#QQ's Storytime

[verbosebabbler]

Links: ZampanioSim

Ok, here’s the list of links to things I found in the code. I still stayed out of AdventureSimWest and NorthNorth because I haven’t even seen those yet. Need to get to that. But I wanted to have all the external links I need to look through, at least so far, in one place (so I can do some research on mobile). I have them sorted here kinda. Since I haven’t actually seen them, I’m more organizing them based on just the urls. The urls have two dots in front of them because of a formatting thing I have to do for tumblr to prevent them from turning into those weird bubbles. I normally manually delete them and that lets them stay written out, but there’s just too many here so I’m leaving them. Just don’t include them in the copy paste. 

FarragoFiction AudioLogs

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/index.html?passPhrase=betterthanexpected 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/index.html?passPhrase=wasted 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/index.html?passPhrase=victory 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/?passPhrase=cheetoh_timeline 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/loras2.html?passPhrase=litrpg 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/?passPhrase=cheetohTimeline13 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/?passPhrase=cheetohTimeline1 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/index.html?passPhrase=sorry%20about%20the%20buttons 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/index.html?passPhrase=thebrocode 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/index.html?passPhrase=operation_not_permitted 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/index.html?passPhrase=tin 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/index.html?passPhrase=wasted 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/index.html?passPhrase=Mutation 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/index.html?passPhrase=gigglesnort 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/index.html?passPhrase=storytime 

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/index.html?passPhrase=shittypuzzles 

..http://farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/?passPhrase=Backrooms

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/loras2.html?passPhrase=NotMinotaur

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/loras2.html?passPhrase=Minotaur

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/?passPhrase=outruntherot

..http://www.farragofiction.com/AudioLogs/?passPhrase=thankyou

Knuckles Sux

..http://knucklessux.com/InfoTokenReader/?mode=loop 

..http://knucklessux.com/InfoTokenReader

..http://knucklessux.com/PuzzleBox

..http://knucklessux.com/PuzzleBox/Secrets/QQ/PublicDocs/AnIncompleteInvestigationOfNagaOperationalSecrecy.pdf

..http://knucklessux.com/PuzzleBox/Secrets/AlDaric/By_%20%5bdata%20lost%5d%20R6.pdf

..http://knucklessux.com/PuzzleBox/Secrets/QuotidianQuoromQuickStartGuide.pdf

Archive of Our Own

..https://archiveofourown.org/works/37066177

..https://archiveofourown.org/works/34647190

..https://archiveofourown.org/works/35075182

Itchio

..https://itch.io/t/1892336/sonaszampanio-ocs

Gigglesnort

..http://gigglesnort.info/magicant/

ZampanioSim Wiki

..https://zampaniosim.fandom.com/wiki/ZampanioSim"

..https://zampaniosim.fandom.com/wiki/ZampanioSim_Wiki

FarragoFiction Various

..http://www.farragofiction.com/ZampanioSimSim"

..http://farragofiction.com/FractalShitpost/ 

..http://farragofiction.com/SBURBSim/index_shogun.html/

..http://farragnarok.com/Zampanio 

..http://farragofiction.com/ZampanioHotlink/

..http://farragofiction.com/ZampanioGoshShouldYouTrustThis/

..http://farragofiction.com/GrapePie/

..http://farragofiction.com/TwoGayJokes/Stories/loop2_infoteamandother.png

..http://farragofiction.com/TwoGayJokes/Stories/ 

..http://farragofiction.com/CodexOfRuin/

..http://farragofiction.com/AdventureSimWest/?nostalgia=data_expunged_ending.txt

Miscellaneous

..http://demo.vhost.pandorabots.com/pandora/talk?botid=b24e32038e35520c

..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA_pulmonic_consonant_chart_with_audio

..https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/468574691087613952/863079687276986388/tumblr_qaosxmi6ET1xf64vf.mp4

..https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordplay_(The_Twilight_Zone)

GitHub

..https://github.com/FarragoFiction/LitRPGSim/blob/master/src/Screens/Secrets/JustTruth.tsx

..https://github.com/FarragoFiction/LitRPGSim/blob/master/src/Modules/ObserverBot/ObserverBot.ts

..https://github.com/FarragoFiction/AdventureSimulator/tree/master/public

PurpleFrog

..http://purplefrog.com/~jenny/

..http://www.purplefrog.com/~thoth/art/uzumaki/uvsquare.html

Farragnarok

..http://farragnarok.com/asdf

..http://farragofiction.com/ZampanioHotlink/Minotaur.png

Tumblr

..https://foxy-alien.tumblr.com

Discord

..https://discord.gg/tZmtKwnbac

[recsnrecaps]

A Love So Beautiful Episode 2 Recap: Can I Hop On Your Bike?

Netflix oh Netflix. Why do you tease me so! With that picture, I suddenly have visions of these two all grown up and married. No!! Please just let me live in their teenage past and experience their budding love.

So. The world building continues in episode 2. Jiang Chen still appears to be an emotionless robot, but the writers have crafted a believable sob story to explain his emotional detachment and why Xiaoxi is so protective of him.

I’m still not taken in with Jiang Chen’s character yet. And the issue isn’t with the acting at all. For the stoic lead, he has a generous amount of micro-expressions and his “poker face” matches his sarcastic quips. However, something in the writing/directing leaves more to be desired. The parts about Jiang Chen’s past feels like clunky exposition to me.

On the other hand, I’m really liking the second lead, Wu Bo Song 吴柏松.In any other show, Bo Song would have been the main lead. He’s a charming and sporty dude with a sense of humor. I do feel kinda upset every time he interacts with Xiaoxi though. As the second lead, he’s fated to not get the girl. But he really puts in so much more effort than Jiang Chen - it’s not fair!

At Bo Song’s swim competition, silly Xiaoxi jumbles up the characters on her hand-drawn cheer poster, leading to a "Wu Song Bo" instead. Hahaha! Later on, after the race, when Bo Song was getting harassed by interviewers, Xiaoxi and her poster comes to his rescue with a giant cheer. Bo Song appears really touched by her support, so much so that he offered to trade her for the poster.

The camera work during the dinner scene deliberately included many many lingering closeups of Bo Song's hopeful face. As well as his repeated requests for the poster. It's obvious to us that Bo Song places a great significance on what happened and really wanted a keepsake. However Xiaoxi doesn't place the same importance on the interaction. In her eyes, she was just keeping her word to come and watch the race - she was merely being a friend, and not a very good one at that (the poster typo being an embarrassing bit of evidence).

So. Storytime now. As an old codger I watch shows like this and cringe unabashedly at scenes of young love like this. I have been Xiaoxi in various situations in my life where I have been absolutely oblivious that my actions were leading someone on. I was just being myself, you know? In interactions with said guy, a sentence might have some significant meaning to the guy, but because things seem innocuous on the surface, I end up answering carelessly and hurting his feelings. 

Here, Xiaoxi is so preoccupied with her life (and Jiang Chen) that she isn’t able to be properly present in the conversation, thus completely missing the social cues from Bo Song.

Personally I find Bo Song’s attraction to Xiaoxi far more organic and interesting rather than the shoehorned Xiaoxi and Jiang Chen childhood friends next door arrangement. Perhaps it's because Bo Song is such an expressive actor. He also has such a natural chemistry with Xiaoxi, I enjoyed him popping up to save Xiaoxi and giving her bike rides. And the impetus for the bike rides are so spontaneous and fun. Early in the episode, he smoothly glided up to save her from a group of girls. And in another instance, when they needed to escape quickly from their teacher, she just mounted up on his bike and they sped away crazily. Ah, youth.

Of course, the title of this episode “Can I Hop On Your Bike?” actually refers to the bike ride that Xiaoxi wants Jiang Chen to give her. It’s establised early on in the episode that Xiaoxi lost her bike. So it’s a running gag that throughout the episode, Xiaoxi gazes mornfully at Jiang Chen whenever she needs a ride, and he always ignores her. But in end, he eventually does give her a ride to school. 

Unfortunately, the payoff is so disappointing in this episode. I don't feel inclined to root for Jiang Chen at all, not even when I learnt that he doesn't have parental support. Nor does Jiang Chen's discovery that "someone" came and looked after him when he was ill make me feel like there was any significant development in their relationship. The bike ride at the end seems more like “payment” for Xiaoxi’s care, rather than an actual joyful and spontaneous event. I personally feel like this cheapens Xiaoxi and Jiang Chen’s interaction. A key part of my inability to accept their relationship, is due to the lack of communication between them. Well, Xiaoxi tries. She has made her intentions Vey Clear. But Jiang Chen is still a closed box. And until he opens up and reciprocates, their interactions just seem awkward and forced.

On to other stuff now. This story occurs in 2005 and in this episode the directors do try make an effort to pay homage to the era. I'm reminded of my trusty old Nokia phone whenever one appears on screen. In those days, everyone had a Nokia. A phone was literally only able to be used for calling and texting. Apps hadn’t even been invented yet, so the telcos had a powerful monopoly on phone usage. Depending on your phone plan, every month you had a finite amount of call minute and text messages to make. Any extra text message past your limit would cost a ridiculous amount of money. You had to stay within the character limit for each text and ration your texts or end up with your parents refusing to pay your phone bills. I’m so glad that telecommunication these days have improved so drastically.

Speaking of communication, the Internet was a vastly different place back in 2005. As we learn in this episode, being a moderator for a fangirl website is a big honor. Back then, going on the Internet did not consist of scrolling mindlessly on Facebook. You actually had to look for the content you wanted. Thus, there were hives of activity on specialty sites, and each community developed their own form of management. Typically websites would consist of a forum section where users could post their questions and comments on various topics. For a fangirl site, this forum is arguably the most important part of the website. A moderator would have the power to highlight or sticky a post to the top, or delete and ban users.

Although Facebook was not available yet, there were various blogging and sharing sites on the Internet in 2005. As shown in the episode, QQ was widely popular in China (and still is). Each user account could access various functions on the platform which included a friends list, chat message, a personal blog and private memos.

Next historical relic spotted, the Warcraft poster pasted on the door of the Internet Cafe that the boys frequent. Warcraft was released in 2004, so that was absolutely the era of the original Warcraft game. There has been loads of Warcraft sequels since, but the poster is the classic original one. Kudos to the props team on that one.

In the previous episode, the boys spent time in the Internet Cafe as well, and I'm pretty sure that the game they were playing was Counterstrike - another massively popular computer game in that era. Counterstrike is a fantastic bonding game. Every round is approximately 2 to 5 minutes. There is almost no learning curve to this game. You literally team up with your buddies, connect to a game, and try to shoot down anyone who isn't on your team. In an hour, you theoretically could play 50 short games. It's low stress and involves loads of incoherent yelling. It's therefore really believable that the guys could become fast friends after just one gaming session. And that they would make plans to go regularly after school.

That marriage game though............ I'm not sure I ever encountered anything like that. It’s also not within my personal experience that any 16 year old guy would be interested in broadcasting his impending marriage with his virtual waifu. Haha, just my take but this mindset seems too modern for 2005.

I'll try to keep my eyes peeled for more 2005 pop culture references throughout this show.

[haybibiboi]

Storytime for the ProfoundBondDiscord based on a prompt by @cryptomoon  "Neighboring long time orchard owners, Dean of Winchester Family Apples and Cas of Eden Farms have been bitter rivals their whole lives. Eden Farms grows pears and Dean thinks that's absolutely stupid because it's Eden, they should grow apples. But that's beside the point. They've hated each other since they could walk. Now they each have taken over their family's farms and do their best to civilly ignore one another. Until! Some trees on the edge of their properties spontaneously cross breed and they are forced to figure out what to do with these co-parented Pearapples. Applepears?"

[haybibiboi]

Smile for the Camera, Honey.

Based on a Photo prompt By @pallasperilous​

“Herb Ritts' classic k.d.lang/Cindy Crawford photoshoot but make it Destiel “

“You look absolutely ridiculous with that shaving cream mustache.”  Cas could see Dean’s nostrils flare twice before he commented casually, “it smells nice.”

“Did you know they use shaving cream to replace whipped cream when they photograph pie?” Cas murmured trying not to move lest he move his shaving cream mustache. Dean snorted disgustedly from the back of his throat. He kept his face at a near pornographic smolder. It would have been sexier if they hadn’t been holding this pose for some time already.

And would probably be holding it for sometime yet. The photographer cursed loudly. “Sorry guys I swear, I don’t know what’s wrong.” The glare of the flash lights disembodied her voice making her like a very frazzled ghost.  “No problem, Becky take your time.” Dean said not looking away from Cas. Then he muttered under his breath “I’m gonna be sore n’a’mornin...I think this bathin suit’s ridin up.”

“Well i’m perfectly comfortable.” Cas said patting the hip of Dean’s that pointed away from the camera.

Dean flinched. His lips twitched. He was trying to keep a sultry expression and failing. “Stop. That tickles and you know it, you son of a bitch.” Castiel hummed. “Doesn’t your neck hurt?” 

 “No. It gets frequent exercise.”

Dean’s eyes were shining in an effort to keep from laughing. He gasped out “is that--supposed to be you --flirting?” 

 “Yes, that was a flirtation.”

“Cas, that’s-- terrible.” A tear threatened to fall. If it did, Becky was gonna kill them. Cas checked out of the corner of his eye even though he couldn’t see anything beyond the bright lights. He brought his hidden hand  up and wiped at the eye carefully with his pointer finger.  

When he replaced his hand, Dean could feel the tear on his skin. Castiel’s eyes were hooded, he looked so in love that it almost took Dean’s breath away. “I love you.”  “Awe, common Cas. You know I-- We’re at work.”  And damn it all if Cas didn’t even look disappointed by that. He was still looking at Dean as if he hung the moon every night. God--”I love you too, buddy.”  There were about 10 clicks from the camera in rapid succession and three or four people cheered. “Got it! Finally! Sorry guys, you can get down from that pose now and shake out if you need it.” Becky Called.  “Okay.” Dean called. Then his face pulled tight into a grimace. “I think i’m stuck.” Castiel’s laugh rumbled between them and Dean gasped as he tried to move one of his legs. “Not funny.”  “Take your time, Dean.” Cas said stretching his neck a bit. “I’m enjoying the view.”

[haybibiboi]

Make'em Pink

Summary:

He was about to delete his spam when an ad line caught his eye: 'Rona killin' your vibe? Satisfy your lover remotely! Curious as all hell, he clicked the link.

Rated E:

Dean Winchester/Castiel Alternate Universe - Human

Alternate Universe - Office

Friends With Benefits

Vibrators

Anal Plug

Mutual Masturbation

Semi-Public Sex

Humiliation

but only slightly - Freeform

Accidental Exhibitionism

valentines day

Kraft promotion

catching feelings

I promise I love Sam

love in the time of the rona