#I think I have like 10 different techno designs | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

quikyu · 2 years ago

Note

How would you rank all the Ultra Beasts? Like, from most to least favorite?

Oooh.... very inch-resting question. I've vaguely thought about this before, but never actually thought to put my favorite ultra beasts in order!

Just a disclaimer first, though-- I don't actually *dislike* any of the UBs. At most I'm pretty neutral ;D

Rankings below :)

Nihilego

My absolute FAVORITE genre of pokemon generally tends to be the eerie-but-cute (and-maybe-dangerous-too) Creature. Nihilego is a faceless, incomprehensibly ominous head-crab-type parasite... that makes cute little sounds and twirls when it's happy and acts so so innocent!!! I love it!!! What a simple yet appealing design (being a cloudy, pastel blue with a bell that looks quite like a sun-hat), conveying a sense of uneasiness within it. It almost looks like a harmless little girl, but.. somethings still not right...? Maybe its the fact that its a parasitic glass jellyfish leaping For Your Face

It's appearance also makes me think about what it predates on in its home-world!?!

Anyways, she's my adorable, freaky little daughter. 10/10

2. Pheromosa

That being said, my second favorite genre of pokemon is pretty much just 'Girl,' and, Yes, the cockroach applies. I personally enjoy the idea of this little girlboss of a pokemon getting haphazardly Dropped into an entirely different galaxy, and just going "Ok" about it... How calm...

Very odd proportions, too-- I do wish the pokemon company had gone further with Bug Traits in the design, but I also personally love the eyes and crown, so I would miss those if they had changed it to be something less humanoid XD And while I love the distant, spiteful attitude it had in the anime, I also enjoy the idea of a more curious and playful buggy, who's just trying to make sense of a new world

I also keep on forgetting that Pheromosa's FAST!!! Very amazing quality to have. Much speed.

3. Kartana

I didn't know whether I liked Kartana or Stakataka more, so just pretend they're the same in terms of rank.

How is this a pokemon!?! A tiny origami samurai!?! CUTE!!! In my opinion, I think Kartana is one of the more peculiar UBs-- especially judging from how it acts in Pokemon Refresh in the SM games. I'd love to go more in depth about Kartana, really, but I don't know what to say XD It's a slicey, dicey, little guy. And I like it lots!

Paper-cut is an understatement!

4. Stakataka

Before I had much interest in Ultra Beasts, I probably would've said Stakataka is my favorite of the group. It's a real big block, is what it is, but I think it's rather endearing... it's a bunch of little giblets, coming together to make... a bigger giblet. Awesome!! It also reminds me of Guardians from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and I really love those guys

I kind of want to ride it like a horse...

5. Buzzwole

Buzzwole is an INCREDIBLE pokemon. With the same strangeness as Pheromosa, it's a BUG, but rather than being elegant and graceful, it's... completely JACKED!?!? A mosquito on 'roids!! What kind of creature is this thing sucking the blood out of, anyway!?!

I picture Buzzwole as a typical nice jock-- very wholesome, but also very very dense. And also it's a huge mosquito-- did I mention that? Crazy. I want to be its friend.

6. Poipole

From here on out I don't feel as strongly on any of the Ultra Beasts. No problem, though-- I still have opinions!

I like Poipole's position as the "starter pokemon" of Ultra Space. Fun, in how, unlike a normal starter, it's still just as dangerous as the rest of the Ultra Beasts XD ("While spraying opponents with this venom, it laughs wildly!") It's a very cute, almost techno-looking pokemon, and once more the odd, vibrant colorations and body shape really sell it as an Alien. The concept art for it is also adorable, too!!

Ah.. wait... I think I'm starting to like Poipole more just from talking about it...

7. Blacephalon

Blacephalon has a very cool name! Asides from that, while I do like its colors, and the fact that its Head Explodes (which is VERY cool,) I've never really felt much for clown pokemon... It seems like a silly little goober, though-- It has eyes that can emote each side of its head! That's adorable!

Also it's as tall as Pheromosa, at 5'11". I did not know this. I am now terrified.

8. Celesteela

I can safely say that Celesteela is the kindest rocket I have ever seen. XD Just look at that sweet little smile! Of course, it's not really noticeable, when one zooms out to view the rest of the body. I want to like Celesteela more but... it doesn't really... move much? I can't detect much of a personality from it-- it's kind of just there. Sort of to be expected, though. Baby Celesteela, as portrayed in the anime, is very adorable though, and I would like 5 of them.

9. Xurkitree

Xurkitree sort of falls under the same category as Blacephalon for me, just in terms of vibes, I suppose. I appreciate its very joyful, carefree saunter, but nothing else really sticks out to me in terms of what I might like about it...

10. Naganadel

Poipole's evolution! I simply don't like it quite as much, though. It's a little hard to look at right, and I've always thought it looked a little stiff. It's lost all of Poipole's personality :(

However, it has an amazing shiny!

11. Guzzlord

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH"

... That's it XD I never cared much for Guzzlord at all. Big hungry guy.

Anyways, that was a lot longer than I expected it to be XD Thank you for asking!

#quikyu ask #ultra beasts #pokemon

34 notes · View notes

mildiva · 7 months ago

Text

Against Talking, For Sharing Bathrooms

alright despite three paragraphs of my first draft getting deleted i will Bravely begin again

(Prescript: tumblr has marked this as “mature.” is it because of the word bathrooms? do they think I’m advocating for gay sex? scholars remain divided.)

scene: beautiful, not-quite-lazy not-quite-spring saturday. what else is a girl to do but go out dancing? i’d already missed a great party, perverse, the night before. frankly i expected it to be kinkier than a bunch of gay guys in jockstraps, but who else would pay $40-50 for a night out? or who else could? instead I’d spent the night trying to fit a very nice and hairy boy’s monster cock inside my designer pussy.

what was i talking about? right, dancing. the first thing i saw on RA looked good: A/S/L? at Neptune Room, hosted by Associate. A bar and a DJ I wanted to check out what could be better? I rotated a thousand outfits in my mind, landing on a slutty White Lotus guest look.

Whenever I go to a new bar or venue, I go straight to the bathroom so I can assess the pee situation and begin a preliminary vibe analysis. All gender bathroom? good sign. matrix on the TV? Also a good sign but points towards a nerdy clientele. as I started looking at everybody else in the bar I noticed one mean trans girl I know from around everybody else seemed… can I say this without sounding rude? Very 30- Somethings-bisexual-practicing-ethical-non-monogamy-coded. There’s nothing wrong with being that; I have a wonderful coworker who fits the description. However, not necessarily the group I most want to get down with or that I think will be the most fun to dance with. Unfortunately, my prejudices were right.

I pee, I down a gin and tonic, and I shuffle my way to the teeny tiny dancefloor. Like, illegal basement Bushwick apartment bedroom. On a dancefloor that cramped, real dancers need every inch of real estate they can get it. So why was it filled with people standing there talking? As an empath, I get that not everybody wants to dance — however, the dance floor has a purpose, and if you don’t wanna dance, make space for the real dancing divas. Especially with music that’s supposed to be groovy as the party was billed! House, six different flavors of disco. hat is things and then switch to groove to die. Even punks need room to skank, and techno bros need room to move like those musical cactuses from animal crossing. Just putting it simply: if you don’t wanna dance, get off the dance floor, you can stand to the side or sit somewhere. Or fuck off! I’m not your mother.

Obviously, the crowding annoyed me to no end. So I get on Twitter and start complaining. This turns my night around. Ms. Gabberbitch69 told me come to Suns, a small theater frequented by film bros and film hoes where DJ Michelle Harvey was throwing For Your Pleasure, an Italo disco party. I chew on this, go to the bathroom again to take pictures (because I looked fucking good!). Aside from that, the only thing that’s really been a plus for me was a house cover (?) of a Björk song (Leash Called Love by the Sugarcubes) which frankly was the only reason I stayed as long as I did. When I came back to the dance floor people were at least two-stepping, so I thought I might stay for a while, but then simultaneously three different heterosexual looking couples started making out. When I saw that, I closed my tab and got my white ass out of there.

A 10 minute drive and 30 minute parking adventure later, I roll up at Suns. I knew it would be good when I walked in and felt the temperature rise 30 degrees. Both floors were absolutely packed, so I put in my time waiting at the bar, one eye on the bartender wearing a top surgery scar tank. After my G&T is drained, I squeeze into a spot on the dancefloor and groove in my allotted half-square-foot of space. Some Japanese movie about… magical cats?… is being projected on the wall behind the DJ. It’s stunning. I don’t think I’ve intentionally gone dancing with a crowd that straight since the last time I went to Fl@sh (censored as to not invoke its demonic energy), but it was still a good crowd! I felt slightly out of place as one of five people dressed slutty but I made it work. The music was exactly as described: so 80s people should be doing coke off the tables.

(Okay coming back to this a month later I’ve dragged on far too long, lemme finish this)

I spent the rest of the night partying as I know how: dancing until I neared heat exhaustion, running outside to chat with friends of friends and friends to cool off, debating getting one more drink, sharing a bathroom and a bump with a man i was flirting with whose mouth unfortunately tasted too foul to continue anything with. The last DJ of the night closed with “Waking The Witch” by Kate Bush, a song I hadn’t listened to since starting SSRIS. So unexpected and dreamy.

Was I going somewhere with any of this? Not sure. Looking forward to the next For Your Pleasure though!

3 notes · View notes

the-blaze-empress · 2 years ago

Note

What are your favorite things abt c!phil? i want to know his character better :3

OH ANON I WOULD BE DELIGHTED TO ANSWER THIS

god where to START hmmmmmm

okay ive stuck it under a read more because my god is there a lot. for anyone curious, i list off 10 of my favourite things about cphil (with explanations as to what an why), 10 of my favourite quotes, and also cover some more common fandom mischaracterisations

1 - his character design it's basic, but i need somewhere to start. i LOVE phils character design, idk, maybe its just something to do with birds and green and me being a cosplayer. especially his new skin! it has details, anon, and they all have meaning. i love me some details with meaning. and bc its minecraft, and because minecraft is pixels, theres SO MUCH ROOM FOR INTERPRETATION. anyone can go COMPLETELY ham with the design if they want to and they all look SO COOL.

2 - EMERALD DUO okay so ill say it outright; im a qpr emduo sorta person. at the very least im an ‘old friends/war buddies/ex emperors emduo’ person. dont get me wrong, techno is the eldest child, but in the dsmp, he’s not phil’s kid, they’re just really old friends. AND OH MY GOD I LOVE THEM. ‘for you the world’ NEED I SAY MORE??? the emeralds, the phil risking his life to protect techno from the butcher army, the techno worrying about phil participating in doomsday, the complete and utter undying trust they have in each other. theyre not perfect, they still disagree and still have differing opinions but they sort it out and compromise and make sure each other is always okay!!! them!!!

3 - birb cphil is a bird we all know this. and this is leaning more into fanon not explicitly canon, but im including it because i can. phil is bird, he has bird brain. bird instincts and bird features, like hollow bones, chirping, nesting, preening, all the good stuff. it adds a layer of depth to his character thats so fun to play with when writing!! there’s so much potential for both angst and fluff and i love it so much. also i just love birds so yknow. win win situation for me.

4 - family, its messy phil is part of what i believe is the biggest canonical family on the dsmp. there’s four generations ffs. he has a son, a grandson, even a great-grandson. and it’s not perfect. wilbur is. wilbur, but even though he went mad and even though he lied in his letters he still cared enough to send letters in the first place, phil still cared enough to read them. phil still cared enough to drop everything for his son. it was messy and it was heartbreaking but that is what it is to be a father, i think. sometimes whats right is whats hardest and its phils love for wilbur that was forever just so clear. its the way fundy fucked up, its the way phil fucked up in return, its the way they made up without properly making up but phil was always, always there for fundy, always cared for him at least a little, because that’s his grandson.

5 - leading on from the above, kristin!! ANON DO YOU KNOW HOW COOL IT IS FOR PHIL TO BE MARRIED TO THE LITERAL GODDESS OF DEATH?? phil is a trophy husband and you cannot convince me otherwise. his wife is SO COOL and SO POWERFUL and he loves her SO VERY MUCH. yeah sure hes a het guy in a homonormative society but i can forgive him for that because his wife is amazing. also less cphil, more ccphil, but i think its SO FUCKING COOL AND/OR FUNNY that ccphil literally just. wrote his wife into the dsmp on a whim. THATS how much he loves her that even tho shes not involved in this thing hes doing she’s still there in some sense.

6 - immortality yeah cphil CAN die, but here’s the catch; he doesn’t. hes functionally immortal and godddd i love it so much. hes so fucked up from it, but i love that about him (more on that point later). cphil has lived through so much and he has known so much and he has gained and lost SO MUCH but he’s still going strong, hes still loving and living and trying. who knows when he’ll finally die, not him and certainly not us.

7 - WOO TRAUMA mans is SO FUCKED UP. god where to even START with this. phil has not processed a single emotion in 500 years and he does NOT plan on starting now thank you very much. his sons death? nah lets build a country instead. watching his best friend be executed? nope not processing THAT lets find somewhere else to live oh yeah also i almost died. phils favourite thing is avoiding emotions and busying himself with some Other Task for Someone Else (new lmanburg, training room, various farms for techno, just to name a couple) so he Doesnt Have To Think About Anything. also perception of time? hell no he’s gonna be working for days without realising it. this is not healthy. he does not intend to stop. he blames himself for so much and rarely ever accepts help from anyone at all.

8 - kindness dont get me wrong if you get on the wrong side of phil you will find out exactly why some know him as the angel of death, but if ur not on that side of him, hes just. so kind and so caring. that one time when ranboo was deliberately trying to trigger the enderwalk out, and phil ran in and got rid of all the splash water bottles because he thought ranboo was getting hurt? yeah. that. protecting tommy without hesitation or question when dream was chasing him? yeah. that. building new lmanburg because tubbo had enough on his plate and he needed something to do anything to do he needed to keep his hands busy then it would be okay it had to be okay he had to be okay? yeah. that. visiting techno even while he was under house arrest to make sure he was okay? yeah. that.

9 - hes such a chaotic little fuck this is something a LOT of the fandom seem to. ignore. phil is not this sophisticated, calm, rational father figure. he can be sometimes (at a push) but thats not who he is. he’s an absolute chaos machine, and a fucking deadly one at that. he’s bored and you’re in the general vicinity? bye living! i think its well summed up in that one clip of phil and techno in a village, and techno’s grabbing a couple supplies here and there, and phil is just fucking gutting the place even if he doesnt actually need those supplies. he will murder (for fun), he will explode shit (for fun), he will cause mass genocide (for fun), he will fucking. idk he’ll do it all for fun.

10 - history imo, phil and techno are some of the best—if not the most—fleshed out characters in the dsmp. part of this, i reckon, is because of the history they have. you cannot talk about dsmp cphil properly without acknowledging smp earth and hardcore at the very least. the antarctic empire is there, phil and techno carry its shields and wear its colours. the angel of death is familiar to most if not all, the love for fucking freezing temperatures is there too. phil did decanonise the connection to hardcore, but a) many people who care ignore that, b) i ignore that, and c) it was there for at least a little, it had influence for at least a little. cphil is and old character, he didn’t just blip into existence in the dsmp, he has real, solid, pre-established history.

---

and now for some of my favourite cphil quotes!!

1 - Things, buildings, they can be replaced! People can't be replaced. I'm not losing anyone else... I'm not losing anyone else. Not to this bullshit.

2 - (“Since when was this a Philza Minecraft thing?”) “Since I was forced to kill my own son, you idiot!”

3 - look i made this entire section to include One Specific Quote except i now cannot find that quote. fuck this fuck me. it was something phil said in chat at one point, he was talking to sam, saying how he [phil] was immortal, he had seen nations rise and fall, he had seen people like sam who craved power come and go with little consequence. its a good quote, trust me, ill put it here when/if i can find it.

4 - "I've seen this 'government', on this server... Everything to do with government has just been bad so far. (...) I've watched it completely destroy and tear down people's wills, and change people... I've seen it change the nicest people into complete and utter tyrants. So I think it's about time.”

---

okay quotes over now for some common fandom mischaracterisations, since u said u wanted to know cphils character better

1 - bad dad phil this one really gets me. i hate it, genuinely. phil was never and is not a bad dad. im not saying he was perfect, but he was not a bad dad. it is not his fault wilbur went mad, it is not his fault tommy was hurt so much in exile (more on that later), none of this is his fault. phil cares so much about his family and does everything he can for them, he was never neglectful or absent or anything of the sort.

2 - sbi family dynamics THESE HAVE BEEN DECANONISED BY LIKE EVERYONE IN SBI FOR THE DSMP. MULTIPLE TIMES. tommy was never phils son, he was just some kid phils actual son knew. techno is phils old friend, not his son. wilbur, however, is his son

3 - calm collected eloquent father SOMETIMES phil can have good fatherly advice. other times he really fucking does not!! cphil is shit with words, if you want someone whos always expressing their emotion in elegant prose, look at techno, not phil. he tries, he really does, but his perception of normality is warped, and sometimes he just doesnt fucking care?? hes chaotic and fairly independent, and yeah okay he may have taken in TWO stray kids (tubbo, when he was a child, and ranboo after doomsday) but hes not the like. serial adopter some people make him out to be

---

so yeah, thats cphil for you! im more than happy to go into more detail about any of the above things, just ask! that goes for literally anyone btw. ill happily talk about fanon and more fandom characterisations, but ive tried to keep it as close to canon as i can so far. what’s great is that despite what he claims, ccphil is an excellent roleplayer and general storyteller, hes always adding little details and explaining reasoning behind things, so theres so much nuance and so much depth to cphil and the section of the world he inhabits. can you tell that cphil is my favourite character perhaps.

#wisdom be uponeth ye #Anonymous #tha scrunkle <3 #dsm5 i meant dsm5 #anon i am so sorry this is almost 2k words #this probably isnt Quite what you were expecting asking me this but in my defence you asked and i answered #original thoughts in their natural habitat #my favourite war criminals #giant woman #theyre fambily ur honour #i have spent like two hours writing this lmaoooo #deaths malewife #biggy piggy

10 notes · View notes

afrocentric-divination · 2 years ago

Note

real talk, what's the ad situation like in Life Makeover? I got so sick of Covet bc i didnt wanna spend money and i ended up watching so. many. ads. 😂

Oh em gee no ads!! I’ve been playing for 3 days straight and forgot that I didn’t see a lick of advertisement (besides them trying to get you the buy the packages they have)

So Life Makeover is still like how I described except there is a detective element in the main story line. You play as the main character who loves fashion and wants to be a designer but ends up getting wrapped up into some detective shit and staying with it. Your character as is very brash sometimes (hilariously annoying). Very techno, very electronic, people died in the gameplay?! Nothing gruesome but still so random. This second story also touches on abuse and manipulation. So there are touchy subjects.

In terms of the actual gameplay, it resembles Love Nikki or any other dress up gatcha in that there is a lot of little tasks to do. The “to-do list” of the game helps you do everything you need to do everyday and there are little diamonds everywhere to tell you what to tap on and check.

Getting clothes is straight forward. I can only imagine what my wardrobe is gonna look like in a month.

The first day you play you get alot of energy to play with. I did about 60 episodes in the main gameplay before I ran out.

Darker skin tones!! I think the light make up, like blush, don’t look that great but they have alot of different options so you will be able to find something cute.

You can dye your cloths!! That part with different colors needs to be unlocked bit by bit and each grouping of colors need to be unlocked for every single clothing piece. That part is annoying but you get rewards for doing it so 🤷🏽‍♀️

Overall, I say it’s an 8.5/10. The storyline of the game is jarring depending on who you are and I’m always going to take off points for not including bigger bodies or making the make up work for deeper skin tones. You can make your character a big bigger, but the body look like a Med-Large in terms of today’s bodys. (It’s also a Asian game so, that makes sense).

And in terms of spending money on the game, I’m the kind of person who is cheap and barely spends money on app games. You definitely can spend money but if you don’t, you won’t be held back from the game.

#life makeover #love nikki

5 notes · View notes

doubleddenden · 2 years ago

Text

Okay so I've been playing Star Rail and I'm gonna do a lil amateur review because I do that sometimes

Here's my take

1. I like it. I got it for pc and it's fun when I can play it.

More under the cut

2. It is free to play with micro transactions, however I've not spent any money on it and I find it quite playable and easy to get into. That being said, I started with a lot of free stuff from starting so early and codes, so my experience may have differed if I started later.

3. It's a turned based RPG akin to JRPGs like Digimon Cyber Sleuth, Persona 5, etc, but a little easier to comprehend combat wise

4. Story and setting so far is something sort of like a mix of Star Ocean- specifically 4 with the planet hopping- or Rogue Galaxy, with... well, a LOT of mystic, techno, scifi, and religious babble. Enjoyable tho. I love space trains so much. It's dumb but classy. There's also a LOT of optional lore you can collect and read to really help you get immersed if that's your thing, and characters will have a lot of dialogue to give you more world building lore too. That being said, they do kinda just toss you into the ocean with really complex shit right out the gate with no vuild up- I've been told that having SOME knowledge of the Honkai Impact series can build upon what's given, but it's not entirely necessary.

5. Graphics are great, I like the art style and how polished everything looks. Art style works for the game and it looks gorgeous. I do think the NPCs kinda look plain, but that's about expected.

6. Music is passable. Not really finding any ear worms just yet, though. The summoning music and the train music are great though.

7. It might be me and my somewhat shit connection, but I experience lag and disconnection sometimes. This can get pretty frustrating

8. Characters are fun and have fun dynamics with each other. I already dig The Trailblazer, Dan Hung, and March 7th's dynamic- I will say, wtf is this name? Like I know why, but still, not just March, March 7th specifically is her name. Is her full name Saturday, March 7th, 5023 AD?

9. Voice acting is... decent enough. I play English dub because I have reading difficulties due to unmedicated ADHD, before anyone starts screaming at me to change languages. There's some strange takes or line reads sometimes, sometimes the voice will read something different from the text, and there's a couple of voices I wish would just sound... different. But the majority is passable to really good. I've also heard some unexpected voices- you could say they are TRASH, but I find them TASTEful.

10. Character design is pretty fun imo- definitely a bit of Genshin style, but it is by the same people so you kind of expect that. But they're fun to look at, have fun weapons and moves, and have great art. My one complaint would be similar builds and designs for some characters, but that's minor and also expected. But I will say, I do prefer a good anime style over indie cartoon or realistic style, so to me I think it's great.

11. The menus are... very complex. Easy to lose track and get lost in. I swear the pause menu rearranges every time I open it.

12. It shouldn't need saying, but: It's not Genshin Impact- that's fine actually. In fact it's great, turn based rpgs are really fun, especially JRPG styled, which i like to play (Dragon Quest 11, Digimon Cyber Sleuth, Persona 5, Pokémon, etc). While I do like exploring open worlds and having a lot of freedom and real time fighting, sometimes it's nice to have a simpler point A to point B system with smaller maps, and especially nice to have auto battle. There's a bit of carry over from Genshin, but i think it works for what's given. I do miss my emergency fo- I mean, my adorable best friend Paimon, but she and all my other Genshins are Impacting in the other game while I Rail some Sta- wait I'm not finishing that sentence.

13. It is gacha. You kind of expect it- some people won't like it, I kinda like it to some degree, but I do got issues. Basically watch your spending- again, I haven't felt the need to, unlike some games that feel like you have to to get anything done. But it definitely would help to speed things along if i were. When you get a good character, it's a nice feeling for me, personally. That being said they do give you 3 pretty good ones right out the gate, and you do gather in game materials to help you summon at a fair pace anyway, so you're rolling decently enough to get something out of it.

Overall an 8/10 so far. I wanna keep playing, but unfortunately this damn meat mech that is my wretched bodily prison of my soul requires sleep, and I have things I have to do.

#honkai star rail #star rail #doubled plays game #den reviews stuff

2 notes · View notes

crowingoverthis · 2 years ago

Text

pkmn scarlet/violet rant!

Now that i finished the main story, got almost all the pkmn (took me 60 hours, cause i just walk around to complete the dex ahsgfdasd) and i just have some postgame left. Here is my huge imhotake on it xD

7/10 Gameplay 4/10 Graphic/Performance 10/10 Pokemon 9/10 Music 11/10 Characters/story

41/50 Thats a pretty high score!

7/10 Gameplay Well its open world pokemon everyone wanted! You can go anywhere and do what you want. And now some ppl complain about not having directions haha When you literary can open the map and see exclamation marks on where to go so ??? Anyway, my problem was the repetitiveness off, everything? As much as liked just roaming and catching pkmn its still the same thing. To be fair most games are like that, based around 1-2 gameplay loops. I just wish these gameplay loops were a bit more interesting. But this is pkmn at its core. But my complaint is - why is the level no scaling? its not that hard to do gamefreak, I dont want to fight an early game trainer/gym i missed that still is lvl 10 after i beat 4 gyms. And some locations are pretty but too empty, just a lot of slapped on flat textures.

5/10 Graphic/Performance Everyone already saw the glitchs and some had multiple crashes. (i didnt experience any of that, just huge fps drops when it rained. Some ppl say the digital version is better and has less issues) Aside from that, you can finish and play the game from start to finish np! So i wont dwell on that any more. All in all, its the same situation as with Cyberpunk! Well almost cause CD Projektred over promised and under delivered massively at release date. Gamefreak pretty much did everything they promised! Just failed with the polish, bugs and graphics (when the grass is just a photoshop brush... its yeah, a bit very rushed (look at BOTW grass). The pkmn themself look great! Not like having some texture on pkmn is that important, but oh well. The character animations and animations OUTSIDE of battle or close to you are not bad. Inside of battle its the same as SWSH but you can rotate the camera, that sometimes cant even show stuff properly if you are on a hill or cave. Almost forgot! the huge down side of this game as well are the loading screens and the slowness of some things (that's especially noticeable in school).

10/10 Pokemon Like i always say - the one (well and music) things Gamefreak never fails is with designs and creating more pkmn! Of course there are mons i don't like (grasswaterstarterevos) but they are true to what they represent and i can respect that. Every pkmn is loved by someone and that's what makes the diversity of creatures so amazing.

9/10 Music Not much to say than that's its great! (Just a minus point from me personalty cause i don't like techno music and some tracks were like that >:C ) The transition between tracks is nice too.

11/10 Characters/Story I can say in general (NO spoilers)... this game has one of the best pkmn stories. Yes at the same level as gen 5 > 7 (which were the best imho so far.) It just like moulds together so well? Just the repetitiveness i talk about brings it down a bit. The characters have great designs and are (mostly, Nemonaplz) well written and its fun to learn about them! I'm glad GF took more time on story (wish they had even more time).

(mild spoilers) - Best character is the director hands down out of discussion. Not even joking xD. The school idea is very cute and i think its pretty good for newer players and kids who want to play and actually learn about pkmn! cause you do learn stuff in this school that is more then grass beats water, well its the first lesson so you do learn that too but after that i promise it gets better! History class is the coolest! (although i do wish we could learn about the region and cool stuff by y know talking to ppl a bit more...) As a person who was bullied in school, i like TEAM STAR’s story, but i wish they would tell the stories differently than the exact same 5 battles. Bonus! 6/10 locations. Decided to put locations here too cause why not. The main town is great! just some wonky spots that are empty, The other towns on the other hand, have a great look on the outside but when you go in, there's not much there. You can’t go inside of ANY buildings (just the sandwich +gyms). The "wilderness" is pretty much flat textures with pkmn randomly spawning on them. Just things GF needed to have more time to work on.

Conclusion- Imma change the score too 39/50 cause the location bonus and that is a kinda important point too! SO If you can ignore some minor glitches and dont care about fps drops: Its a good game! Plus if you liked Arceus and just want to play a pkmn game its actually probably the best there is now on the switch! But the bad performance and now that even Nintendo is offering refunds, just shows that rushing unfinished games is not worth! and I hope they FINALLY gonna learn something from that.

#crow rant #pokemon #pokemon game #pokemon scarlet #pokemon violet

4 notes · View notes

declanowo · 1 year ago

Text

31 Days of Horror - Day 12 - Blood Rage

12/10/23

Every so often, I will come across a slasher that is intrinsically weird - they’re usually low budget, sleazy and have a plethora of interesting characters through their acting. For me, this is one of my favourite type of slashers - wider known examples include Sleepaway Camp and Friday The Thirteenth: Part 5, but also extend to far more hidden gems, such as Bloody Birthday, all of which are personal favourites of mine. Blood Rage too fits into this category perfectly!

After my long day, I found it so liberating and lovely to sit with the cat I am looking after and watch this delight of a film :) I actually found this one uploaded in its entirety on Facebook, which feels very apt for the film!

Blood Rage follows a family consisting of a mother and two twin boys, one of whom was framed for murder by the other and has spent his life in a psychiatric hospital. At the same time the framed brother Todd escapes, Terry’s murderous urges are reawakened by thoughts of his mothers remarriage. Before discussing the long list of things I loved about this film, I will say that the relationship between Terry and his mother Maddy is one of my least favourite elements! The oedipal twist on their mother and son relationship really just didn’t work for me - never is it addressed at any length, which is likely better, but also just leads to a few uncomfortable sequences, such as where the two kiss in a way that is definitely not appropriate for a mother and son.

Every character in this film makes a statement, they are played excellently by their actors, and left deeply strong impressions on me from the moment they appeared on screen, to the few minutes later when they were subsequently murdered. Firstly, I will discuss how amazing the performance is by Mark Soper, who plays both twins, who are distinctively different characters, and there is never a moment where you are unsure by looking at them who is who, largely helped by Soper’s physical acting. Secondly, Louisse Lasser is excellent as their mother; everytime the scene shifts to focus on her, we are met with a delightful vignette of how she is coping with the news of her escaped son. That also reminds me, that I think the set design of her kitchen is gorgeous and fits her character immaculately - the dingy yellow that bathes the location left such a stark mark on me, it feels deeply homely and linked to her character.

All of the side characters are a joy too, everyone puts in an amazing performance before their deaths, and I loved every moment of watching them! Something like this is so set apart from so many other slashers, because sure, I don't care loads that these characters will die, but they all leave an impression and are fun to watch before they die! Essentially, despite being a slasher, the film allows us to have fun moments between kills, and I adore that about it.

Beyond having extremely fun characters, the film also has surprisingly gorey and fun kills! As far as my favourite kills go, the first one comes to mind to begin with - the realisation as to how gorey the film is, and how fun the kills are definitely helps this! As well as this one, I like Brad's death, where his hand is chopped off, and we see the can in his hand still being squeezed afterwards. However, my favourite kill is definitely Dr. Berman’s, who is sliced in half, with her torso still moving after her death. I mentioned it slightly in my Martyr’s discussion, but I adore how fun this film is with its kills, and how that greatly juxtaposes the other movie I watched in the day.

I also feel it necessary to discuss how amazing the score for this one is! Composer Richard Einhorn uses a lot of techno sounds for it, and everytime it crescendos, I could feel myself getting super excited! As well as this, it just pairs so excellently with the film’s tone, and while I’ve never celebrated Thanksgiving, the holiday the film is set during, I certainly will always associate it with the music in the film!

I have very little else to say about this film, except for reiterating how much I love it! Sure, not everything makes sense during the movie, but I can suspend my disbelief for it because of just how much fun every scene in this is, aside from the occasional dull moment.

Truly, I hope to never run out of weird films like this one, because they have such a perfect charm to them! I can’t not fall in love with this film when it is so fun! Slashers are at their best when they are deeply strange, and filled with fun kills, and Blood Rage delivers on that tenfold!

9/10

#halloween #horror #horror movies #creative writing #literature #reviews #review #Blood Rage #Slasher

1 note · View note

tastydregs · 2 years ago

Text

This Google AI Music Will Freak You the Hell Out

Photo: ESB Professional (Shutterstock)

If you’ve played around with ChatGPT at all, you know how impressive (and terrifying) AI can be. ChatGPT can generate just about anything you ask it to, with prompts as simple or as complex as you can think of. Well, Google has figured out how to do the same. But rather than spit out poems or computer programs, Google’s AI writes music, and you can preview its creations right now.

Google’s AI, dubbed MusicLM, is designed to produce multiple minutes of high-quality music based on text prompts. While AI music isn’t necessarily new, the company claims its program produces tracks that are more accurate to the initial text prompt and are better quality than previous models. Big claims, of course. But, based on these previews, they might just live up to them.

The first batch demonstrates how MusicLM can generate music from rich captions, similar to how OpenAI’s ChatGPT generates its famous responses from user requests. Google can feed MusicLM a caption, such as, “The main soundtrack of an arcade game. It is fast-paced and upbeat, with a catchy electric guitar riff. The music is repetitive and easy to remember, but with unexpected sounds, like cymbal crashes or drum rolls,” and the AI will process a track that meets those criteria.

My personal favorite from this section is the song generated from “Funky piece with a strong, danceable beat and a prominent bassline. A catchy melody from a keyboard adds a layer of richness and complexity to the song” on the second page, which sounds like something out of Stardew Valley.

Where uncanny valley really sets in, though, is whenever Google asks MusicLM to produce vocals. Many of Google’s examples here have AI vocals, and while some of them sound “computerish” for lack of a better word, others sound a little too close to home. When you listen with the full knowledge that the voice is 100% artificial, it’s a bit unsettling. Google even asked MusicLM to generate a rap track, and, to be honest, the “rapping” is eerily realistic, even if none of the words they’re rapping are real.

G/O Media may get a commission

health

The Lyma Supplement

10 ingredients. One super-supplement. Lyma makes the next generation of supplements—peer-reviewed and formulated to unlock your potential.

If you really want to be creeped out, scroll down to the “Text and Melody Conditioning.” Here, you can hear a series of voices and instruments doing their best with different melodies, and the results are wild. The very first option sees MusicLM humming “Bella Ciao,” and it sounds way too good. Side note: The “Tribal drums and flute” version is giving White Lotus.

We also have “Long Generation,” which produces five-minute long tracks from short descriptions, like “melodic techno” or “relaxing jazz.” But things get really interesting with “Story Mode.” Google feeds MusicML multiple captions, and the AI adjusts the song based on the given caption. It starts with 15 seconds based on “time to meditate,” before the caption switches to “time to wake up.” The music smoothly changes in tune, as if it was starting up a new verse, with some creepy vocals to boot.

Creepy vocals aside, it’s fascinating to see the AI alter the song without having to change the song. For the most part, it incorporates the new caption into the song, without feeling like you’re jumping into a new tune altogether. It’s particularly impressive with the third example, which sees the AI jump from “pop song” to “rock song” to “death metal song.” While “rock song” doesn’t particularly sound like rock, “death metal song” is simply fantastic. I imagine AI Death will be a big hit with metal heads.

Another interesting experiment Google did was feed MusicLM descriptions of famous paintings to see what music it would produce. If you ever wanted to know what Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” would sound like as a song, well, now’s your chance. It’s also fascinating to click through how MusicLM generates specific instrument and genre sounds. The electric guitar is on point, as is “British Indie Rock,” complete with a dramatic turn at the end of the preview.

There’s more to explore from this limited preview of MusicLM, too, from “Accordion Solos” to comparing different results from the same prompt. Google also published a 15-page research piece on MusicLM, if you’re interested in reading the technical details of the system. While I hope the company releases a beta for the public to try, browsing through these samples is the next best thing.

[The Verge]

0 notes

chevvy-yates · 10 months ago

Text

reblogging bc I wanna answer to the lovely tags some of you left. First: it makes me incredibly happy that some of you decided listening to it and in addition to it, you all seemed to especially enjoy the Technoise playlist. <3

@morganlefaye79 does it make you feel better when I tell you that I have like more than 10 playlists for ryder? xD I have them set as private as it mostly is what you find in the two I've posted but slightly different (like party hard, melodic tech only (which is a thyjs playlist) even have a Ry's fav Dutch techno xD. Each of my boys has different tastes and likes. Thyjs is already up to 5 playlists as well, haha. It takes a lot of time to do with my other ocs what I did with Ry's but I intend to make theirs as well (Ry is just the easiest to do for me as he got most of my tastes).

@gloryride awww! It's nice it reminded you of 'long ago' when you went to a club where similar music played like this. I also get this nostalgia. It let's me think back into the time I used to go to dark wave parties. Maybe it's also because the songs on that technoise playlist exist since decades :P so sweet u gave it a listen!

@ouroboros-hideout OMG u listend to them at work??? sdfgh Hope it didn't distract too much! Great to read you liked the Technoise one. And I have to agree about the 'living in the own bubble' as I do that too! Like I do not inform about good rock music/(nu) metal anymore at all but I got a friend that reminds me there's good 'rockerboy' tunes still out there (I love my nostalgia music and bands from my teens or older so much I rarely accept new music (except techno) that came after them lol)

@rosapexa thank you for your kind words. It means a lot to me when people notice I'm super passionated about connecting music to my fandom. And in general trying to connect even more together. u know, vp, music, writing, graphic design, stories with others etc. And all the work and effort def pays off when I receive a little feedback.

thank you all <3

103.1 TECHNOI⚡︎E FM

A fictive/headcanon radio station fit for Cyberpunk 2077 presenting German ebm artists. It is Ryder's overall favorite station he likes to listen to every day.

The first of two spotify playlists with a collection of songs I imagine to be one of Ryder's favorite radio stations (in my headcanon) he listens to when he e.g. drives around in the city or got it running in the background in his apartment. Had a hard time chosing the word 'Technoise" for one of them, yet I went with this one for the more ebm, industrial and dark wave focused tracks. I think it does fit better to the overall 'Technoise lore' (see further below) than the hard tech stuff on the second playlist. Some of the artists are already in business since the 80s/90s and especially Faderhead I would have loved to have in the game as he did a whole EP named '2077' dedicated to Cyberpunk when it came out. Overall these songs sound very 'tech'-like and each of them has this base of a repeating beat or melody and even words that stick to your ears. Some of them have actually lyrics, too, some are English, most in German.

—

109.6 HELL BUNKER FM

Mostly a hard techno playlist Ryder listens to, especially when he's working out. Most of these songs get played at 'Chrome Chamber Rave' a fictive/headcanon event occuring every 1st Saturday per month at the 'Hell Bunker', located in the underground of the Dark Matter Bld. Japantown.

This one is for the more hardcore ravers. When you listened to the other one first then for this one you may understand my decision why I've splitted it up. The beats are harder, there is much less to non lyrics and singing – all is focused on beats, repetition and other sounds. Wanna work out? Take this list if you like it. However, I've placed a few more 'melodic' ones in between so you can take a little break from the harder tracks. These are mostly by the artist 'Klanglos'. Also placed some with opera singing (Venezia, Hardtechno Anthem, Bella Ciao, Fortuna and Ameno) as it is the kind of techno Thyjs surprisingly will find good (because Ry will definitely listen to his music at home and even drag soldier boy to CCR).

—

All cover artwork done by me.

⚠️ READ: Please do not repost/reupload any of my art (the cover pics) here or to any other platform, or I will be forced to do anything to get it annihilated.

Why two?

There's two of them as I wanted to separate the (hard) techno beats from the more ebm (electro body music), dark wave and industrial ones which I also minimized to German (and one Austrian) artists only. I like the idea it is a station that plays only German as I've read in one of the many lore books that 'Technoise' is a German music genre:

"Technoise and its various derivations dominate much of the German scene. If you're hip, you already know about Technoise. If not, listen up. Technoise is quite popular with the discerning young punk; it was popularized by Germany's own NetWerk actually, you've got your Overlay style from London, Jazznetic from Rotterdam and Echo from Frankfurt. In addition, there are people producing Frock (Fractal Rock) all over the place. The good thing is, Technoise is quite easy to produce. You only need a small computer, some software and you're ready to buzz. Those of you with a message might miss the political attitude, but you're missing the point. Technoise is strictly for partying, tripping and dancing. People meet and dance up to the runner's point. Maybe that's a political statement in itself, oder?" — Eurosource Plus The New Eurotheater Sourcebook for Cyberpunk

Now I do not know how exactly the 'Lore Technoise' does sound as I can imagine it very well having more rock elements (as they speak of 'overlay style from london' (like punk back then swapping over to Germany in the mid or was it late? 70s -> German punk bands formed but also the New Wave came to exist, spread into the goth genre and so on, also Industrial so both ways; rock and electronic elements etc.) so I may have my own headcanon for it, while others maybe interpret it differently?

I definitely see some political messages in some ebm and industrial songs as well but a lot also are focused on something else less political. And if we go pure (hard) techno, it's definitely just for 'partying, tripping and dancing'. I can't say if it will stay like this, if I delete some songs or add new but for now I think it's good. If you want you can follow one or even both playlists. I would be happy about it though I know it's not everyone's music taste. ;)

And yeah ofc I placed Ryder into the covers, it's playlists for him, so yeah. If I ever do it with my other boys I'll do that the same way.

–

I'm also working on a list for Chrome Chamber Rave that will be even longer and have more songs by the artists that are already on Hell Bunker, but it's more for personal reasons as I started to dive so deeo into it I also searched pics that help me imgine how the location looks etc. Maybe I'll make another post for it, maybe not.

#recover file #I just wanted to thank you personally with this #which I should do more often when I get comments in the tags that made me very happy #especially on stuff I put more than 100% passion into #long post

32 notes · View notes

im-totally-not-an-alien-2 · 2 years ago

Text

Au where Danny, at the age of 16 starts getting massive boosts to his powers and can no longer fully control them. This wouldn't be too much of an issue, after all his powers gave him a lot of trouble when they were first coming in so he could handle a round two, right? Wrong.

Not only was suddenly developing an actual sirens song that come with the lesser power of hypnotic suggestion essentially laced into his voice causing problems, he also has force fields popping up around him, ice climbing up walls and let's not mention what he accidentally did to Ember when he failed to control the strength of his ecto-blast. Ow.

But no one was prepared for his wail.

He didn't mean to. He swears he didn't. Not that it meant much to...nevermind. He told himself not to think about it. His parents weren't the only ones with amazing tech and engineering talent. Sam made the mistake of telling Tucker about that little fact and he was so mad he demanded Danny learn full techno-babel and the ghost had hated every minute. It was useful now.

The contraption covered the lower half of his face and part of his neck, the large shining silver expertly welded into that of a mask.

It didn't matter what he did. No amount of pulling, hitting or wailing/ would remove the mask. It was even designed to absorb the power of the wail before he could be allowed to release it. The only real drawback was that he couldn't speak anymore.

He needed to go into the zone and find someone to teach him to control his new influx of power, but as soon as he zipped through the portal in the lab he crashed into someone.

Looking up he saw Clockwork smiling down at him. Danny tried to chipperly call out to him as he usually would, only to be brutally reminded of the reason he was here.

"Theres no need to speak." The time deity said with that same smug air he always had, "I'll take you where you need to go." This apparently meant he was going to just rip the symbol off of Phantoms chest and slap a domino mask on his face before yeeting him through a portal directly onto a meeting room table where a bunch of superheros were casually chatting.

Danny took no issue with the superheros now pointing all manner of weapons at him but was more interested in how amazingly sturdy this table was. 10/10 would recommend. After a while of them asking questions he did some mimeing and discovered these guys were kinda bad a charades.

It was only when a guy dressed as a bat pulled a pen and some paper out of his utility belt that Phantom could properly communicate with them. He explained his situation and how he needed help. He did not expect to be placed in a program for super teens like himself. It was cool.

Much, much later, when he and the others were celebrating finally being able to remove the mask once and for all he caught his reflection staring back at him from the microwave.

He ran off to the bathroom in tears, followed soon after by Nightwing. Danny, through tears, explained to him that a spirits appearance is affected by thier personality and the things they had done. Thier bodies were a true reflection of who they were, with thier body shape, skin tone, eye color, ect all having deeper/symbolic meaning. "Fangs are no different" he told his mentor.

"Fangs are the mark of a killer. I really am a monster." Danny had accidentally killed his own parents with his wail.

Nightwing had one heck of a time calming Danny down after that.

#fanfiction prompts #prompts #dp x dc #danny fenton #danny phantom #justice league #young justice #nightwing #light angst #angst lite #major character death

1K notes · View notes

stabbysideblog · 4 years ago

Text

BBH’s Prison visit (scene-by-scene)

(To make things easier I’m going to put the timestamp for the END of each scene I talk about)

Link to the vod

Very long post warning! This is going to center on Dream so if you aren’t into that don’t click the read more.

28:46 - Bbh comes up to Dream and even walks past him a bit before Dream turns and starts moving again. This is our first sign of him being spacey. After he says hello he takes a deep breath. This sounds like the type of breath you take to calm down.

29:14 - We can hear how Dream’s voice is different even from the last time we heard him. To make sure I checked Tommy’s vod and it is completely different. He speaks slower, with more spaces, less enunciation, sometimes there’s a slight slurr to his voice. Bbh asks how he’s doing and he replies and goes to spin his clock. I don’t know how intentional this is but BBH asks what he’s doing and Dream stops and looks at the floor instead of at BBH.

29:33 - Bbh asks if spinning his clock is what Dream does in his free time and Dream says yes. He used to write but he burned a lot of his books. He doesn’t say why. We can assume based off what he said he doesn’t write anymore. That means all he has to do is spin his clock round and round. After BBH opens the chest 6 spaces are empty. One book is on the lectern. He assumedly burnt all the books Tommy made him write. Why? He never elabirates on this so we don’t know

29:52 - Bbh asks if Dream likes it in here and Dream takes almost 3 seconds to respond. He describes it as “really good”. Before while bbh is talking about the cell he doesn’t say anything. He looks at the lava but doesn’t move towards it.

30:11 - Dream talks about how he gets potatoes :] But they’re raw :[. He goes close to the lava but comes back to talk to bad. Also whenever he walks he runs. Dream is notoriously very active, he bounces around he can’t do that in the cell so instead he runs from place to place. “he said he- I tried to get out and so he made it so I couldn’t have visitors for a few days but” He completely drops the potatoes conversation to say that then drops this conversation.

30:47 - Bbh tells Dream that he’s done bad things that got him in there. Dream doesn’t argue he simply repeats “that’s true”. He also says he gets to “think and think and think... and play with my clock”. In that sentence he looks at the damage pot dispenser then plays with his clock.

31:36 - When Bbh asks if Dream wants to hear what’s going on outside he perks up somewhat and asks how George and Sapnap are doing. He remarks after bbh says they probably miss that they haven’t visited him. He then makes a reason for it because there were a few days he couldn’t get visitors. Bbh accidentally rubs in that they haven’t come by at all and Dream goes and spins his clock for 31:24 - 31:33. He says nothing in this time, then he asks what’s happening outside.

32:41 - While bbh talks about that’s going on outside Dream spins his clock, he stops to chuckle at what Tommy’s up to. Bad says he’s sure a lot of people miss Dream while Dream is turned around and Dream snaps to attention looking at bad. He laughs at Techno “still doing the whole anarchy thing” then asks for a 3rd time what is happening outside. He goes back to spinning his clock while Bbh talks. At this point it’s very obvious how much Dream uses the clock. It’s like he relies on it.

33:28 - Bbh talks to Dream about the egg. He simply says “I remember the egg” and “that’s intresting” before going back and spinning his clock. “I don’t really have anything else other than the clock”. That’s sadly true. As far as he knows everyone hates him, he’s lost everything. The only thing he has left is his clock. Bbh asks if he’s named it and he has but he doesn't want too say the name. Instead of that he just keeps spinning it.

34:29 - Dream takes out at book and starts writing in it. Bbh asks what he’s writing but Dream doesn't reply simply giving bad the completed book. It’s titled “thank you!” and the inside says “thank you for visiting me badboyhalo!” Dream tells bad he won’t be able to take it out. Bbh says that once Dream gets out he can take it with him. Dream doesn't reply and spins his clock. If you haven’t noticed how much he uses this clock you’re blind. He says that his sentence is forever when bad asks. “Forevers not that long” Way to rub it in bad. At least Dream chuckles a little.

35:40 - Bad tells him he likes what he’s done with the place before realizing how that sounds. Dream moves his clock to the other side of the room. “I like to watch it and then when it hits halfway *pause* then *pause* then I’m happy”. Note that in this chunk Dream is particularly bad at replying to bbh. They watch the clock move together. Dream says that it was “awesome” he seems to not have been the biggest fan of redecotaring because he moves his clock back to it’s original location.

36:43 - Dream makes a sound like when you are sad and have to take a breath before you start crying. He says that he doesn’t know what else he’s supposed to do. Bad mentions that Dream has a heat source. From that we can assume that Dream’s tiny prison is pretty darn hot. He also asks how long he’e been in there suggesting that he has lost track of time. That’s pretty common in people who are in solitary confinement. Bad gives a timeline of a few weeks to 2 weeks. For reference the United Nations says solitary confinement for more than 15 days is torture.

37:20 - Bad asks who’s come and visit Dream, Dream says only Tommy and bbh is surprised. Dream remarks that “he’s the only one actually, until you” and goes to stand close to the lava. He goes close to it a second time while he justifies no one visiting by saying there’s limited visiting hours and overtime more people will (come visit).

38:18 - Dream tells bbh about the #epic prank he does on Sam where he burns his clock so he can see Sam and say hi. The clock that he’s spent most of his visit spinning. So he can see someone else. I wonder if Sam decided not to give Dream another clock what else he would do to get Sam to visit. Bbh asks if he gets in trouble for burning his clock and Dream says sometimes he gets less potatoes.

"oh so he starves you"

"no I'm not s- I dunno- I wouldn't say I'm starving but-"

"you have 3 square meals a day?"

"........... i have potatoes"

The concerning parts are how much he stumbles over his words and the I wouldn’t say I’m starving. What would you say you are then?

39:38 - Dream chuckles and throws his clock into lava. It’s gone now. Let’s see if he acts any different. Dream moves around a bunch while talking about what will happen later, you can hear his chuckle and smile at his ‘prank’. Dream tells bad that Sam is going to make a system so that the potatoes are dropped in so he doesn't have to see him to give him potatoes. Bbh says that he should keep sam from doing it because doesn’t it brighten his day? Dream admits it does but everything here is automated so it’ll make it better. Bbh asks if awesamdude treats Dream well and Dream says he does while he keeps glancing at the lava.

40:28 - Dream sniffles and tells bbh that it’s fine in here. He has his clock and his book and,,, he’s happy in here...right? He finishes off that sentence by sniffling and clearing his throat. All signs point to him not being happy in here. Where before he would spin his clock now he,,,, tries not to cry. Bbh asks if he’s allowed to have anything else, Dream tells him he can ask. While bbh talks about how maybe he could get a potted plant he sniffles again. Dream is obviously upset but he does as Dream does and says he’s okay and things are fine.

42:00 - Bbh asks who Dream wants to come visit him, he says that he wants george and sapnap to come visit him. Bbh accidentally makes it sound like they don’t want to visit Dream, he says that they probably just need to be reminded that Dream is available for visitors. Dream takes 4 seconds to reply and it’s just a sad “yea”. Bbh tells him to look on the bright side and Dream just looks at the floor. I think that he knows that George and Sapnap don’t like/hate him. He also takes awhile to reply to Bbh saying that he’s been on good behavior right? If that’s because he hasn’t or because Sam’s idea of good behavior is hard for Dream we don’t know.

42:51 - Dream throws himself into lava and Bbh reacts with horror yelling at him what is he doing? He says that sometimes he swims in there. What exactly made him decide to swim in the lava? Maybe him remembering how he he lost his friends, maybe him realizing he’ll never be free, maybe he was bored? We don’t know. What we do know is in this cell healthy coping mechanisms do not exist. They aren’t allowed to exist by nature of it. He tells bab that going into the lava keeps him entertained and sometimes he likes to set himself on fire with it. He demonstrates this and while bad asks if it’s a prank he just chuckles. This demonstrates how in the cell he’s willing to put himself physically into harms way for any more stimulation. It’s sad honestly.

44:12 - Dream says that bbh’s time is probably almost up and thanks him for visiting him. Bbh says he wants to get Dream a pet and improve his living conditions. Dream talks about how long it takes to break a block, he once sat there for over 20 minutes with basically no progress. He helped design the prison and knows that if he broke a block the guard would be teleported in (and kill him). He realizes if bbh becomes a guard it could be a way to get him to come visit him :D he’ll simply punch a block for hours until it breaks so the people tasked to kill him can be there. Dream is desperate for human contact. He realizes that would make awesam really mad and he doesn’t want to do that.

44:35 - Bbh says maybe he can get his sentence commuted from forever to 10 or 20 years. Dream says he’d like that if he has good behavior. I can’t help but feel noones idea of good behavior is lining up. Sam wants to think and see Dream as little as possible. Dream, I don’t know what Dream considers good behavior. Bbh sees good behavior as not trying to escape or messing with anything. Bbh says he doesn't wanna get Dream’s hopes but but Dream should look in the bright side. Dream sniffles and clears his throat. As this goes on it gets harder for him to not cry it seems. Bad tells Dream to look on the bright side and Dream says alright in a way that obviously suggests he wont.

45:43 - Bad says that he’ll come visit Dream again really soon. He says he’ll bring George and Sapnap, Dream reminds him only 1 person can visit at a time. Bad says then he’ll schedule for them to visit. Bbh alost saays that they need to visit their friend but instead says they need to visit you (Dream) instead. From Dream’s POV this celents that they don’t care for him anymore. Bbh ends his visit and Dream somehow sounds more dejected than ever.

50:42 - Sam while HOLDING a clock says that he might not give Dream a new clock. It also doesn’t matter whether Dream knows if it’s daytime or not. Bbh seems to have picked up how important the clock is to Dream. Sam also asks if Dream “said anything(????)” while he was in there. He also says that Dream swims in a lot a lot and usually he just wants attention. Sam also says with the way Dream has been acting that he probably won’t get his sentence commuted.

Overall very concerning! From the way Dream relied on an inanimate object and the moment it was he started sniffling, to how he talked and sounded different, to how he swims in lava and sets himself on fire for fun, to how he’s starved if he misbehaves, to how he was spaced out and slow to respond. This all paints a picture of someone not doing well but pretending he isn’t. If he were to not get a new clock, and sam installs the automated potatoes machine I feel like he would get worse much faster. Unless bbh gets on that prison reform fast it’s not looking good for him. Not even getting on how the warden of the prison hates his guts.

#dreamwastaken #dsmp #dsmpblr #badboyhalo #awesamdude #dream smp #dsmp tumblr #pandora's vault #warden sam #dream #prison arc #issa me post

436 notes · View notes

lin-nin · 4 years ago

Text

Tribulation & Tenderness - Chapter 6

Ship: Main Technoblade x Reader, some Dream x Reader

Plot: You're a princess in a Kingdom suffering a years long famine. In a desperate attempt to help your people, you accept one simple offer: Marriage to the crown prince of a neighboring kingdom. Anything to help your people survive. Surely it can't be too bad, can it?

Chapter List: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Disclaimer: Cross-posted on Wattpad (discontinued) and Ao3. This is based off of everyone's CHARACTERS. I do not write fanfic based off the actual people.

Chapter 6: Farewell Gifts

< | Previous Chapter

The morning sun had begun filling your room, sneaking through parted curtains to cover everything in a warm glow. You had been reluctant to stir, a sense of melancholy hanging around you. You knew exactly why that was. You would be leaving tomorrow morning. There was good and bad to it, you supposed. You were introduced to a taste of freedom and new possibilities that came with this marriage. Yet it still meant saying goodbye to everything you knew here.

You slowly turned over in your bed, moving out of it. Might as well start the day, though. Moping wouldn’t get too much accomplished. You padded over towards the window, peering out of it for a few moments. The sun covered the land beyond the castle in a pleasant glow. Nature carried on like nothing was going to happen, and you couldn’t help but huff. You needed to as well. Even as you looked to the horizon, wondering what it held for you. Hopefully a decent life.

You hardly thought too much as you grabbed a dress, sliding it over your body. You didn’t even know what today held for you, either. You would find out after breakfast, though. That’s usually how things went for you. Taking each day as it came. You slid on your shoes, fastening them tightly. Take today one step at a time. Tomorrow would come when it came.

The door to your room creaked quietly as you opened it, being careful to shut it softly. It clicked as it slid into pace, and you rubbed your face. Food would undoubtedly help you get in a better mood. Having your mind busy while you were on an empty stomach was hardly a good idea.

“Good, you’re awake. We’ve got a busy day ahead of us,” A voice called out. You jumped, a startled yelp escaping your lips. You covered your mouth as you sought out the voice, glaring at the owner. Dream was lounging against a wall across from you, and you reached out to shove at him playfully.

“Are you trying to make my soul leave my body?!” A laugh escaped him, though it felt almost tense. Was he still bothered by dinner last night? You didn’t care to mess with it, though. He’d likely get over himself. He usually did.

“Maybe I am. Do I get to keep you here if I do?” He mused as they walked, heading towards the dining hall once again. Like it was a normal morning. You truly wished it was, honestly. Nonetheless, you sighed, head shaking.

“You know I can’t stay, Dream. As much as you want me to. This is a matter bigger than you or I. Besides! I think it’ll be good for me, don’t you think?” You beamed over at him. It seemed like it would do you good, truthfully. It was presenting you with at least one option you had never been offered here: Training. The opportunity to fight and defend yourself. You deserved that much at least, right?

“I think it’ll be dangerous. They’ve never had a good reputation, how do I know you’ll be safe?” He threw back in rebuttal, making you sigh heavily. Always fretted over your wellbeing.

“Techno said it’s not that bad, I have no reason to not believe him.” You settled into your normal spot at the table. Breakfast was much simpler than dinner. The food was already set out, waiting to be eaten. You didn’t waste time, reaching for a few various dishes to eat.

“I beg to differ,” Dream murmured as he also sat, grabbing stuff to eat as well. You rolled your eyes, not in the mood for whatever was with him. He just didn’t like Techno, for whatever reason. Always so protective of you. Though it was reassuring in a weird way.

“Whatever you say. What have you got planned for me today?” You queried instead, eager to change the subject away from your fiancé. You really didn’t want to deal with whatever problem there was with that subject.

“Going out to the markets in town. Make sure there isn’t anything that you need before leaving. Let the people in the capital see you one last time. It’ll probably eat most of your day, though,” He said. That was fine. It sounded like a good plan. You could do with a few things from the market. A few things to remind you of home.

You nodded for a couple of heartbeats, finishing the mouthful of food in your mouth before speaking. “That sounds fine to me. I wouldn’t mind picking up a couple of things to bring along. Oh! Techno! Good morning.” The pink-haired prince had walked into the dining hall when you were speaking to Dream. He settled across from you, glancing briefly to Dream before you.

“Good morning,” he finally returned, causing you to smile. Dream practically brooded beside you as your attention shifted away from him. You just elected to ignore it for the time being. He’d probably be just fine once the both of you were in the market. You were allowed to exchange some words with Techno before heading out for the day, at least.

“Did you sleep well?” You asked, reaching for your cup with a contented hum. He nodded in response, gaze moving to Dream. You warily eyed the pair of them, trying to read whatever silent stand off they seemed to be having. Was it over the whole training thing? Either way, it was ridiculous and you did not want to deal with whatever tension was between them.

Clearing your throat, you attempted conversation once more with a soft, “Did you finish your books?” Techno’s gaze quickly pivoted back to you, seeming to forget about Dream for a few minutes. Good.

“Most of them. I couldn’t finish the last one before I needed to sleep,” He replied. You nodded in acknowledgment. That was impressive, though. It did make you wonder how much he slept. Not like you could tell. Not with that mask on his face.

“Well, you can finish that one today. Dream and I are going out to the market to pick up some things before I leave. I’ll probably spend time with my family after dinner,” You explained. You wiped at your hands, turning to look at Dream and offering him a smile.

“We’ll have plenty of time to talk starting tomorrow,” Techno mused. There was something almost smug in his voice, and you could hear Dream huff beside you. What the hell had happened with them? You weren’t given much time to ponder, as Dream stood up and held a hand towards you.

“Ready?” He asked, and you nodded slightly. You eyed his hand for a few moments, debating on if you should take it. You ultimately did, allowing him to pull you up. You waved towards Techno, offering him a smile. Even as you were nearly hauled away by Dream, you could hear that huff of his that signified laughter. He met your wave with a shake of his head, returning the action all the same.

You were content, despite how quickly Dream was walking. The interactions with Techno were pleasant, and increasingly less awkward. You caught up with Dream, letting go of his hand as you did. “Alright, do you have any specific plans on where to visit?” You questioned, forcing him to slow down.

“Not exactly. I figure we can just walk through the market, see what catches your eye,” He mumbled. You nodded along, finding it fair enough. You didn’t entirely know what you were looking for. So, for that reason, browsing around didn't seem too bad of an idea.

The walk wasn't too long. Slowly the calm path towards the castle morphed into busy streets, teeming with life. The heart of the capital was alive with noise, vendors in their stalls calling to people in the streets. The smell of various foods wafted in the air around you as you walked, a certain type of happiness settling in your chest. It was easy to forget the melancholy that hung around the castle while you were here.

It wasn't too long of wandering before you were noticed. Vendors would excitedly call to you, trying to get you to buy some of their wares. You did always look, complimenting whatever they were selling half the time. From one stand, you purchased a trinket box, the metal heavy in your hands. The sun caught onto the ornate lid, causing the jewels set into it to sparkle. The sides were less flashy, but still well made, with roses carved into the side. It spoke to you, practically, reminding you warmly of the kingdom you were going to leave.

As you continued your trek, an older voice called to you with urgency, a soft, "Princess! Come, come!" An older man beckoned to you, age wearing down his face and hands. You didn't even need to think twice, walking towards him with Dream in tow. The man behind you was busying himself with a stuffed bun he had bought, seemingly content to just follow you. The old man smiled as you walked over, looking down to his wares.

Knives and daggers covered the majority of the surface, though there was an occasional sword or bundle of arrows. The handles had intricate designs carved into the leather, though the blades were no less sharp or decorated. "I hear you're going on a dangerous journey soon," The man's voice interrupted you. You moved your attention to his face, meeting his gaze calmly.

"It's really not as dangerous as everyone is making it seem," You explained, offering a smile. The man just laughed, shaking his head at you.

"Off, alone, with a man too afraid to show his face and hides behind the face of a beast. If he is comfortable wearing the face of a beast, surely he is one himself." There was an edge to his voice and you could only sigh. Gossip from servants traveled fast, and it seemed stories of Techno's appearance had already reached the capital. You didn't care too much, though his words were minutely unsettling.

"You need to protect yourself from him. I have the perfect thing for you- free of charge. We can't have you getting hurt in enemy territory." He explained, rustling around to pick up one of the daggers. You were tempted to protest the price, surely not wanting to take from him. It wasn't right. Even if he did offer. Yet you could tell he wouldn't accept a single coin you gave him.

He presented the dagger to you for inspection, which you did humor. It was a pretty dagger, a dark leather grip with flowers sitting amongst vines of thorns. The cross guard was simple, curved, with a flower sitting in the middle of either side. The pommel similarly matched, while the thorned vines crawled down onto the design in the metal. It felt perfect in your hands, and you could have sworn the man had made it just for you.

You looked up to him, his dark eyes twinkling with something you couldn't place. "It's beautiful, thank you," You murmured your thanks. Any thought of rejecting it had left you the moment the leather fell to your hand. He seemed delighted by this, reaching to take it back to put it in a sheath. The sheath was put into a belt before being handed off to you.

"Keep yourself safe, little one," he told you. You nodded, fingers running along the leathed of the belt. You didn't really wear belts, so it felt almost foreign in your grip.

"Here," Dream interrupted, picking up the belt. He didn't waste time in fastening it around your waist, the dagger comfortably sitting against your hip. It was positioned so that your dominant hand could grab the dagger easily, should you need it.

"I thought you didn't want me to have weapons," You grumbled. Dream was silent as he resumed his earlier position, walking with you once more. With each step, the dagger hit your hip. It was a foreign feeling, but not an unwelcome one.

"I don't, but I don't trust Technoblade. A dagger is straightforward enough to use. Even you can't fuck it up." He sounded bitter at the mention of Techno, but seemed to divert it to light hearted teasing. You huffed, rolling your eyes.

"Maybe I'll try it on you first." You shoved him with your shoulder, unable to hide your laugh at his affronted gasp.

"You wouldn’t!" His exclamation was followed by a laugh, and you couldn’t help but smile. He was one of the things you would miss.

The sun climbed even higher into the sky as the pair of you walked, with you buying a few trinkets. You bought a few pieces of jewelry from various vendors, too fond of their work to part with it. Who knew when you would be given the chance to visit this market again. You and Dream had stopped by a small bakery to eat lunch, listening to the tales around you and watching the streets.

It was only when the sun was falling, and the daytime vendors began to pack up, that you started your way back. Dinner time would be soon. As the streets emptied, the activity dwindling down, you felt the melancholy creep back over you once more.

"I got you something," Dream finally interrupted, causing you to look up at him. Your eyebrows knitted for a moment, trying to remember when he had snuck off to get it. Or maybe he had brought it with him.

"You did?" You asked, pausing in the street.

"I got it earlier this week, but today seemed a good time to give it to you," He explained, rustling around for a few moments. He grasped a small bag, pulling it out and untying it. He didn't look directly at you as he pulled out the piece inside, instead focused solely on it.

It was a necklace- a very extravagant one at that. You don't think you'd ever had one like it. Multiple strands of beads connected three large jewels together, with charms comprised of smaller jewels in the shape of roses dangling from it intermittently. The light caught the yellow jewels, though red tinged the outside of them. It was always roses, wasn't it? It always had been.

In the very middle sat a metal plate, carved with the image of a picked rose with its thorns clipped. It was pretty. You couldn’t even imagine how much it cost. "Thank you, Dream. You didn’t have to get me something like this," You had started. He huffed in response, moving behind you to drape it around your neck.

"I know, but I wanted to. I hope whenever you wear it you think of me," he mumbled as he fastened it, the comfortable weight settling against your neck. You touched it, smiling softly.

"I will, Dream. Don't make me cry, though. There's too much left to do today." You knew you would be a mess by the end of the night. After all, this was your family you were leaving. It was going to sting just a little.

The walk back to the castle was relatively silent. Dream was thinking about something, but you didn't press. You weren't sure you could handle it right now. Once you had returned and eaten dinner, it was time to spend time with your family. Which, truthfully, you were glad to. Dream didn't protest on going home, though he did send a final accusatory glance at Techno as he left.

The prince didn't linger after dinner, simply bidding you a good night as he went to retire to his own rooms. You were fine with that, though. It let you put your whole concentration on your family as the four of you sat in one of the rooms. You all spoke fondly of everything you could think of. All of you were almost reluctant to say goodnight.

"I can't believe my baby is leaving tomorrow," Your mom finally broached the topic. You offered a sad smile, moving to hug her.

"I'll always write to you," you whispered, face nestled into her neck. She didn't say anything for a long while, just holding you there. You didn't complain, letting her do so. As she pulled back after she seemed ready, she reached for the blanket that had been sat in her lap.

"This was my great grandmother's, and has been passed down to the eldest daughter of everyone in our family. It's your turn to take it," She murmured, handing it to you. The weave was heavy, the red fabric carefully twined with golden accents. You could tell it was old, but you were extremely glad to have it.

"Thank you, I'll cherish it. Should I have any daughters, I'll give it to them as well." It was unknown if you would have children. It depended on how the marriage required itself to be upheld. Your gaze turned to your dad next.

"You always were getting into trouble and going on adventures. Don't get into too much trouble over there, okay?" He murmured affectionately, offering you a hug. This one wasn't nearly as long as your mother's, but that was fine. He wasn't as attached as your mother, nor as affectionate, so the hug meant the world to you.

You had nodded, not trusting your words right now. This was the worst part. Leaving. The goodbyes. Even harder was turning to George, who stared at you with an almost sad smile. "I'm going to miss you. Who else am I going to walk through the gardens with now?" He asked, causing you to give a watery laugh. You imagined he would make do.

"You always did love the gardens, so here's a piece of home. Only some light reading." He extended a hand, holding a thick book out to you. The leather cover was embossed with various flowers, and you smiled. It was a flower guide. Flowers were important to your kingdom, and though you were fond of them you never bothered to learn them. Now it was time, you supposed.

"I'll miss you, George. Try not to have too much fun without me," Your voice cracked as you spoke. He nodded, arms curling tightly around you within seconds. You sniffled, hiding against his shoulder and clinging to him. His hugs were always the best, not having them readily available to you would hurt. You didn't like it.

"Just promise me you'll write and take care of yourself." You could only nod as his voice reverberated through you. You didn't want to let go, but the seconds bled into minutes and sleep was calling you. Even as reluctant as you were, you did let go.

"I'll write to everyone. As often as I can," You said. You choked a little, refusing to say goodbye. Even as you walked with George to your room, you couldn't bring yourself to say the word. Maybe tomorrow would be better. Next Chapter | >

#dream x reader #dream #dream smp #dream team #dreamwastaken #kingdom au #reader insert #sleepy bois family #sleepy bois inc #technoblade x reader #technoblade #t&t

292 notes · View notes

theparkau · 3 years ago

Text

Park AU P3!

Its that time again! More park AU updates!!

Next up in the park au line up is all the 12 year old's! (and some designs that i think are overall really solid.)

AU info and design rambles under the cut :)

First in line we have Punz! Older brother to purpled (9) and can be found just...around the park. If you know where to look.

I think his design is pretty ok. I didn't really do much different with it than his actual skin, but for once i think it actually somewhat works ya know? However maybe next time I will lean a bit more into the shape langue he has going on.

He’ll do almost anything for the right price. ( The price usually being someone's lunch money/ any snack foods he likes), Punz isn't exactly easy to bribe, but it can definitely be done, and is done quite a bit.

Next up in the Line is Connor, I love his design. He’s sonic with the with the wario overalls. He’s got Pokémon cards, he has a purple under shirt that matches the purple in his wario overalls, he wears blue socks that match his sonic onesie/hoodie. The only reason I didn't give him red shoes was because he’d be too powerful then. So much fun 10/10

He sort of hangs out by the picnic tables and waits for kids to come and hang out and talk about Pokémon with him/ battle with him. Once techno hears about this he also starts bringing his cards to the park and they like to trade and battle and just kind of talk about Pokémon. Bench trio also stops by occasionally.

Niki! ok so in the last post I talked about how I kind of wanted Niki and Jack manifold to sort of match visually (because their best friends). Just to both be bright and colorful and represent those two ends of the kids clothing spectrum.

This is how Niki turned out!... its definitely better than Jack manifold, I think I'm gonna be making just a few slight changes in the future. Like I like the blue, pink, burgundy color pallet I seem to have going. while I'm not the biggest fan of the yellow. And I'm also probably gonna make her leggings and sweater a solid color rather than their being patterns because it just looks a little to busy. But yeah for the rest of the design I love it.

Niki's family owns the local bakery “The Honey Bunny”, she plays soccer, (George occasionally coming to goalie), and She does self defense training/ sparring with Techno. Her and techno tend to hang out while she bakes, him often reading aloud, And jack manifold and Niki tend to talk a ton about various movies (mostly sci fi and fantasy and super hero's because their both geeks). Jack manifold, Eret, Niki, Fundy, and Wilbur are a pretty tight nit friend group.

Now for Quackity, I absolutely love his design its one of my favorites! I think the colors and shapes are just super solid, and I love his tiny duck wing backpack. (like those small bags that they try and market to mostly older kids and teens in middle/high school. and how some of them also have like little themes. He has one and its black with duck wings:))

He’s really close with Sapnap and Karl, and their known as the besties (instead of the fiancés ya know) he also hangs out a ton with foolish, Wilbur, Charlie, dream, Sam, and purpled. and sometimes fundy, tubbo and schlatt too. really he’s just a huge extravert. Later on in the au (mid to late high school) he and Wilbur run for class president against each other, and foolish and him start up a small business customizing shoes for people. (Its really popular with the misfits and Beasts crew.)

Dream. His design is fine. its solid. it does what it needs to do and says what it needs to say. I think it matches pretty well with his sister Drista (6). There are some things i would change, but for now I'm happy with it.

Dream is friends with Sapnap, George, and bad, along with the Minecraft brothers. He often asks favors of Punz and can be seen doing parkour with Charlie. I've mentioned before in previous posts that he goes on missions to search for George, as he’ll often sleep through his curfew and get grounded if someone doesn't wake him up and remind him to go home. Later in the au (late middle school) He’s foster brothers with foolish and lives with puffy. He and Drista visit as often as they can.

AU credits: squeed/Vibe

Art Credits: Tooknoken

If you want to see any more of the park au you can check out our other posts here :)

Park AU1

Park AU2

47 notes · View notes

qqueenofhades · 3 years ago

Note

pel!ivan and fedyor went through a lot of ups and some downs from the end of pel and 2021 but they also celebrated 10 years together 🥳 i hope fedyor shoved cake into ivan’s face and also you know, im sure they were mushy like the saps they are

Ivan was supposed to be out of here ten minutes ago – actually, at this point, more like twenty – but the clients are still fucking talking, and if they keep it up much longer, he’s going to add it to the bill for “initial consultation.” Drew has a man-bun and unbearably hip black glasses, and works as a developer for some start-up app that he’s tried to convince Ivan to download at least twelve times. (What does the app actually do? Don’t know don’t care.) Mia is thin, blonde, waifish, smells like essential oils, and has been flitting around with her smartphone the entire time, getting in Ivan’s way as she snaps perfectly filtered pictures of the “developmental process” and posts them nonstop on Instagram. They both have a lot of opinions on how they want the energy of the space to feel, and a preapproved list of ethically sourced suppliers. They have paid some ludicrous price for this converted loft in Prospect Heights and chose the location for its proximity to the best farmer’s markets and hippie coffeehouses. Did Ivan die? Is this hell?

Somewhat ostentatiously, he looks at his watch. “Okay,” he announces. “I think that wraps up. You have work number, so – ”

“Oh, just one more thing!” Drew has recently read one (1) book on home design and thinks he’s an expert, so Ivan is forced to suffer his idiotic opinions about the kind of tile they want to use on the kitchen backsplash. Somehow, he manages not to roll his eyes directly out of his head, for which he should be commended. Ivan has discovered that the secret of successfully dealing with people, especially clients, is to smile and nod at everything they say, while mercilessly mocking them in your head. Amazing, the things you learn as a small-business owner in Brooklyn in the year of our lord 2021. Especially when it comes to renovating overpriced tiny gentrified apartments for insufferable techno-douchebags and their vapid influencer girlfriends. And people think Ivan might want to live like this more often? No fucking thank you.

Finally (it’s another ten minutes after that, this is definitely going on the bill), they more or less wrap up, except for the fact that Mia then wants a picture with the three of them. “It’s just so important to us that we’re supporting the immigrant community,” she explains earnestly. “After all, being open, tolerant, learning from our neighbors, people who are different from us, that’s what life is all about. We just love that you’re foreign. The energy feels so right, you know?”

Ivan wonders whether to inform her that he has lived in this country for eight years and been a full citizen (passport and voting rights and everything) for three, then decides that this would venture into sharing-personal-information territory and he is having none of it. His English has improved to the point where he can handle almost all business transactions by himself, but feigning incomprehension can sometimes get him out of them when they turn really stupid. Unfortunately, that isn’t an option here, and so he diligently leans into the frame, smiling half an inch, while Mia snaps a picture of “us and our adorable Russian contractor!!” Ivan informs her of the correct flag emoji to add to the filter, decides that he’s going to add an extra fifty bucks just for that, and finally, finally, makes his escape.

It’s rush hour, and the Q is crammed as Ivan heads into midtown. So much for social distancing and not getting too close to anyone, which is the only thing from the pandemic that he wouldn’t mind keeping. Only about half the crowd is wearing masks, including him, and so he gets off at Times Square, dodges the latest lunatic standing on a soapbox and shouting about how it is all a hoax, and walks several blocks uptown, just to get some space. He finally reaches the restaurant, where he has to flash his vaccination card to get inside (Ivan, who remains Russian to the marrow of his bones, is a little irked that he couldn’t get Sputnik here and had to settle for Pfizer) and climbs up to the open-air rooftop terrace. It is only when he spots his husband, waiting at a table that overlooks the glittering evening lights of the city, when Ivan pulls off his mask and allows himself to properly smile. “Sorry I’m late,” he says. “They are the worst.”

“I figured it was something like that.” Fedyor musters a smile in return, though his eyes look permanently tired these days and Ivan would bet that he’s been scrolling through more depressing emails on his phone. Technically Fedyor is on a two-month sabbatical from work, but he can’t stop himself, and Ivan has had to pry it from his fingers on a number of occasions. “But you’re here now. That’s what matters.”

Ivan nods stoutly, they are furnished with the drinks and appetizers list, and when the waiter asks if there’s any special occasion tonight, tell him that they are celebrating their ten-year anniversary, albeit somewhat late. This was supposed to happen last spring, but obviously, nobody in New York was going out to a restaurant in the early months of 2020, and Ivan himself had barely gotten home from the hospital and still could be knocked over in a strong breeze. They’re celebrating a lot of things tonight, in other words, even if it’s now been eleven years, not ten, since the day Ivan marched into a Red Square coffee shop and engaged in – well, Fedyor has made sure to inform him that the first date didn’t go nearly as well as Ivan always thought it did. But it worked, didn’t it? Here they are, wedding bands on their fingers, a couple of successful American urban professionals who have built a nice life for themselves and are, if anything, even more madly in love than they were when this whole nutty adventure together first began. So really, if you ask Ivan Sakharov Kaminsky, it went just fine after all.

The waiter congratulates them, gives them two drinks for the price of one, and they both relax and start to talk, fully at ease in the way they only are in each other’s company. Ivan does his Mia impression in an extremely convincing falsetto (after all, [NAME REDACTED] has practice at this) and Fedyor almost dies laughing. They hold hands on the table – no need to hold them under the table – and gaze into each other’s eyes all they want, order dinner and dessert, and take a long time about it. They raise several toasts to this, to them, to ten years, may there be many more. Ivan pays the bill, his treat, and they walk slowly back to Times Square, hand-in-hand, Fedyor’s head nestled on Ivan’s shoulder. It’s New York. Nobody cares.

They ride the Q home, in all its smelly, secondhand glory, taking an hour to bang out to Brighton Beach and descending the elevated stairs into the familiar down-at-heel comfort of their Russian-American neighborhood, neon Cyrillic signs glowing in windows and somebody shouting about how if Sergei ever shows his face here again, she is going to cut his dick off. Ivan and Fedyor look at each other and snort, resisting the urge to shout up and ask what exactly Sergei did, and walk a few more minutes to their building. They climb up three flights of stairs to their apartment, unlock the door and the deadbolt, and step inside.

The instant they are home, Rasputin shoots out of nowhere, yowling as if he has been neglected for months, and curls himself around Ivan’s ankles (he is still liable to give Fedyor evil looks when he feels that this interloper has been stealing his human too often). Ivan sighs, trudges to the kitchen, points out to Rasputin that his food bowl is still half full, gets a wounded look in return, and adds an extra scoopful. Once the cat is happily snarfing down, Fedyor pulls Ivan by the hand, into the dim living room with its blowing curtains. “Come here, my love,” he says. “Hold me.”

Ivan does as ordered, because it’s his favorite thing in the world: cuddling Fedyor close, nothing but the two of them in all of time and space, swaying slowly in the blue hour with fingers and arms and hearts entwined. Ivan kisses Fedyor’s temple, and Fedyor nestles even closer, melted into his embrace. “I love you, Vanya,” he mumbles against Ivan’s collarbone. “I love you so much. I love you more than anything in the world. I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“I love you too, Fedya.” Ivan leans down and kisses him properly, sweet and slow and lingering, as they continue to waltz in stately time to a music that nobody except the two of them can hear. “I’m still not always sure why you married me, but I am very glad you did.”

#heartrender husbands #fivan #fivan ff #ivan x fedyor #a phantom in enchanting light #pel asks #anonymous #ask #(in repayment for the pain i have inflicted on you with the lighthouse au)#(ahem)

31 notes · View notes