#Quick and fun experiences that offer a lot for what you pay

[goombasa]

Penny's Big Breakaway Makes Me So Happy

So about a month ago (more like a month and a half by the time this post actually goes up), a game by the studio Evening Star (made up of the same folks who helped to make Sonic Mania) called Penny's Big Breakaway dropped.

The minute I saw the first trailer for this game, it immediately got my attention for being a bright and colorful 3D platformer that wasn't a collect-a-thon, with movement that reminded me of a mix of Mario precision and Sonic speed, like a potential Gamecube platformer that never got released. And when it dropped on Switch, it was an immediate grab for me, and I am so glad I did, because this is a game that really makes me feel like I'm back in high school again, in the best way possible.

It's a linear, straightforward platformer, with each world broken up into 3-5 individual levels, each level a straight shot from the beginning to the end. While making your way through the stage, you can earn points for destroying objects, and stringing together combinations of movement options without touching the ground. It's kind of like a Tony Hawk game, where you can manual to keep a combo chain going. You can do the same thing by riding your yo-yo before hitting the ground. You can also find three hidden tokens and three side jobs in each stage.

The tokens are used to purchase bonus levels, which are usually short, challenging stints that will test you on a specific move or combo, while the side jobs are usually very basic delivery or collection quests, or occasionally a combo challenge. Sometimes any of these tasks can also have a time limit associated with them. You not only get a point bonus for each one completed, but you also get more opportunities for a bigger ‘Busker Bonus’ at the end of a stage for each one of the side jobs you complete. It's an interesting way to give you some secondary tasks to complete without requiring the player to be aware of them for an entire level.

But the real strength of the game comes from the fact that you can essentially play it two different ways. You can play it as a gentle, fun, casual platformer where you can take your time and be precise as you need to be. Your score is going to be lower, but because there's no real penalty for not getting a good score, other than not hitting the level's target score, taking the game slow and gentle is a totally viable option, especially since some of the yo-yo combinations can take some getting used to.

But once you DO get used to the controls and how to properly string together all of the moves at your disposal, this game can become very different. It is absolutely exhilarating to dash through the stage as quickly as possible while at the same time keeping your combo up, and then landing at the very top of the platform at the end to get the best Busker Bonus possible. The ability to jump, spin in the air to keep yourself in the air a bit longer, hover the Yo-yo to swing on it like a vine, AND launch yourself forward through the air with it, all in a single string, in whatever order you choose, feels great! Combine that with trampolines, the ability to ride on your Yo-yo like some kind of mounted steed make this a game that I can see a lot of potential in for speedruns and trick runs in the future.

Touching on the story a bit, it's mostly just an excuse plot, but I mean that in a good way. The game knows that its story doesn't have to be a focal point, and it gives you a nice little tale about performers who want to be in the spotlight or are trying hard to keep themselves in the spotlight. It's not complex or complicated, but it's fun and heartfelt and the various characters you interact with are entertaining and endearing, helped a lot by some very great and appealing character designs. The game has a very simple style that lends itself well to silhouettes for each of the major characters.

The more whimsical character design reminds me a lot of a more angular Mario-esque character design, while the level designs are definitely more similar to a Sonic game, there's no question about it, with every stage peppered with ramps, and half pipes, and long, angular roads, and ziplines that send you flying off at a good speed. Make no mistake though, this isn't a direct clone of either series, Penny has its own unique feel, and it's simple moveset allows for a lot of fun combinations.

We've been seeing a lot of 3D platformers as of late that have been putting together some really interesting movement mechanics in their movesets; Pseudoregalia, Goat Game, and Blue Fire to name just a few, and PBB fits in right alongside them as a game that is fun to play casually, and only gets more fun as you get more experimental and daring with the movement options it gives you. While the stages might not be as open as the other games I've mentioned, you still have plenty of options and means of not only flying through the levels super faster, but also getting really creative with skipping large chunks of land if you're careful and precise enough.

I mean this as the highest compliment, this feels like a Gamecube platformer that we never got. It feels real great to play, and it is well worth your time. The main campaign is a bit on the short side (there are a lot of stages, and bonus stages, but unless you're taking your time, they aren't going to last super long), but this is a game that is infinitely replayable, and encourages you to try and set as high a score as possible every time you play through a stage.

Penny's Big Breakaway is currently available on Steam and all major consoles. I happened to grab it on Switch, where it plays great, though the loading times are abysmal. I haven't tried it on other platforms, so I can't speak as to whether this is an issue on that one platform or not, but I'd encourage you all to get it on whatever platformer you prefer, as it is well worth it regardless of how you play it. It's just a fun time all around.

[screamingforests]

Hello hello I hope your weekend is going well!! May I humbly request more cat shifter!Reader? What happens after they run out while sick?

It went very well and my birthday is today so I'll be having fun :) and absolutely you can!

Part 2 of Catshifter au

~

You collapsed. Your sick body couldn't continue on running, too drained of energy. Your energy had been sapped during the rapid shift of the previous night and the restless sleep hadn't helped.

You had just barely managed to slip under a dumpster before falling, so you were out of the rain. Small mercies.

Meanwhile, the boys were worrying like crazy. First off, they hadn't been expecting you to be a shifter thing. They were military. Of course, they had heard about the shifter experiments, but they never expected to meet that one escaped experiment.

Price was on the phone, talking to Laswell. He was trying to get more information on it all, why the program started, how you had escaped, and what he needed to expect. He needed some form of control - this time it was knowledge.

Soap and Gaz had gone out on foot, calling out for you. Hell, they didn't even know your name. They were just trying to find you. You were sick and they had bleeding hearts. The questions could come after they knew you were safe.

Ghost was browsing missing persons lists online, trying to place your face. Trying to get a name for you, even if he knew it would probably be a dead end. He had also readied the guest bedroom, somewhere safe for Soap and Gaz to put you.

Hours later, you were out wandering again, this time in human form. You needed to get to your apartment to get some medicine. Well, the few dollars you had were going to go to the cheapest medicine you could find. Then you could curl up in cat form and sleep.

What you didn't expect was to run into Gaz as you tried to enter the small corner store, money bills crumpled in your hand. Eyes hazy with your bad fever. You hadn't even recognized him at first, your cat eyes being colorblind, but it was the hat that gave him away. You could easily spot that same blue in both forms.

So, you ducked your head and pulled the worn coat closer, just trying to ignore him.

Gaz wasn't having any of that. He recognized your worn, sick look right away. And your face was recognizable from the pure shock of when he first saw it.

He reached out and grabbed your elbow, "are you okay?" Worry clouding his eyes.

You froze for just a moment. Eyes flicking about. Your eyes were the exact same shade as they were in your other form, he knew it was you and you couldn't deny it.

"Why don't you come with me? We'll help you, promise." Gaz adds on, voice earnest. Your eyes scan his face. "No going back, we'll keep you safe."

You hold his gaze for a minute, then two, tension dragging down the atmosphere. Even people around you were uncomfortable. But then, almost imperceptibly, you nod.

His smile is blinding.

~

So that's how you found yourself back at their house, mostly shellshocked. Gaz had been quick to whisk you away after grabbing medicine, which he didn't let you pay for when you silently offered your crumpled money.

Ghost was on the defense and wrapped you tightly in a big blanket. christ, it was to be thrice the size of a normal king blanket and sat you on the couch where they could watch you. Soap clanked around in the kitchen, trying to make a soup, but he didn't know if all foods were safe for you or not.

Price was sat in front of you, his blue eyes glued onto your face. You stared back at him, just as unblinking. It reminded you a lot of the scientists stares. You didn't like it.

So you really couldn't stop the small growl building in your throat. Even if you didn't like talking, you had no problem using your cat-like vocals to voice your dislike and annoyance of his stare.

Price clears his throat and looks away, momentarily looking at Gaz. Something passes between their gazes, something you can't decipher, but it puts you on edge.

"Eat, rest, we'll talk when you feel better," Price states before getting up and walking down the hallway. You watch him go.

Soap brings out a big bowl of soup, which he hands to Ghost. Ghost sits next to you and holds up a spoon.

He was feeding you.

The thought makes you bristle for a moment, but your hands were well and truly trapped in the blanket. So you just pull a face but let him feed you silently.

Being so warm and belly full of the best meal you've had in months, your pupils blow out and a small purr bubbles out of your throat. Ghost looks satisfied at that and helps you finish off the soup before leaving.

Soap takes up the rear where Ghost leaves, and he guides you to the guestroom. The scot talks a mile a minute, which you struggle to keep up with. You weren't used to so much attention, attention that didn't hurt. Soap is gentle as he helps you get in bed, tucking you in more.

You just look at him and shift into your cat form and go beneath the bed instead. You miss the small pout on his face.

But even with the tense moments, this was the safest you had felt in a long time. That comfort helps you fall asleep.

[earthnashes]

"To hold you in my arms is the greatest gift." ------------------------------------- Speedpainting commission for SorixaenChaotic! owo So, this was supposed to just be flat colored, but I got inspired by the characters to dig into the composition aaaaaand turned it into a Speedpainting. I tried out some new brushes on this one for the grass; blocked it in with shapes, color, and shadows, then I went back over it to paint the distinct blades of grass you can see individually.

As for rendering, I did a few layers to really sell the depth (ex: fading out the tail as it travels deeper into the painting) and the lighting (warm undertones with a glowing, softened "highlight" for the rimlighting); there's only about 4 layers in total for the rendering, but I really experimented with some of the settings and effects Photoshop had to offer to get what I wanted. I think it payed off, and I'm VERY happy with the result! :) I've been pretty pleased with how my art's been coming out recently, man. I'm having a lot of fun working! At any rate, thank you so much for commissioning me, Sori! ;w;

Also I hope ya'll don't mind the quick minidive into my thought process for my commission pieces! I've been feeling a lot more eager to talk about what goes on in my lil noodle recently. owo

[ghoulfuckersincorporated]

Sugar Daddy!Cooper Howard really seemed to resonate with y'all (I can't imagine why...), and I definitely heard your requests for a fic! I have a little fun something planned (and I also plan to incorporate quite a few sugar daddy habits into "Duplicity" Cooper), but until then I thought some more headcanons might be fun.

Cooper Howard loves to spend money spoiling you with things like clothes, jewelry, flowers, and dates, but he's also equally happy to spend money on practical things if it takes something off your plate and makes you happy. The first time you invite him over to your place, he brings you flowers and a bottle of something fun. The second time he comes over, he brings bags of staples to fill your pantry and refrigerator (including food for any pets, right brands and flavors and everything), saying he noticed both were a little empty when he was last over. He tells you that next time you can just go with him to pick out what you want (while definitely not just outright fantasizing about an opportunity to be all domestic with you).

He's also quick to sort out your annoying little everyday problems for you. Need something repaired, replaced, or installed? He's already called around and found someone for you, and either he or someone he trusts will be there to pay them and keep you company while the associated people are in your home.

This man will absolutely take over paying your bills if you let him. He understands that it would put you in a vulnerable position, that it would require a lot of trust, and he wants to respect your independence. That said, he thinks the money you earn should go to things you want to spend it on. Even if you play coy about it, every month he gives you more than adequate money for expenses, and you can do with it what you want. Still insists everything be in your name for your protection.

In terms of dates, he really likes to take you to new places and to experience new things. Big fan of taking you on vacation, but due to his limited free time, the two of you are often restricted to places you can get to and back from in a weekend. Still, there are a lot of nice places in that distance, and he always tries to choose things, resorts and hotels and such, that he thinks you'd like.

One of his favorite things to give you, overall, is almost entirely for him (and he will admit this if asked): perfume. It riles him up when you smell extra nice, so he's always on the lookout for new perfumes to make you try. Every time he gifts you one, you remind him that you can only wear so many scents in one lifetime. His response is that he doesn't expect you to keep them all; you can give them away if you don't like how they smell on you (save for one that he really likes; he keeps that one and asks you to wear it around the house for him sometimes). You give away several, but eventually maintain a small collection of nice fragrances, whose bottles you display on a little shelf in your bathroom. You have no idea how much some of them cost (you don't ask) until a friend of yours comes over, sees them, and basically demands to know how you got your hands on thousands of dollars worth of perfume.

He's also not shy about spending money on your interests and hobbies. In fact, he encourages you to get more into them, happily financing and supporting your pursuits. When you offhandedly mention wishing you had more free time to do whatever it is, he says you should just quit your job. He's serious. Once he proposes, you begin to really consider his offer.

[moodymelanist]

Get freaky, you say? Well in that case... (Clears throat) Nesta topping mouthy bottom Cassian

happy kinktober freaks besties. sorry I’ve been a bit mia, I moved last week and signed a new job offer so I’ve just been trying to get my life together!!! hope you enjoy this hehe my inbox will be open all month long 😏😏

Cassian had only been tied up for a few minutes and he was already losing his mind.

“Nesta, come on,” he whined, already pulling a little bit at Nesta’s very expertly tied restraints. There was just enough give that his circulation wasn’t cut off, and he couldn’t help . “I said I was sor— oh, fuck.”

Most of the time Cassian could get away with a lot of shit — sue him, he was a brat through and through — but sometimes, he’d manage to push Nesta’s buttons just enough to make her follow through on her threat of the day.

Despite all the complaining he was doing right now, those were Cassian’s favorite times. Today’s threat had been that if he wouldn’t keep his hands to himself, Nesta would tie him to the headboard and wring him dry, and holy shit was he glad she took that kind of thing seriously. He just hadn’t been able to stop touching her today, and as much as she enjoyed it, he knew she enjoyed turning him into a begging mess so much more, so the second they’d gotten home, she’d told him to get naked and get on the bed.

Part of Cassian wished he’d actually been good today, but as he watched Nesta stroke his cock, a much larger part of him was thankful he hadn’t.

“Like you aren’t having the time of your life,” Nesta eventually said, continuing her excruciatingly slow handjob. Even though he knew it wouldn’t really help, he couldn’t stop himself from bucking up into her fist again once she reached the head of his almost painfully hard cock. “If you’d just listened to me in the first place, maybe I would’ve let you come already.”

“I’m listening now,” he said back. He wished he could reach out and fit his hand into the curve of her waist or brush his thumb against one of her hardened nipples, but those ropes wouldn’t free him anytime soon. “I’m being really good right now.”

“Because I tied you to the headboard,” she told him slowly, like he was an idiot. God, she was hitting all of his buttons today. “Do you really think that counts as good behavior?”

Cassian knew what the right answer was, but even when he was wholly at Nesta’s mercy he couldn’t stop himself from being a little shit. “Maybe?”

“Maybe,” Nesta repeated with a scoff. She abruptly let go of his cock and shifted from where she was sitting next to him on the bed to straddling him instead. “Well, maybe I should show you what good behavior actually looks like.”

“You should,” he replied quickly, nodding so hard it was a miracle he didn’t give himself whiplash. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop from coming at the barest brush of her cunt against his cock, and by the smirk on her face, she absolutely knew it. “I’m a fast learner.”

“Just fast, I think,” she responded. She rocked against him again, laughing when he dug his nails into his palms as hard as he could to distract himself. “Someone’s quick off the mark, hmm?”

“Can’t help it,” he told her through gritted teeth. She hadn’t explicitly told him he couldn’t come, but he knew from prior experience that there would be hell to pay if he did. And not the fun kind. “You know what you do to me.”

“Mhmm.” Nesta shifted against him again, and Cassian desperately started thinking about soccer stats. He wanted to touch her so badly it was like a physical ache, and he only had himself to blame. “Poor baby. Would my cunt make you feel better?”

“Yes, fuck, please,” Cassian panted. He normally wasn’t above begging, but he wanted to be inside her so badly he would say whatever she wanted to hear. “Nesta, please, I need you, I promise I’ll do whatever you say, I’ll be so fucking good, please, please, please—”

Cassian lost the ability to form words as Nesta finally grabbed his cock and sank down on it, her cunt hot and tight and perfect as she took every inch of him. It was a miracle he didn’t come on the spot, and he forced himself to look at her face instead of where they were joined so he didn’t tempt fate any further.

“Look at that,” Nesta cooed, reaching down to pinch Cassian’s nipple. He jerked at the touch with a hiss, but it quickly turned into a groan as the motion bounced Nesta just a little on his cock. “Someone finally learned to shut up.”

As Nesta started to move, the only noise Cassian was capable of making were a combination of gasps, whimpers, and pleas. What he was pleading for, he wasn’t totally sure, but that was completely fine with him. Nesta was the only one allowed to decide what he deserved to receive, and God was he so on board with whatever that ended up being.

“If you even think about coming before I do,” Nesta said casually, taking a break from bouncing on his cock to grind down instead, “I’ll make you regret it.”

Cassian wasn’t sure if he could hold on that long, but he was in for a hell of a night either way. “Yes, Nesta.”

“Such a good boy,” she cooed, just derisive enough that he had to fight to keep himself from floating off into lala land. “Now hold on tight. I’m not stopping until I come or you start crying.”

tag list: @perseusannabeth | @bookstantrash | @fieldofdaisiies | @goddess-aelin | @c-e-d-dreamer | @talkfantasytome | @whyisaravenlike-awritingdesk | @sv0430 | @talibunny30 | @unlikelypersonalknight1 | @champanheandluxxury | @lilah-asteria | @burningsnowleopard | @sayosdreams | @readskk | @simpingfornestaarcheron | @bellaful08 | @readergalaxy | @podemechamardek | @pearlfortears | @nerdperson524 | @jmoonjones | @kale-theteaqueen | @autumnbabylon | @hiimheresworld | @illyrianshadowhunter | @dustjacketmusings | @live-the-fangirl-life | @that-little-red-head | @sweet-pea1 | @brieq | @queercontrarian | @jsmelodies | @afflicted-with-wanderlust

[phoenixtakaramono]

I swear to god you were on demon mode when you wrote the multiverse conclusion. My jaw is literally on the floor. I have to compose myself otherwise I’ll just keyboard smash my phone in hysteria.

The way you write makes it so easy to envision the scene in my head, like word for word you set it up so perfectly that I’m like oh okay so I’m really seeing all these Butchers take on one Homelander. That’s ace, that’s juice, that’s every single compliment I can think of.

I can’t wait for the sequel oh my god oh my GOD. All those HLs with one Butcher? HL on HL? The possibilities are endless. Thank you again for sharing this with us!!

This Ask is regarding this 🔞 butchlander multiverse oneshot threadfic on twitter (tumblr read version: parts 1, 2)

Thank you very much for reading! I had The Name of the Game (AO3) thoughts in my brain that are unrelated to the main story so, whilst that 135ch monstrosity is gonna take its time, I might as well offer some unofficial post-main story or during-main story spin-offs—but as threadfic oneshots so they won’t clutter AO3 and/or taint the reading experience when more chapters are added. The brainworms were strong this time, so I might as well tap into that creative surge of inspiration instead of letting it gather dust and maybe never see the light of day.

Re: the threadfic ending. I’d always planned to have the vice versa switcheroo in this threadfic (where it turns from 7 Butchers + 1 TNotG HL into 7 Homelanders + 1 TNotG Billy 😉) but I had initially been uncertain whether to include it in this threadfic itself or allocate it to a separate sequel threadfic. I saw how long this oneshot threadfic was becoming and, well, after having to essentially retype 60% of what I could recall from memory after the last unsaved 58 tweets were lost to the void, I guess you can say the universe helped make my decision, hahaha.

Fun fact: I’d mentioned this in Part II’s comments, but making it the 5 HLs from 5 of my threadfics + the 1 HL from the Truce universe transmigrated into the TNotG universe is us having mercy on Billy. Because, imagine, you’re the scummy Male Lead who has quick transmigrated (world hopped) into 6 parallel universes, and had a relationship with each parallel dimension’s version of Homelander. And upon returning to your own world, you schemed to to get together with your own world’s destined lover Homelander—and it happened, although probably not how Billy had envisioned it with HL taking initiative into his own hands drugging him and making him participate in a seven-way 0rgy to seduce him. But bam! Murphy’s Law struck, and now Billy has to contend with seven jealous Homelanders. They’re the prideful trophy wives who are reunited with the husband they’d thought they’d lost, but he’s alive, and in their eyes they equate it as him “cheating” on them with a new hot floozy (TNotG’s HL). *laughs*

It’s a lot more dramatic if I made it a reunion, so instead I decided to be merciful on our Male Lead service top and instead make 6 of those Homelanders from my other fics, so the narrative is easier to handle not that TNotG HL wouldn’t also be down for a fun time with TNotG 6 other HLs.

Essentially I am willing to serve y’all the Homelander f*cking doppelgänger Homelander scene that we never got to see, Amazon you cowards. But ramp it up a notch, and toss our somewhat nicer to HL TNotG Billy Prime into the sweaty pile of clingy, needy, h0rny affection-craving Homelanders (but ofc Billy has to pay TNotG Homelander the most loving attention and endearments to smooth his ruffled feathers because hoo boooooy, imagine the cocktail of jealousy, insecurity, entitlement, and competitiveness in that one room alone y’all this is a grownass man who’d canonically gotten jealous and had a one-sided beef with a baby).

Like^^^ tell me this man wouldn’t enjoy a seven-way selfcest g@ngb@ng 0rgy session with himself, and with a very willing diabolically handsome V-ed up British Supe patiently servicing them in that pile. TELL ME IT WOULDN’T BE ONE OF HOMELANDER’S WET DREAMS.

[spence-whore]

Nice to Meet You

Spencer Agnew x Reader

Request: what about a nice lil meet cute with spencer like at a bar or maybe vidcon

A/N this is gonna be a little on the platonic side. Some flirty comments here and then but some fun, cute, witty banter between two new friends:) also, friendly reminder, i fucking despise editing tons. so overlook any mistakes:)

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Vidcon had been beyond stressful for you.

You started YouTube around five years ago and this was your first event! You were so excited going into it and still are. There’s just been so much you have been doing. You haven’t been able to really take a moment to yourself and take everything in.

You were lucky enough to have gotten a break for the night, which has led to you hanging out at a bar at a little party with some streamers and other fellow YouTubers. Some people made some small chat with you and you had gotten to meet a lot of content creators you really look up to! So, this experience had been going pretty decently besides being beyond drained.

“Hi, can I just get a water?” You asked the woman working the bar and she gave you a quick smile before gathering your drink for you.

“Here you go hun.” She said and slid it across the bar to you.

You grabbed the drink and turned around to just people watch. A lot of people have joined within the last two hours, so you didn’t know a majority of the people here.

“Hi, is it cool if I sit here?” You hear a voice ask from beside you.

It’s a guy with dark curly hair, wearing glasses and a jean jacket.

“Yeah! What brings you here tonight?” You ask trying to make small talk but then visibly cringe realizing you sounded like you were throwing the, “you come here often?” line at the poor man.

He just chuckles at you, “What was that face for? I’m with Smosh. I direct on the Smosh Games channel.”

“Holy shit! That’s really cool! I’m a content creator as well, I do streams and just random ass videos.” You responded with a soft smile on your face. “Also, I apologize for the face a minute ago. I was trying to make small chat and realized it sounded like I was trying to be like oh, you come here often.” You say in a mocking tone while trying to act like a ‘Chad’

The guy died out laughing over you attempting to be a fuck boy. “Oh, you’re fine. I didn’t pay any mind to it. I’m Spencer, by the way. It’s nice to meet you…” He trails off, waiting for you to fill in your name.

“Oh, yeah, I’m Y/N. It’s nice to meet you too.” You say, offering your hand to shake his hand.

He quickly shook your hand then the two of you sat in silent for a minute.

“Would you like to come and meet some of the team that came tonight? I promise, we’re not that weird.” Spencer suggests, showing slight fear on his face.

“I think that look says other wise but yeah, I would love to meet them!” You hop out of your chair, with your water in your hand.

“What are you drinking tonight?” Spencer asks, nodding towards the cup in your hand.

“Oh, I’m drinking water. I was drinking some mixed drink around an hour ago. I realized very quickly though, I didn’t want to be drunk at an event like this. I saw Markiplier after I had a few drinks and was a little tipsy. I have loved that man since I was a child and embarrassed the hell out of myself. So, I decided water was best for me here on out.”

Spencer laughed at your words while guiding you in the direction of his friends.

The two of you approached a small group of four other people.

“Hey guys, this is Y/N. Y/N, this is Erin, Courtney, Noah, and Keith.” Spencer says and points at each person.

Everyone politely waved at you and Courtney shook your hand.

“You are absolutely stunning!” Courtney squeals and pulls you towards them.

“Oh, thank you! I’m honestly in more laid back clothing tonight than what I have been wearing all week.” You responded, giggling.

“You look amazing, you definitely stood out to this guy.” Courtney whispers and nods her head towards Spencer, standing there staring at you.

“I probably looked like a poor wounded dog sitting at the bar.” You said laughing and shaking your head. “I’m trying to sober up, hence the water. I embarrassed myself earlier in front of some people.” You awkwardly laugh and hold up your water to show Courtney.

Everyone started talking about their day and then slowly venturing into their own conversations.

“What’s your favorite thing been about vidcon so far?” Spencer asks from beside you.

���It’s been really nice to meet some of the people I’ve made gaming videos with. It’s also been really nice to just meet a lot of the viewers. It’s been crazy because you see a face and it just registers, these are one of the thousands of people that have literally given you a living. It’s just crazy to sit and think about. It makes you really thankful for what you do, even though it can be tiring sometimes.” You explain, turning to slightly face Spencer.

Spencer nods his head for a minute and takes a sip of his drink. “It really is crazy whenever you’re faced with it all.”

“I’ve also got to meet a lot of really cool creators, some really cute ones too.” You say avoiding Spencer’s gaze and quickly drink the rest of your water.

“Wow, not gonna lie, that caught me off guard.” Spencer laughed a little. “I mean hey, I approached you because I thought you looked like a cute, ‘poor wounded dog”, like you said to Courtney.”

“Woooooaaaah, pretty boy.” You cracked up at his call back to what you had said to Courtney.

The two of you sat talking close to an hour with the group and something had hit you after sitting there for a little bit. He is the first person you have met at this event, including his friends, that actually feels like they’re being real people. He doesn’t have up his content creator front. He is just being a genuine guy. You had eventually realized though it was getting close to 1am and you had to get up kind of early in the morning.

“I’m so sorry to run but I have to get up in the morning Spencer.” You explain, standing up very quickly.

“I actually think we’re about to head back to our hotel as well. You could maybe walk back with us, if you like? You totally don’t have to if you’re not comfortable with that though.” Spencer says very quickly, sounding quite flustered.

“I’d actually like that, if everyone else is cool with it.” You suggest looking towards everyone else around you.

“Hey guys,” Spencer says loudly, waiting on everyone to look at him. “Is it cool if Y/N walks back with us?”

Everyone quickly responds with yeahs and of courses, so you all stand together and head towards the door.

“Hey, we’re gonna head to the restroom before heading out. If you two want to go ahead, you can.” Courtney shouts to Spencer over the music, looking towards you as well.

“Yeah, we’re gonna get a head start.” Spencer nods his head and turns towards you.

You smile and wave at Courtney then step out the door in front of Spencer. Spencer steps beside you and the two of you start to walk towards your hotel. It’s funny because you two (including the rest of the Smosh cast) happen to be staying at the same hotel!

“Maybe we could meet up one day before this is all over and hang out or something?” Spencer requests, trying to hide his nerves but failing very obviously.

“I’d love that! I have a meet and greet tomorrow then a panel I have to attend but after that, I think the rest of the day is free for me. I’m not sure about the last few days though.” You tell Spencer glancing between him and the sidewalk to not fall.

“Well, aren’t I quite lucky? I actually have a completely free day tomorrow. Some of the crew of a panel but I don’t have to be there for it. I was gonna actually walk around on the floor or go somewheres and get something to eat.” Spencer suggests while staring hard at the sidewalk.

“I finish I believe at 3 tomorrow. If you want, you can stop by the panel whenever it’s close to finishing. Whenever I get done, we could walk around the floor then go grab food?” You nudged his shoulder with yours and flashed a smile at him, trying to ease his nerves.

“Yeah, that sounds fun!”

The two of you walked for a few more minutes before heading into the hotel and into an elevator. The two of you pressed different floors, so Spencer very quickly shoves his phone towards you after turning it on.

“Before I forget, here’s my phone. Could I possibly get your number? You know, to message you and know where to meet you tomorrow?” Spencer explains very rushed.

You just grabbed his phone with a smile on your face and typed in your number and name with a smily face at the end.

“Here you go.” As soon as you handed his phone back, the door had opened.

“Well, I suppose this is my stop. It was really nice to meet you Spencer.” You say with a smile on your face and awkwardly waving at the man while stepping off the elevator.

“It was nice to meet you too!” Spencer barely gets out before the elevator doors close.

You walked to your hotel room with a smile on your face and thinking about the cute, sweet man you had just met. It was like he was reading your mind because a minute passes before your phone goes off.

It was a text from Spencer and it said,

“I’m really glad I met you tonight. Let me know where your panel is tomorrow and what time it starts, I’d love to come watch:)”

[erstwhilesparrow]

limited life fic recs

Not really more of theme to this one than "Hey, check out this good good writing!" Been meaning to do this one for. Um. A while. Did my best not to repeat authors. If you're on this and don't want to be, let me know and I'll remove yours!

Fics On AO3:

Sundown; astronomeridian - Nobody fucks on the page in this one but you know it's gonna happen. The various alliances of Limited Life settle down for the night and talk around or about having sex. Really incredible character voice the whole way through (made particularly impressive by the fact that Every Character Is In This).

Gallant; zornographic - Grian/Etho-centric Knight AU, in which Grian, badly injured and fleeing for his life, runs into Etho, a strange knight offering to help him, in order to pay back a favour Grian did for him long ago. Really gorgeous turns of phrase applied with perfect precision, and lovely glimpses of a much bigger world that is alive and specific, that the characters feel genuinely rooted in.

Close to Your Chest; foxgloveblue (cornflowerdye) - Canon divergence where Joel and Etho are the last two standing at the end of Limited Life. The visual details in this one make it downright cinematic -- you can see the wreckage of the Bread Bridge, the light falling on them both. Special commendation for the characterization here too: Joel and Etho both clearly know each other well enough that it give us access to both of them in fun and interesting ways.

everything anyone ever ignored; Sixteenthdays - AU where when you kill someone, you get some of their traits. Really really fun for (1) quick, sharp prose and (2) glimpses into each of the character's unique experiences with Being In Their Body. There's a relentlessness that matches the vibes of Limited Life itself really well.

the lamb & the knife; errorryx - Cleo tells Pearl they're going to summon a goddess of war, and Pearl thinks about summoning something for herself. It's good fun! Admittedly, my idea of 'good fun' is mild body horror and considerations of animal and human sacrifice, but also fun are Pearl and Cleo's usual contentious relationship, and Pearl's usual degree of getting herself into trouble.

tempering; farrondoc - Grian/Etho platonic kink around Etho being Grian's sword! Captures their characters really well in a very short space.

Cam-account Parenting; litbynosun - Bdubs and Scar have been mysteriously and abruptly turned into little kids. Cleo has to handle this while chat fervently discusses what's going on in the background. Banger fic, script format with some fun bonus touches, great character voices, excellent fandom commentary on the horrors of being a woman in MCYT spaces.

Poison; jabberwockysoda - Etho takes up smoking; he and Cleo argue about it. Vibes of "we know and dislike each other but there is an intimacy and comfort in the knowing and the disliking" -- a very particular, almost worn-down tone that is set immediately and then maintained the whole way through.

fulgurite; Thunderbirds_and_Lightning - The Bad Boys' deaths. One of my all-time favourite depictions of the Limlife timers and one of my favourite endings to a Limited Life fic too. Lots of wonderfully creative imagery that draws on popular fanon without directly copying it; very fun.

With Soul Intent; salemoleander (heartbeatsinreverse) - Canon divergence where everyone's clocks stop in the middle of the game. Hilarious. Pitch-perfect character voice. Every beat hits. salemoleander is also on Tumblr and has a few Tumblr-exclusive Limited Life ficlets that are awesome, but which I could not include on this list due to rules of my little game. Check 'em out!

the here and now; doctorletmebebrace - Joel wakes up at home, on Empires S2, after his final death. Jimmy's there, and they talk. Makes me really tender about them, for all that they spend most of it arguing. Full of grief and regret and so much love.

Fics On Tumblr:

(Note: In cases where a fic has been posted both on AO3 and on Tumblr, I've linked the version that's on AO3. These are the ones I couldn't find on there.)

[Knives and forks clink against the dinner plates]; wisepuma23 - Boogeyman Impulse tries to sit through a normal meal with the rest of TIES. Forever and always a big fan of the intermingling of domesticity and violence, and the visceral onomatopoeia makes this really fun background drumbeat to Impulse's narration.

["Do you have a clock yet?"]; dmwrites - Impulse gives Bdubs a clock, and Cleo makes an addition. It's sweet! It also makes me sad. Good thoughts re: Impulse's relationship to Bdubs over time, from both Cleo and Impulse's perspectives.

[What are you?]; the-amber-shadow - The Watchers hound Martyn for an answer to the question of what his symbol is going to be after he wins Limited Life. I think this one's fun both as a historical artifact (what did we as a fandom consider for symbols, and thus how did we interpret/emphasize different parts of Martyn's victory), and I'm a big fan of metafic. Martyn arguing with Watchers-as-audience is a great way to do it!

[Gem Cleo watches Scott leave]; jellieland - Gem in Cleo's body has a chat with Martyn, and Martyn tells her something about why he teamed with Scott this time around. jellieland is a fantastic writer whose fics are invariably fascinating, well-written, and insightful, and I do recommend you check them all out, but I had to pick this one because I read it and could almost physically feel something clicking into place in my head -- everything I have written about Martyn+Cleo since this has been influenced by this fic.

[Joel's gone soft on him]; zedif-y - Jimmy reflects on this new side of Joel he's started seeing this season, while petting Joel's hair. It's soft. It's nice. Joel gets to take a nice nap and cuddle with Jimmy and Jimmy gets to think about all the things he knows about Joel.

[Joel dies with blood in his mouth]; alittlebirb - Joel dies. He's furious about it, and then he's not. Love the wild, frenetic energy of this one trailing off into something quieter, something like resignation -- fantastically paced.

[Bigb watches Grian for a while]; theminecraftbee - Bigb watches Grian do something that definitely isn't mourning, and definitely doesn't understand it. You don't know what an agony it was to have to narrow this down to Just One Theminecraftbee Fic. But I'm sure you could've guessed that. The thing that gets me about this one is Bigb and Grian have such history and see such interesting facets of each other, and their team-up in Limlife is this resigned kind of "Okay. This is what we're doing now." The melancholy is excellent.

Mean Gills Quarantine Zone:

(I like Mean Gills. A lot. So I have a lot of fic recs focused on them. So that's why this section. This should all be AO3 fics?)

Stop; KieIsWrite - After the end of Limited Life, Martyn tries to reckon with the aftermath of his actions. There are corpses. Things get grim. Scott's ghost is there, maybe. This one's horror, so mind the tags, but the horror comes in slow and quiet, and very interesting things are happening with the blurring of bodies-as-death and bodies-as-erotic.

hold the night; solarcafe - Scott and Martyn cuddle. That's it, that's the whole fic. Sweet, charming fluff!

Hush hush; WhyB - After moving the beds down into their secret base, Scott gets a little comfort and Martyn gets a little absolution. The Scott and Martyn hurt/comfort fic of your dreams! Hits every beat perfectly, and really, this author just does good hurt/comfort in general for every fandom they're in. Check 'em out!

I want to say I'm sorry for stuff I haven't done yet; the_hypercube - Scott and Martyn have a tense conversation over breakfast, while the ghosts of the Third Life alliances haunt them (figuratively). I love the thread of uneasiness running through this whole thing, pulling tighter and tighter but never getting to a breaking point. I love all the little domestic gestures against the backdrop of [This Is A Death Game And Things Are Getting Bad].

Requiescat; enemyofrome - Martyn walks out of the end of Limited Life and finds Ren, building the ice boat course on Hermitcraft. Martyn's not entirely free of the Watchers, of Scott, of his time in the games, but he and Ren will work it out. This is in the quarantine zone because I have to confess a disproportionate amount of my adoration for this fic is because of the excellent codependent Mean Gills, but the rest of it is because it is tender and well-characterized and beautifully written.

ears pressed to the floor; GoodTimesWithScar - Scott catches Martyn sewing the Dogwarts banner for his red life skin. Wonderfully melancholy, even as Scott and Martyn fall into their usual banter. I like how lonely it feels, even when they're standing right in front of each other -- they've got separate histories to contend with.

the cut of your love; soapflowers - Selkie AU! Martyn has Scott's pelt locked in a chest in his basement, and this is Fine. Really really good at maintaining a tenuous balance where nothing drastic has happened, but they both keep flirting with the precipice. The tags on this include Implied/Referenced Kidnapping, Abuse, Non-Sexual Intimacy, and Gaslighting, and that is enticing to me, but I know it isn't to everyone, so mind the tags!

Call Me What You Like; orphan_account - A study of Scott's perspective on his relationship to Martyn, with some (a lot of) pining. Everyone's having a miserable time, except me; I'm pointing at this and going, "Ough!! A Mean Gills dynamic of all time in this one for sure!!" Delightful juxtaposition of physical closeness with emotional distance.

[another-lost-mc]

SFW Alphabet | ALPHERATZ x gn!Reader 0.6k words | SFW | Fluff & Humor A/N: This is for a request from a lovely Anon, but I'm going to consolidate any additional letter prompts on this post. 🤎

AFFECTION (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

His brand of affection is like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold day. It makes you feel so comfortable.

He's a tactile person and once you're in a relationship, he finds it difficult not to connect with you physically in some way.

He likes to remind you with small touches that he cares about you - a hand on your shoulder while you wait in line together, or an arm wrapped around your waist or shoulders when he walks with you on a casual outing or date.

He might kiss your forehead or cheek, but it's a brush of his lips that graze your skin.

FIANCE(E) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

His only hesitation to marriage is the complicated relationship he has with his grandfather and family. He would prefer to keep them away from you and your relationship as much as possible, but it's easier said than done.

It's not that he doesn't want to marry you, because he does - he just wants to avoid involving his family if he can.

At the end of the day, he'll put up with them and their expectations of him if he has to, as long as you can be together.

He won't be in a rush to get married, and he's going to put a lot of thought and effort into your engagement/marriage plans. He wants to do it properly, and he won't spare any expense to give you whatever it is you dream of.

I LOVE YOU (How fast do they say the L-word?)

You'll know he loves you before he says it.

It's the small changes he makes, the things he does that not only accommodate your relationship, but make you his priority.

Other sorcerers at Contell might start talking about how much he's changed. He's more responsible, he seems so much happier. They wonder why, but it doesn't take long for you to realize all those changes happened after you started dating.

If you're hesitant to tell him you love him first, he won't be upset - he knows how you feel about him too.

LITTLE ONES (How are they around children?)

He's not used to spending time with children, but he's willing to learn.

Kids will love him - he'll pretend to sleep while they crawl all over him, and he'll tickle them when they least expect it.

In general he's going to be very playful in a tactile way - carrying them on his shoulder or under his arm, lifting them in the air - an even more fun experience for them considering how tall he is.

He's also going to be extremely protective of any children under his care. The other Guide Sorcerers might call him a Papa Bear, and even if he grumbles about the nickname, it's not a lie.

UGLY (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

He's not going to stop napping to avoid some of the more tedious responsibilities he has. At least you know his favourite hiding places which makes it easier to find him when he vanishes.

He's wealthy and doesn't mind paying for things - all the things - but he'll be stubborn if you try to give him an expensive gift or pay for a date night when he's already offered to. He sees it as caring for you, and he might be slow to accept why you feel guilty about it or refuse his offers.

[yours-the-author]

Hey, so...

Does anyone remember this post I made recently?

.

.

.

I made some art for it...

If you wanna see it...

Here it is:

I'M SO MAD AT MYSELF IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SURVIVING THE MANSION BUT I DIDN'T REALIZE UNTIL AFTER I FINISHED IT AAAGGH

...Aside from that little oopsie, though, I'm actually really proud of how the logo came out? I based the font off a style called "Micro 5 Charted". Thank goodness I was using graph paper!

I'm not sure if that Kanji is correct; Google Translate doesn't seem to like the word "oni" or "stick", especially together, so I spelled out the Romanji in the English box and then tried to copy the characters Google offered me as closely as possible. I think I'd be more surprised if I got the Kanji correct, honestly.

Henry Stickmin title screens usually have two different fonts for the verb and the noun, and I thought about trying to make "Mansion" look like an actual house, but that made my brain hurt to much to conceptualize, so I stuck with different colored fonts. Hmm, that clock sure is there. I wonder what it means gets hit by a bus

-----

Anyway, here's some theoretical scenarios of what the main gameplay would look like! This one stars General Hubert Galeforce and some other guy:

Option 1: Shoot

Result: The monster hears you move as soon as you pull your gun from its holster. No time to defend yourself.

FAILURE (DiE!)

Option 2: Backup

Result: Your radio refuses to work, even though it was just fine before you entered the mansion. The monster waits until you've realized this, then goes for your throat.

FAILURE (No one will hear your screams...)

Option 3: Time Out

Result: The monster does not hear you and goes into a separate room, out of sight and out of mind. Galeforce survives... for now. But what was that thing...?

-----

I don't know how feasible it would be, but I imagine this would be a cross between typical RPG Maker-styled games (pixels, speech boxes with pictures of the characters, moving around a set floor plan, puzzle solving, etc) and typical Henry Stickmin-styled game play (cutscenes, choices, possible interactivity [grabbing items/bios], the occasional quick time event, etc) (voice acting would be a stretch). Most of the gameplay, like exploring the mansion, puzzle solving, and running/fighting the monster, would be RPG style, and then occasionally switch into a cutscene that requires you to make a choice; usually with just one correct answer but possibly others that could result in diverging dialogue/interaction/paths/endings? Something to think about.

Anyway, Galeforce! Poor man has no idea what he almost walked into, haha. I experimented with perspective and limb placement here, which was exhausting but also a lot of fun! Dynamics are hard with stick figures, but considering that they're they only character medium I've ever been decent at, I made it work.

And the Oni... I tried to give it some sort of anatomy, but quickly realized that I do not have the skills to pay those bills. I opted for a more of a shadowy figure looking thing with a big smile instead (you can see some of the lines where I tried to make it have arms, I think). I opted for Ao Oni's purple-y blue color scheme verses HetaOni's gray alien look. Back in the day of fan made Ao Oni games, people would usually try to put their own unique spin on the Oni sprite, with HetaOni's being the most unique I ever saw (keep in mind, it was one of the few designs I ever saw, so there might be cooler ones out there, who knows). In theory, a game called Sutikku Oni would use a stick figure shaped monster, but with my current art skills, that would just look like a normal stick person with a big head (look! Geoffrey Plumb's cousin!). I think the less we see, the better; all good horror games know when to leave things to the imagination!

-----

I also made a second one, featuring my boy Dave Panpa!

...Dave, I'm so sorry... *MAKES HIM PEEP THE HORROR*

Option 1: Call for Help

Result: You call for help...

FAILURE (...but nobody came.)

Option 2: Run

Result: You tense your muscles in preparation to run. The monster is faster.

FAILURE (YoU... wOn'T... eScApE...!)

Option 3: Pretend to be a Piano

Result: Frozen with fear in front of the piano, it's all you can do to hope the monster thinks you're also a piano (a sopping wet piano, but still). It's deadly quiet. You can hardly breathe, and you're afraid to. The monster stares at you for an uncomfortably long time, before walking away, out of sight and out of mind. You stay still a little longer before collapsing to the ground. Dave Panpa survives... for now. How on Earth did that work? Or... did that thing let you live out of pity...?

-----

UGH the piano! Pianos are so hard to draw! Luckily, I had an almost head on reference that I was able to use for the first picture. For the above view shot, I had to do some wild guessing. The red stuff near Dave's head in the second picture is the red stuff he was referring to. Is it blood? Paint? Something else? Who knows! But as we all know, any self respecting Ao Oni fan game needs a piano puzzle!

I imagine Dave was dragged along for the ride when the Toppats decided to find the treasure of the mansion (or something to that degree), fully intending to leave him there to die if there was, in fact, a monster inside. Poor Dave... Maybe there could be an ending where amends are made? Or maybe not...

I mostly put the smile on the monster's shadow as a means of showing that, indeed, it is the monster, but now I'm wondering if the monster's mouth glows or something? Hot fires of Hell, delivered right to you! Can you beat the heat?

-----

Thank you all for coming to my fixation ramble that absolutely no one else except me finds interesting! Any thoughts before you go?

(A cricket chirps, then leaves because it's in the wrong conference room)

...Yeah, I figured.

[greenbubblefactory]

Matchup for :@1-fandom-trash

Congratulations your sibling is..

Ruggie Bucchi !

★Having Ruggie Bucchi as a sibling would be like having the perfect balance of fun and loyalty,he’d be the kind of sibling who’s playful and supportive without making a big deal out of it. His sarcastic humor and practical attitude would blend perfectly with your bluntness and sarcasm, creating an easy-going dynamic where you both understand each other without needing to say much. Ruggie has a knack for reading the room, so when you’re feeling down or need space, he’s the first to pick up on it and give you the quiet support you need. He’s not the type to ask probing questions, but you’d always know he has your back, even when he’s just hanging around in the background.

★As a sibling, you’d probably witness Ruggie using his street smarts to hustle in ways that you never expected. He knows how to find the best deals, make the most out of the smallest amounts of money, and, of course, he can make something out of nothing. You’d see him using his charm and ingenuity to get discounts, find free food, or barter his way out of paying for something he doesn’t really need. While he might not flash a lot of cash, he’d always know how to make the best of what he has and would never waste a single opportunity to get something for nothing.

★He’s the sibling who doesn’t need to show affection in obvious ways. Ruggie is a doer, not a talker, so his version of showing love would be through small, thoughtful actions,like doing something nice just to make your day easier. There’s nothing flashy about it, but you would always feel cared for in his quiet, understated way. He has a kind of efficiency to him, so he’d always find a way to help without you even realizing you needed it.

★When you’re having one of your sarcastic moments, Ruggie would be right there with you, offering up dry humor and quick remarks that match your energy. There’s an unspoken understanding between you two that teasing and bickering is just part of the fun. He wouldn’t be offended by your bluntness in fact, he’d probably give it right back to you in his own sharp, clever way. He knows how to keep the mood light, and his sense of humor would always put a smile on your face, even when you’re in a bad mood.

★Ruggie is also the type of sibling who’s loyal to the core. He may not show it through big, emotional speeches, but you’d always know that if anyone messed with you, he’d be the first one to step in. He has an innate sense of protection, but he expresses it quietly, through action rather than words. You wouldn’t need to ask him to do something; he’d just take care of it without making a fuss. Whether it’s covering for you when you’re in trouble or helping out with a tough situation, Ruggie’s supportive nature would be a constant, and you’d always feel secure knowing he’s there.

★You’d also bond over food in a way that’s both practical and enjoyable. Ruggie isn’t about fancy meals, but he knows where the best snacks are and would drag you along on little food adventures. Whether it’s finding a great street vendor or sneaking in some late-night snacks, you two would have a blast eating together. Ruggie has a knack for making food runs feel like an experience, and you’d appreciate how much he enjoys the simple pleasures of a good meal.

★While Ruggie may not be the type to shower you with affection or gifts, he shows you he cares in the little things he does. He’s not one for big hugs or deep emotional conversations, but his actions speak volumes. If you needed him, you wouldn’t have to ask,he’d already be there, making sure you’re okay and that everything’s taken care of.

★At the end of the day, Ruggie would be the sibling who’s funny, practical, and always there when it matters. His love for you wouldn’t be flashy, but it would be solid and reliable. You’d never feel alone with him around, and while you might not always show it, you’d both know that your bond is unbreakable. His loyalty, dry humor, and quiet acts of kindness would make him the perfect sibling to navigate life with.

English is not my first language so I'm sorry if there are any spelling mistakes!

[ealvara7]

Watching the Tour Cast for the Very First Time!!! ✨

During a conversation in one of the Discord groups I'm in, one of my good friends shared with me a Beetlejuice Tour boot that included Jackera Davis as Lydia!

I'm still going to see the musical on May 22nd, but I thought this would be a really cool way for me to get better acquainted with how the Tour cast play their roles!

I'll leave my notes under a "read-more", so you can keep scrolling! Thanks for reading, regardless! ✨

-

Jackera's voice is beautiful... 💖

She doesn't linger on a lot of her notes, which gives off the impression that her Lydia is more angry about the situation she is currently facing. That's a nice take on her character!

-

Justin jumpscared me the first time I saw him! I've only ever heard his Beetlejuice voice on a couple of YouTube videos, so getting to see his face was such a surreal experience- (The initial silence when he pulls down the paper was depressing...)

I've actually noticed this on a couple of GIFs, but the area where the banjolele was thrown in The Whole "Being Dead" Thing was moved to the back! I'm not sure if this is consistent on all stages, but I imagine this was done in order to adapt to as many of them as they can!

Similarly, Sandy does not appear at the beginning in the Tour version. This I had been aware of for some time now-

-

In the Tour version, the house is hidden behind a curtain, which is something Beetlejuice mentions just before it opens.

In the boot I'm watching, Justin goes:

"It's a house!!!"

Then he does a little pose, which immediately knocked me out-

Also, I now see what people were talking about with the tongue thing Justin does... and now I can't unsee it-

-

Another Tour change that I had known for some time is the usage of electrical items for the Maitlands' death. Adam purchases an eletrical adapter, rather than Manchurian tung oil, in order to light up the new mobile connected to the crib. Some of the lyrics in Ready Set, Not Yet have also been changed to reflect this.

-

Jackera has to have my favorite characterization for Lydia so far!!!

I always imagine Lydia to be rather lively, like her cartoon counterpart, but still carrying the angst that she is going through in the musical, and Jackera does this! The only difference is that Jackera leans more on the angry side of Lydia, which gives her more of a punk teen vibe. I love it so much, and I feel like she plays off the rest of the cast so well!!! 💖

-

In Fright of their Lives, the chorus simply walk in rather than the set opening to reveal them. It's a little heartbreaking to see that change... but I get the idea at this point-

On a lighter note - Justin interacts with the chorus after they get interrupted and says:

"Sorry guys... I'll pay you for the full day-"

Once again, knocking me out-

-

Beetlejuice's mood ring hair... is not present in the Tour version. I had been very well aware of this for some time, but out of all the changes made to the Tour version... this one was the one that hurt me the most.

In my heart, Collettejuice most certainly has mood ring hair, even if it's not visually presented on stage.

Speaking of Collettejuice... I've notice a ton of little things that make him distinct from other Beetlejuices. For example, he is very fidgety and fast - he usually apologizes more than once when it comes to a situation that he's in. He also appears to be more disconnected when it comes to his emotions - rather than being sad, he likes to make fun of his own misery. He'll also get really angry when things don't go his way.

-

During Say My Name, Jackera's Lydia is just absolutely not having it with Beetlejuice. Instead, she is very quick to turn down his offer and simply stands her ground.

Also, when the Maitlands appear, Colletejuice is just visually bitter and upset towards them??? Oh my god???

It makes his "old pals" statement feel more condescending, which is a very nice twist from other Beetlejuices, who usually look happy to see them!

-

I find it kind of adorable that at the beginning of Act 2, Jackera's Lydia is much happier with Beetlejuice, but still not entirely sure about all the little quirks he does. It's like when you're getting better acquainted with a new friend, which is exactly what is happening here.

-

I love how Collettejuice is just absolutely embarrassed by his plan to have Lydia marry him. Like, it's the only option he has, but if he had it his way... he absolutely would not be doing that.

"If you wanna save Barbara, I need you... to marry me!"

"WHAT?!"

"..."

"It's a green card thing... guys..."

-

There are a couple of instrumental additions in the Tour version, but easily my most favorite has to be the violin addition in Home.

It's slow... and sad... and somber... It fits with the rest of the song perfectly, and I can no longer imagine the song without it.

Jackera also did a fantastic job with this song! Home requires a ton of strength when it comes to hitting certain notes, and she pulls it off perfectly! I'm so glad I got to hear her sing! 💖

-

In the Life or Death scene, the wheel has been replaced with stocks. Before Otho dies, he is carried off stage by two skeletons.

Beetlejuice's game show outfit in the Tour has the same yellow blazer. However, the outfit is now green at the top, and blue at the middle and bottom.

I... am personally not a fan of this design choice. I feel like having all blue in contrast with the yellow works wonderfully to create a bold look. Adding green at the top makes the outfit blend in a bit... and that just doesn't work for me.

That being said... I adore the addition of the lapel pin on Beetlejuice's wedding blazer! I'm a huge sucker for Beetlejuice wearing a rose or any other kind of flower on his lapel-

-

I feel like I've said everything that I have to say for this boot, except for one more thing...

Justin's wonderful addition to the last "This guy knows what I'm talking about!" will never stop making me go crazy whenever I hear it.

"Look, I only joke because I see myself in you... later tonight."

[aquadestinyswriting]

Titan Modern AU- Chapter One

Summary: Meredith gets to meet with one of the people in charge of her new post. A quick conversation about Fangthane culture is had before the discussion turns to other matters- namely where Constable Gruksdottir is going to be staying.

Words: 1,161

Tags: @druidx, @sparrow-orion-writes @warriorbookworm, @thesorcerersapprentice, @blind-the-winds, @philosophika, @the-down-upside-finch, @hippiewrites

Warnings: Some talk about fictional religions but otherwise only avoid if the idea of women with beards grosses you out.

Notes: I fully admit, I just wanted a justification for Merri to keep her beard because I literally cannot see her without one. It allowed me to do some worldbuilding though, which is always fun.

Meredith stood at firm attention with her arms behind her back. The only indication of what she was feeling being a slight quirk of an eyebrow when she caught the surprised stare of the Diplomatic Envoy she was being introduced to out of the corner of her eye. 

Lieutenant Starhammer coughed politely, sitting down behind his desk and waving at his new constable,

“At ease, Gruksdottir. This is meant to be an informal chat. A chance fer us all to get to know each other.” he said. He beamed at the tall, slim woman, who was now settling down into the couch next to the fireplace, “Lady Frigidwake here is the Diplomatic Envoy to the Kingdom of Fangthane. She’s not quite the one in charge, but she does do a lot of work to keep things ticking along as smoothly as possible.” he explained. The Envoy laughed and smiled at both Fangthanians as Meredith relaxed her stance,

“Well, I try to.” she quipped. She gestured to the magpie sitting quietly on her shoulder, “This is Chrackle, he’s a companion of mine. I must ask that you try not to pay him too much attention as he’s supposed to be a working animal.” Meredith nodded, noting with amusement the slightly offended-sounding croak the bird made,

“I’ll bear that in mind, Ma’am.” she said. “I realise that you are, of course, versed in a great deal of Fangthanian culture, but I couldn’t help but notice your surprise as you walked in, Ma’am.” she noted. The other woman flushed a little in embarrassment,

“Ah, yes. I do apologise, that was insensitive. I’m afraid to say that I haven’t had much experience with the Throffite community. Very few Fangthanian women grow their beards out these days, so when I was informed that Lieutenant Starhammer was expecting a female constable, I made an assumption. Again, I apologise.” she said. Meredith shook her head, finally,

“No offence has been taken, Ma’am.” she stated, “You are quite correct, the majority of Fangthanian women shave, and I am very much an exception. Believe me, I am quite used to awkward stares and questions.” Lady Frigidwake pursed her lips and toyed with the end of a strand of greying auburn hair,

“That still does not excuse my conduct.” she retorted, “However, lessons have been learned and I shall not dwell on it any further.” she added, tickling her magpie under his beak as he nibbled at her ear. 

Starhammer chuckled and leaned back in his seat, which creaked loudly, 

“Well, now that we’re all acquainted, I think we can finally turn to business.” he said. He looked to Meredith first,

“I understand ye didn’t get a chance to work out someplace to stay while you’re here, given how quickly ye were kicked out the capital. I’d offer to put you up myself, but my youngest has had to move back home and has brought the weans, so there’s no room, I’m afraid.” 

Meredith shook her head,

“You don’t need to go to that kind of trouble, sir.” she protested, “I’ll be happy enough to keep staying at the Crabbit Sow until I can find somewhere more permanent.” 

Starhammer snorted,

“I’m no’ having ye waste all yer savings like that, lass.” he retorted. The Lieutenant turned to Lady Frigidwake,”D’ye ken of anyplace that’ll be willing to put her up?” he asked. The envoy tapped a finger on her chin thoughtfully,

“I’d need to make a couple of calls, but yes, I think I might know some people.” she replied. She pushed her glasses back up her nose as she smiled at Meredith, “I’ll have somewhere for you to stay by the end of the day.” she chirped. This time it was Meredith’s turn to flush,

“Ye really don’t need to go to so much trouble –” Starhammer scoffed,

“Lassie! It’s no trouble. Ye’re a constable of the Stronghold Guardian Corps! Since we dinna have a barracks on site, that means ye’re entitled to have a place to live nearby.” he reminded her. “Moradin’s beard, ye’re an uptight one, aren’t ye? Auld Vanskleig’s right when he says that working here for a bit’ll be good for ye.” he added.

Meredith opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to find some way to protest, but couldn’t find the words to refute what her new commanding officer had just said. After a moment, she huffed a sigh,

“Aye, sir.” she grumbled. Lady Frigidwake shook her head,

“I’ll go make those calls now, then. Lieutenant Starhammer, was there anything else we needed to discuss in the meantime?” she asked. Smoothing down her skirt as she stood. Starhammer thought for a moment, then shook his head,

“Nothing that can’t wait until next week, lass.” The old soldier stood, with a bit of effort, and bowed slightly to the envoy, “In the meantime, please give my regards to Father Shiverstaff, and remind him that he still owes me drinks.” he added with a smile. Lady Frigidwake laughed and inclined her head slightly

“I’ll pass the message on.” she said. She turned to Meredith, who had by now also stood and was standing at attention again, “It was a pleasure to meet you Constable Gruksdottir, I look forward to working with you.” she said. Meredith snapped off a salute,

“Aye, Ma’am.” she stated. Lady Frigidwake smiled, sent Lieutenant Starhammer a knowing look, then swept out of the office. Starhammer sighed as he turned to Meredith,

“I’ve got my work cut out, haven’t I?” he muttered. He picked up the top sheet from a stack of papers, “Well, seeing as ye’ve been sent back down to start from scratch, I might as well have ye on guard duty at the front door until I get word of what Command wants done with ye, or we figure out where yer strengths lie.” he said. Meredith nodded brusquely and saluted again,

“Aye, sir.” she stated. She sent him a quizzical look, “May I ask what time I can leave my post, sir?” she asked. The Lieutenant sighed,

“Well, the office closes for the day at five-thirty. Seeing as I’m pretty much the only other person here for now, you might as well clock off then.” he replied. Meredith nodded,

“Of course, sir. Thank you, sir.” she said. There were a few moments’ silence until Starhammer heaved a sigh,

“Ye’re free to leave and get to yer post, Constable.” he said wearily. “If there does happen to be any trouble out there, ye do have permission to get involved.” he added just as Meredith began marching out the door.

“Understood, sir.” Meredith called as she finally exited the room, leaving Starhammer to wonder just what he’d gotten himself into. He opened the folder he’d been sent from Sergeant Major Ragnarsson, reading through the various evaluation forms and report summaries. He stroked his moustache thoughtfully,

“Well now, I think I owe the Field Marshal quite the favour for this.” he murmured.

[thinkpink212]

I see a lot of different ways people manifest but I feel like I’ve tried everything and nothing seems to work! What way do you manifest?

I do nothing. If there’s something I want it, I sit with it for a bit, and let it exist in my mind in whatever form it can be conjured. Then I leave it alone and let time and life do their thing.

An Example: I had quit my former job randomly as it was making me unhappy, and despite the nervousness of those around me I stayed calm and received my tax return (almost 3 paychecks worth of money) Then, on a date, I randomly started to talk about what kind of job I’d like to have now that I was employed. I explained that it would have to be a calm environment, exclusive, and high paying where I could be of service in a fulfilling & meaningful way. I then noted that I’ve always liked the area we were on the date, and randomly pointed to a beautiful chique building, and said “like there, I bet whatever’s in there is a great work environment” not even knowing what it was. That same evening I was suggested by my date to see if they had job openings, because they recognized the building as an expensive 5 star hotel but wasn’t sure till we parted ways.

I goggled it, saw that a receptionist position was open in the Wellness department — and it was posted that same day. I send in a short application I made in 5-7 minutes, with a picture I quickly took. I got a call back the next day, and the interview was held the day after. My current boss said she knew it was going to be me despite the 52 candidates and me being the 3rd interview of the day. She liked that I wasn’t intimidated by the luxury, I was polite, and despite having 0 experience within the field, she believed me when I said I am a quick & efficient learner. And she ended it with “your smile made me smile even after you had left. You were who I was looking for”. And one year later I still have this job, have done so much, met Incredible people and been inspired to stay within the field. My boss continues to remind me of how much she appriciates me, and jokes that I had told her on the day not to stain herself because I knew I had the job (and she confirms later she only had 3 more interviews after me and immediately called the next day to offer me the job)

And all with little force because I believe you should let things flow freely and they’ll flow to you. Hard work is necessity sometimes, but for me hard work has not always worked in my favorite. But sitting back and letting life happen has. I’ve of course put effort into my looks, becoming a good employee and so on — but these things don’t stress me because I enjoy doing them.

A different example on when I’ve not received what I wanted: stressing and studying for a tests I could pass in my sleep if I stopped over thinking and just answered each question with my first choice. I’ve passed all mock exams, but my insisting on furiously studying, loosing sleep by trying to overload my brain with information and so on did nothing but have me second guess and overthink.

Here are some things you can try out that helps me:

☁️ With less focus on what you want, and more existing in the here and now, all will flow to you in due time.

☁️ Avoid focusing on the lack of things (especially in your environment). You will get to where you desire to go. Instead focus on what you have and focus on the good feelings of what you desire.

☁️ Learn to love and appreciate the feeling of what it is that you want. You want love? Feel loved, love others and love yourself. And stay there, enjoy it and forget about everything else.!

☁️ Avoid desperation and forcing things. You cannot push against the waves of the oceans and expect not to be tossed around. Flow, exist and avoid counting how long it’s taking. It’ll get to you when it’ll get to you.

Have fun ✌🏾

[lee-hakhyun]

keep in mind that i’m enjoying the side stories through the reaction of people that are actually able to read it, so please take my own suggestions with a grain of salt and let me know if it sounds plausible or not

saw a few posts on twitter that extrapolated that 41!yjh was just numb, rather than actively horrible or anything - that the narration gives off more of the idea that he was cold, and that it was likely that after seeing so many of his companions die and come back to life repeatedly he decided to stop hiding his disconnect

but that that doesn’t mean he didn’t care - he does, and even promised 41!sys something that didn’t quite work out the way they both hoped it would, at the time. his companions wouldn’t have stayed so loyal if the care wasn’t there. sys wouldn’t have endured so many timelines willingly if she didn’t have a reason not to be loyal.

there’s two things, i suspect, that is limiting our understanding of this round’s yoo joonghyuk;

1) kim dokja’s narration in orv, as it is limited; not only would it have been a long time since he had read it as one of the early rounds, but his understanding of it would have been impacted by his age at the time and life experiences. whose to say that he doesn’t actively avoid reading it again, because of how painful it was? whose to say that time hasn’t distorted what he knew? to see the character you love fall that far out of numbness would be painful to anyone, and kdj would probably HATE rereading those chapters. on top of that,,,,, i did a quick scroll-through of 41st in the ebooks search bar through my orv copy, and. this is speculation, since i’d need to go read through it again PROPERLY to put a pin on it, but it’s entirely possible kdj had put more focus on actions than yjh as a person whenever referring to that round rather than really clarifying what he thought

that aside, however

2) keep in mind that. that a character that wasn’t even from orv has just been isekai’d directly into one of the early antagonists of the individual timelines along with a bunch of other readers, and are already making massive changes to what is expected

yjh might have gone numb with grief and exhaustion of the neverending timeloops, but it’s a very different story when an outside party has made changes so massive he suddenly has to pay attention. suddenly, everything is NOT the same; there are more people alive, people you previously thought needed to die for their crimes have suddenly decided to make kinder decisions, there is a change in the narrative that wasn’t made by you. suddenly, you are shaken out of the numbness that’s been instilled in you; you are forcefully reminded that the world is not supposed to be a script, and you’re rapidly forced to backtrack as you realize you were about to do something irreversibly bad

simply by cheon inho not actually being cheon inho, this worldline suddenly has the promising aspect of going completely off the rails simply because 41!yjh is now paying attention and has been offered with the possibility of a different route, a kinder one

while i was typing this, a fun third alternative occurred to me that i suspect is unlikely to be the case, simply because kkoma 41!yjh has apparently 0 memories of his own route (potentially due to trauma). i will reserve that for a different anon ask, because i consider that a fun ‘what-if’ that i doubt will be what actually happens, but on the note of 41!yjh not remembering his own route; another one for the ‘forgotten, unappreciated stories’ being dumped into the lot, by orv own narration no less. i’m betting kdj’s feeling guilty as he reads side story 41 now

SORRY for taking so long i wanted to read a few more chapters before answering this if you haven't seen yet there is a way to get chapters for free,, i might make a detailed guide if people need it i really want more people to talk with about the side stories

so yeah. you are like. entirely correct about yjh just from the few lines in orv about the 41st yjh, everyone has a skewed perspective of how this yjh was, and it isn't really kim dokja's fault this time, even with all his unreliability 41st shin yoosung's lines were also pretty damning

through lee hakhyun watching the memories of the 40th turn, it's clear yjh had just given up and planned to end it all in the 41st round, straight up telling 40th cheon inho that everything would be destroyed in the next turn

he says that, but.. he's not really acting that way? sure, he was harsh on jhw and cih when first meeting them, but he tried to help geumho station and left ellain forest essence to help them heal. and the reason why yjh was wary in the first place was because of other readers approaching him he had correctly guessed that lee hakhyun wasn't cheon inho

and in the latest chapter i read,, yoo joonghyuk's is shaken from the differences in the turn, and being given an offer for a different path

things ARE changing and hopefully this 41st turn will have a happier end

[rachelbethhines]

60 Years of Doctor Who Anniversary Marathon - Martin: 8th Review

Doctor Who Island in Fortnite - Video Game

So over the weekend, my nephew taught me how to play Fortnite. An online multiplayer game that primarily focuses on third person shooting and hosts various games/events based around that core game play. It's mostly Free To Play, with in games purchases primarily being cosmetic additions. This means, a complete noob like myself can jump right in and potentially win without paying anything. However, there is a steep learning curve and lots of stuff to memorize in order to become good. Just to briefly go over the basics, in Fornite you have a battle royale type mode, which to my knowledge is the most popular way to play the game, and in it you run around collecting better guns and equipment to try and off your opponents. Last man standing wins. You get a pick axe to break things, and a build button to make a shield/fort with, a glider to help you navigate the map, and items you find can included weapons, support/healing articles, and even vehicles to traverse the over-world with. Said over-world will start to shrink over time, forcing players towards the center of the map. This way you can't just hide away till everyone else bumps everyone else off for you. I'm mean you can, potentially, but you have to still be on the move while doing so. You can't remain in one place without dying. From there other modes build off this core concept; like creative/build mode, team play, and collect-a-thons ect. For the the purposes of this review however I'll only focus on the modes for the Doctor Who DLC. 

The first mode is "Creative". It's a simple quest adventure where you collect crystals to fix the TARDIS with. You only need five crystals and there are multiple challenges that will give you such key items. Everything from simple quizzes, collecting things for NPCs, to easy platforming puzzles. It's not a very hard mode, and at the end of the quest you get a little cosmetic tattoo for your character. It would be my favorite mode if it wasn't for one very big problem. It's laggy as hell. The game ran fine in any other mode, both off and on the Doctor Who Island, but this one quest constantly kept freezing up on us. What should have been a quick 15 to 20 min. game turned into an hour slog of constant restarts.

The other three modes played a lot smother. First was Box Battle. All players are trapped in a single room with nothing but pre-assigned guns and the build button. The object of the game is to kill your opponents before they can kill you, while building mazes and forts to protect yourself. It's lasts for 10 short rounds and the person at the end with the most kills wins. This was my nephew's favorite mode, mainly because he kept beating me. I was less enthused, but that was nothing to do with the way the game played, and eveything to do with my lack of experiance and my dislike of the controls set up... which can be changed, but I just don't know how to yet. I will give the visuals prasie here though. Setting the box battle inside a giant Kerblam delivery box is inspired. 

Then there was the war mode. You either fought with the Daleks or the Timelords in a closed battle arena. Teams are chosen by the game, you don't get to pick, and each team has access to the same weapons sets, but you get to choose what you want from the selections on offer. This probably would have been a really fun mode with a large group of people, but sadly no one was playing but us two. We also couldn't figure out how to 'win/end' the game as there was no timer and you respawned when you died.  We finally agreed when we were ready to quit that my nephew won again as he had the most kills.

Final mode is just a 'museum' to walk around in. It's cute. The models do look nice, but there's nothing to really do there. All in all, it's a nice free to play game that, while not much, is still fun to play and is competently executed. If the lag issue could be fixed in mode one (and tbf that only happened during the day we decided to play and not others) and if you can get more of a group together for the Time War mode, this would a solid gaming experience.