing him. He stands out.”

“Wh-when did you get him?” Virgil asked, trying not to feel guilty that his own living gift was a spur-of-the-moment buy.

“About a week ago. I know you don’t really come in here, so I set him up in here.” Logan said, looking thoughtful. “We probably will have to go and buy him more supplies tomorrow, however, seeing as I only purchased the basics to keep him a secret.”

“I barely have enough stuff to keep your blue-tongued friend for a week.” Virgil said. “He’ll need a store run too.”

The sound of a doorbell rang just then, and Logan nodded as he headed for the door. “But that can wait for tomorrow.”

Virgil smiled and followed. “Yeah, it can.”

Half an hour later, they were curled up on the couch, Logan’s blue-tongued lizard (named Berry) moved to live next to Virgil’s milk snake (named Danger Noodle, though Logan strongly opposed the name). The pizza box was sitting on the coffee table, their own plates haphazardly set on the couch as they slowly abandoned eating to snuggle, only partly paying attention to Parks and Rec as it played. Logan was even in his unicorn onesie after Virgil insisted that proper attire for eating pizza on the couch was, in fact, not nice clothes but pajamas.

“Hey, Logan?” Virgil said, nestled as closely to Logan as he possibly could be.

“Yes, Virgil?”

“I love you.” Virgil said quietly, leaning his head on Logan’s shoulder and somehow getting even closer.

Logan smiled sweetly, gently pressing a kiss to Virgil’s forehead. “I love you, too.”

#the cryptid speaks #the cryptid answers #analogical #snake #deceit mention kinda #sander sides #fanfic #prompt fill

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mindfulwrathwrites · 5 years

Text

Lowry (Part 1 of ??)

26 June 2213 – Final entry

I have made a terrible mistake.

Everyone is gone. They . . . they're gone. I'm sure it's not that hard to guess what happened to them. I'm not sure anyone will find these logs to guess. But on the assumption. On the off-chance. On the . . . hope. I'm not sure hope is the right word. It's been a long time since I had any of that.

I don't know how much time I have, so I'll try to keep it short. I set the self-destruct, which—five minutes. Five minutes. So, I have five minutes, at the outside. Less, if Lowry finds me before then. Hahah. I'm shut up in the sim chamber, which is practically impenetrable, so maybe he won't be able to get in. Not, you know, surviving-the-self-destruct impenetrable, but. . . .

Deep breaths. No matter what, it'll be over soon.

My name is Simon Lowry-Davis. I am the last—to my knowledge, the last surviving member of the LudoCorp UpCarnate team. We were stationed at the LudoCorp Meridiani base. I was—I am—I was in charge of data management for the project. We . . . succeeded. We did exactly what we were sent up here to do, and we shouldn't have, and I—I didn't know it was going to go like this, I couldn't have known it would—

[unintelligible]

Oh f—

1 April, 2203 – First entry

O-kay, looks like it's working. Test test, audio test, one-two-three, one-two-three. This is Simon Lowry-Davis, new data manager for the UpCarnate team, recording live from Meridiani Basin on this beautiful April Fool's day on Mars. The weather's cold, the sky is clear, the base smells like feet. Arnette said everybody keeps audio logs around here, so . . . here's mine! Don't really . . . know what to talk about, but I guess we'll figure that out as we go, hahah.

Rrrright. Well. Today's activities included getting our storage set up, which is nooooot a small task. Best calculations are that human brains can hold, mmm, a hundred terabytes? Which wouldn't be that bad, except you wouldn't believe the amount of meta-data that comes along with. We have a whole room full of hard drives, and then an extra second room to store all the data about what's on the hard drives in the first room. I've been saying, right, that quantum computing is gonna be the way to go with all this, but apparently we don't have the money to send any of the supplies up from Earth, so it's either print-your-own computer or make do with the hard drives.

Didn't have the money to send two data managers, either, although it's my professional opinion that if you want any of this to get done before we die, you—anyway. Anyway. Obviously, I am . . . not going to be building my own quantum computer from scratch on Mars. That would be in direct violation of LudoCorp policy and also almost impossible. But also they would own it and anything else I make up here, so. Hell, they'll probably listen to these logs, if they ever get ahold of them.

Might have been nice to mention that, Arnette.

Ahem. Anyway. Nice thing about living on Mars is that you really don't have to worry about cooling your server banks. Comes free with the territory! So that's one good thing. That's the one good thing. Not that I'm complaining. Y'know. Cutting edge of technology, technically I'm an astronaut, pushing the boundaries of human innovation . . . and it's cold and it smells like feet. What're you gonna do, I guess.

So I guess that's gonna do it for my first audio-log. I have . . . way too much to do, here, I'm kind of hopping on this project late and there's a lot of unmanaged data already stuffed into every corner of the place, so—best be cracking on! Hahah. Super grateful for the opportunity and all the support, LudoCorp. Super grateful.

Anyway. Simon Signing Off. Cheery-o, or whatever.

4 April, 2203

What a fucking mess.

Ahem. Test test, one-two-three, yada yada. Yeah, so, it's worse than I thought. Hey, whoever at LudoCorp is trawling through these things for—signs of a psychological breakdown, or whatever—THIS IS NOT A ONE-MAN JOB. This isn't even a two-man job, this is a—this would take a team of, like, a dozen people. It would take a dedicated team a decade to get all your shit together for you, up here, okay, not just me. Like, I know I'm awesome, I know I'm the bestest little code monkey you ever did see, but this is balls-to-the-FUCKING-wall, you guys.

Sorry. Okay. Got it out of my system. I'm done, I'm good.

So, uh, in an effort to actually enable the project to move forward in a reasonable . . . human lifetime . . . I've started working on a system for organizing all this shit—ahem, all the scan data, and an algorithm for re-mapping scan data to the shells. Kind of like defragging a hard-drive. I'm gonna keep saying that until somebody goes Oh yeah gotcha Simon that makes sense.

'Course, that means spending a lot of time with the shells, which I did not sign up for, by the way. Those things are some real pieces of work, I tell you what. Leave it to LudoCorp to get the aesthetics up the other side of the uncanny valley before the software is even an inch off the starting line.

I—think I'm just gonna stop recording, here. For today. Before I say something really dumb that gets me fired. Have to wonder if they could spare the funds to come collect my sorry ass from Mars or if they'd just. . . .

Anyway. Simon Signing Off. Cheery-o, or whatever.

#09 Nov 2019 #sci-fi #horror #original writing #if i were to make a podcast

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dippedanddripped · 5 years

Link

Stüssy’s official launch date is anything but concrete. Don Letts, the musician, filmmaker and OG-affiliate of the brand says it all started in 1984, but Shawn Stüssy first remembers scratching his infamous punky scrawl in 1979. Without an official logo, per se, Shawn was making surfboards and branding them with a signature scribble -- a practice that, though he was unaware at the time, teemed with potential. He later applied it to T-shirts, earned cult acclaim, and a few years down the line, what is arguably the original streetwear brand was in business.

Underground culture was inherent to Shawn’s work, as was a William Burroughs-esque aptitude for combining scenes, ideas and tastes in simple, effortless clothing. Hip-hop, reggae, graffiti, surfing, skating, punk: a span of influences and urban cultures were brought together to create graphic-heavy garb, at a time when these influences weren’t as widely catered to. Before Stüssy, the youth were reinterpreting, borrowing and cutting garments up -- or, in the case of those seeking out higher-brow attire, stealing Ralph Lauren Polo. Stüssy filled a void; his work reflected what people wanted to buy.

Shawn’s ideas developed organically, spurred on by the ever-expanding network of individuals he came across. “He just kept on meeting like-minded people that were interested in similar things,” Stüssy’s former creative director Paul Mittleman says. “It just kept on going.” The International Stüssy Tribe, a club founded by Shawn, was the beating heart of the brand. One of the original members, Alex Turnbull AKA Alex Baby, remembers the first time he and Shawn met. Originally from London, then a hip-hop DJ in New York, Alex was hanging out with Jules Gayton, a DJ and part-time assistant to Jean-Michel Basquiat. They were routinely flying between London and New York, shuttling rare record collections across the pond. On one visit, Paul invited them over to the Stüssy warehouse. “It was basically a couple of rails of clothes in a space for something else, and Paul was just sitting there,” says Alex. “I remember leaving with a T-shirt and a pair of the beach pants, and they were just mind-blowing.” Never before had he seen such hip-hop amenable clothing. Not long after, Shawn would make a visit to London, attend a nightclub Alex was playing, and initiate six or so members with the now-infamous tribe jackets, complete with logos, names on the front, and ‘Staff’ stitched on them. Not your average hiring process.

With time, the tribe grew. In London, there was hairdresser James Lebon, Gimme 5 founder Michael Kopelman, streetwear scenius Barnzley Armitage, The Clash’s Mick Jones, Big Audio Dynamite’s Don Letts, and jungle pioneer Goldie. In New York, skater Jeremy Henderson, hip-hop A&R rep Dante Ross. In LA, thrasher Tony Converse. Not to forget streetwear kingpin Hiroshi Fujiwara in Tokyo. It was a network of taste-makers, skate rats and musical vanguards, spread across what Alex considers the world’s most culturally adept cities. “With the exception of Kingston, Jamaica, of course,” he’s quick to note. Through his tribe, Shawn had innocently stumbled upon and mastered a communication method that a good proportion of brands are still eager to decode today. “Shawn even pre-empted the whole 'viral’ thing, foregoing big budget advertising and trusting in the organic process of word of mouth,” Don Letts remarks.

Profiling the brand in the 90s, BBC 4’s The Look interviewed Shawn, as well as some of his associates in an effort to unpick the fashion phenomenon. Shawn’s modest attempt to explain his craft was “pants and shirts… and jackets and hats.” But behind the brevity of his response lay a firm confidence; after all, his formula of quality over quantity had garnered enough interest to warrant a BBC feature. “A lot of people collect them -- like these, there’s ten of them, and some people buy every single colour”, explains then-Stüssy’s store manager James Jebbia, pointing out the ‘S’ logo baseball caps. As you’ll likely know, he would later go on to found Supreme, streetwear’s eminent household name. And just as Stüssy had done before, sampling, ripping and re-appropriating became key components of the Supreme creative vocabulary. The former’s infamous interlocking Ss, a humorous ape of Chanel, would foreshadow the latter’s cease-and-desist Louis Vuitton rip skate decks. Looking back, it was oddly prescient, given that both would work with top-tier conglomerate fashion houses years down the line.

Paul draws a parallel between Shawn’s work and 80s postmodern art: just as Jeff Koons placed submerged basketballs in the gallery space, Shawn placed lyrics from American hip-hop duo EPMD on clothing. ‘I get goosebumps when the bass line thumps’, reads a now-coveted T-shirt. In introducing aesthetics and cultures deemed low-brow into public consciousness, Shawn’s graphic style also shared much with graffiti writing, which, as Alex is keen to note, was still considered mere vandalism at the time: “You were still a criminal, it wasn’t accepted as art,” he says. Regardless of public opinion, that confluence of cultures it implied made it widely wearable, as Dante Ross echoes: “We could wear it to a thugged-out party, to a trendy event or to go skate in, all depending on how we wore it.”

At a time when streetwear is unarguably ubiquitous, it’s easy to forget that streetwear was counterculture. “Without Shawn, there would be no streetwear”, says Ross Wilson, an acclaimed streetwear collector who sold a 1,000+ piece Supreme archive in 2018. “Shawn Stüssy is the reason I became immersed in this culture in the first place.” And it doesn’t seem like Stüssy’s contemporary relevance is in decline -- if anything, the opposite is true. ALYX creative director Matthew Williams grew up a Stüssy fan, citing it as “the first fashion brand outside of huge sportswear brands that I became aware of." He now regularly collaborates with Kim Jones at Dior, and his work featured alongside Shawn’s graphics in the house’s Pre-Fall 20 menswear collection. And then there’s Kim himself, who grew up working at Gimme 5, one of Stüssy’s first UK distributors. “He’s part of the community; he’s not just an observer,” Paul says.

While today the internet has allowed everyone, wherever they’re from, the opportunity to engage with street culture, things were trickier in the 80s. But despite the developments since, Stüssy has far from lost its lustre. If anything, the past decade has reiterated Stüssy’s position as a subcultural fixture. Whether throwing parties with Boiler Room or spotlighting Kiko Kostadinov, Stüssy has been – and still is – a driving force in contemporary culture and fashion. Nonetheless, its core values remain: quality clothing, radical graphics, and international community dedicated to representing the brand. As the network has expanded, it’s only grown stronger. The launch of Stüssy’s London Chapter store was a case in point: a BBQ attended by old disciples and a fresh batch of new ones. One of the newcomers to the brand, Jordan Vickors, is grateful for its illustrious history. “It’s been my home since the second I joined; everything Shawn, Alex, Goldie, Paul have built over the years has provided me with a hub of creativity and energy. I can’t thank them enough.” Indeed, as a print on a particularly iconic Stüssy T-shirt, referencing Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry”, reads: ‘In this great future, you can’t forget your past.’

#stussy #streetwear blog #surfwear #fashion blog

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