#almost done which means i can continue their story on youtube

[divaatrait]

Making Moves 📦

Lopez successfully finished his internships and has started his residency at White Willow Memorial Hospital. With a secure salary, he was able to lease one half of the newest Landgraab-owned development. And it seems that he's preparing a surprise for when his long-distance girlfriend, Darcy, comes to visit...

[everywishway]

So I want to talk about the Legend of Vox Machina, Season Three Finale, but more specifically what it means for the coming spinoff(ish) season based on the second campaign, The Mighty Nein. If you haven't watched the newest episodes of season three or don't want MAJOR spoilers for TM9, don't continue on to under the cut.

Spoilers for the ending of TLVM S3 and the entirety of TM9:

Okay, I want to specifically talk about what this means for the VERY fucking controversial finale of M9. Those who were there remember it well, especially me, because the INSANE fighting that came out of nowhere ruined CR for me.

For those who don't know, instead of bringing back Mollymauk Tealeaf, Taliesin made a new character out of Molly's dead corpse and it really rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way. Some were all for it (but from my experience, that was a rare minority), a lot were against it and an even larger group didn't like it but said "this is Taliesin's character, he gets to do what he wants". The fanbase kind of tore itself apart from the inside, esp on Twitter, Youtube, and a little on here but not as bad. Honestly, the whole thing killed a large part of the fandom and that's part of the reason why a lot of people fell off with Campaign 3/Bells Hells.

While I have my own opinions on the finale, I'm not going to share them here but this choice will probably be rectified in the M9 animated series.

TLVM seems to be trying to fix story issues, esp big ones that upset fans or didn't flow narratively which was almost certainly what Molly's/Kingsley's revival was for the greater Critter fanbase back in 2021. People (including me) had been watching for literal months back then, waiting to see if Molly was revived or not, then a sudden third thing happened that upset the majority of the fanbase.

I think a large part of that choice was Taliesin kinda hating Molly? More specifically he hated the popularity Molly got. Molly was a fan favorite, even after his death and people just wanted more of him even tho he was long replaced by Caduceus after Molly's death. I think Taliesin was just, done with Molly at that point.

Plus, it looked like at that time he wasn't enjoying Critical Role as much, Taliesin seems to wish CR never got as big as it did. He wanted it to stay small, something between him and his friends.

In a recent interview, Sam said he didn't have the fight that drove Scanlan away from Vox Machina because it didn't fit narratively in the show or really even in the podcast. I can see Taliesin having that moment of clarity within the past three years. He can see as a writer, as a director, as a storyteller, that choice upset the fans (and probably his fucking castmates, ngl). This is the chance to undo the damage a lot of people had but that's the cast's choice.

Do I think this is set in stone? No, I can totally see it going the same way it does in the campaign, and dear god, I don't want to deal with that toxic hellhole the fandom became back then. But this is what I think will happen. If you have any ideas or comments, feel free to reblog.

[wcters]

i know this is not what i usually post on here but i just want to share this quote from margaret atwood on writing the handmaid’s tale:

“I made a rule for myself: I would not include anything that human beings had not already done in some other place or time, or for which the technology did not already exist. I did not wish to be accused of dark, twisted inventions, or of misrepresenting the human potential for deplorable behavior. The group-activated hangings, the tearing apart of human beings, the clothing specific to castes and classes, the forced childbearing and the appropriation of the results, the children stolen by regimes and placed for upbringing with high-ranking officials, the forbidding of literacy, the denial of property rights—all had precedents, and many of these were to be found, not in other cultures and religions, but within Western society, and within the “Christian” tradition itself.” taken from this article.

atwood also mentions this in why she decided it was time to write a sequel: "People had been asking me to write a sequel for a long time, and I always said no, because I thought they meant the continuation of the story of Offred which I couldn't do," she says. "But then I thought, what if somebody else were telling the story? And what if it were 15 or 16 years later? And it was also time, because for a while we thought we were moving away from The Handmaid's Tale. And then we turned around and started going back toward it, ominously close in many parts of the world.” taken from this article

these quotes say a lot. if you know what the handmaid’s tale is then you know what i mean. it is absolutely sickening that everything in that book is based on something true happening at some time in history. i haven’t read the book (i really want to) but i have watched the show.

yes, we have come a long way in terms of women’s rights, but we haven’t come far enough, and now we’re going backwards, and some countries are even getting closer to becoming the handmaid’s tale. you can see this backward movement almost everywhere, but it is extremely visible in women of colour and minorities. we need to help each other, not just us women, but men too.

i recommend watching this video because this man is amazing and everything he says is true. as well as the “man versus bear” debate correlates.

i was just watching some random youtube video when an ad with margaret atwood came up saying the quote from earlier and that got me hooked. the idea of that was in the back of my head but still. she is a genius. and she speaks the truth. we need to listen and we need to work collectively to stop this.

[owlbelly]

featherwurm

I really loved it but it was not an easy game even in pacifist mode. I think I'm a little too old and came in too late to be really sucked in but I did find it worth the difficulty.

i do enjoy the story & the characters! but yeah i guess i just didn't realize/expect that "you don't have to fight, you can talk to the monsters" actually meant "you have to frantically dodge bullets while attempting to talk to the monsters" which is not my idea of a good time haha

winkingvoid

with the cow/goat lady you have to let her almost kill you then her attacks will all miss you (even if you don't evade) bc she can't bare to finish it-after a few rounds of this, she lets you pass (You won't get the Pacifist ending if you kill her, unfortunately) The golden part of the game is the playback value and the games memory/recollection of you\prior you's- (it's faster to go through each sequential time bc you don't need to explore as much) I'd rec trying the Pacifist run, again, once you beat it this time if you can stand it. But, also, if you're not having fun then it's not worth continuing to not have fun with it, y'know, so do you

yeah i looked it up & apparently it was going to take like 20+ seemingly futile attempts at "sparing" her to get her to stop? that kind of thing just annoys me. if i try an action 10+ times with no apparent results, i am going to assume the action is impossible! also i took enough damage from her that i thought she was just gonna kill me & was like well. guess it's you or me. i think i must have JUST been to the point where her attacks would stop hitting me. everyone keeps calling me a murderer but it really didn't seem like i had a choice there :/

i think if i didn't have to redo all the bullet hell shit i might try it again! but imo those are enough hassle for me to say i'd rather just watch someone else get the other endings

jmhowl

If you accidentally killed Toriel then just watch the Pacifist Run ending on YouTube when you’re done, if you don’t kill anyone then you go through one of the default endings first and then it partially rewinds, lets you make some different choices, and the gives you the full ending with a couple more boss fights included. It does mean you won’t get the heart attack it gave me when it force-quit itself as part of the story but I thought it just crashed and was going to force me to redo a boss I am REALLY bad at bullet hell games. The random dummy took me way longer to beat than it had any right to and filled me with rage, but not as much as one boss fight that I think took me like 35ish attempts? Good thing that boss fight has one of my favorite songs in the game playing behind it.

ah okay yeah. ooh i've played other games that force-quit themselves so i've experienced that particular bit of meta before!

oh my god was it Mettaton EX because ffffffffffffffuck him oh my god literally the only thing that kept me coming back was the song

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

You asked: “If Jungkook didn't impress you, and you already knew of BTS and had a positive impression of them yet that wasn't enough for you to become interested, how did you become Army?”

To answer, I’d like to recommend an article from “The New Yorker.” I can’t include links in an anonymous ask, but you can search for “How BTS Became One of the Most Popular Bands in History,” by E. Tammy Kim in the June 21, 2022 issue. The author is Korean-American, so she has a connection to Korean culture that I don’t have, but a lot of this article paralleled my feelings. Her premise at the start of the piece is just curiosity: “To continue ignoring the BTS phenomenon was to risk missing something bigger than Beatlemania.” By the end of the article, she’s Army.

After the Good Morning America show this summer, I went back to watch that 2019 BTS performance on GMA. I don’t know why I suddenly became more curious about them this time, when I haven’t before—maybe I just couldn’t escape the cascade of BTS content that YouTube recommended after I searched for “BTS GMA Central Park.” But like E. Tammy Kim, I had a feeling like this was something I couldn’t ignore anymore.

People talk about going down the rabbit hole, and I went down it—hard. There’s just SO MUCH. When Kim started writing her “New Yorker” piece, a friend warned her, “This is the hardest story you’ve ever done,” referring to the sheer volume of BTS material she’d need to explore. I was astounded by the bottomless depths of it. But about a week into this deluge of content (which I was consuming in no chronological order), I came to an inflection point: the video of this “Black Swan” live performance from 2020: again, can’t include a link, but it’s on YouTube: BTS (방탄소년단) - Black Swan [Music Bank / 2020.02.28].

Up until that point, I’d still been thinking of BTS as a pop group. An extraordinarily prolific and astonishingly charismatic one, but still, within the bounds of the everyday. Something about that performance brought me to a hard stop. Suddenly I realized that…*BTS* was a work of art. Not “artists” in the literal meaning of “people who make a living in the arts.” Something bigger than that: BTS *itself* is the art. It’s the music, it’s video, it’s live performance, it’s livestreams, it’s freakin’ Run BTS, it’s Bangtan Universe, it's who they are as themselves, it's their relationship with each other and with Army...it’s *all of it.* I got so emotional about the whole thing that I had a sudden fit of sobbing. The less said about that, the better.

A few weeks later, I found that “New Yorker” article and I was so grateful, because a passage in it perfectly articulated what I’d felt: “…BTS mastered the craft of storytelling across platforms—what contemporary scholars call “transmedia” and what Heidegger called the “total work of art,” or Gesamtkunstwerk.”

The definition of Gesamtkunstwerk is “an artwork, design, or creative process where different art forms are combined to create a single cohesive whole.” See…that’s it. That’s what got me. The *wholeness* of BTS that transcends “pop.” It’s something so few artists have been able to do that it feels uncanny, almost mystical when it does happen. I find it indescribably compelling. I don’t know if that makes me Army or not, but here I am.

Just to bring things down to earth, I also just really, really, *REALLY* adore Suga. Sometimes I have an RM kind of day (as one does) but Suga and the whole Agust D universe? That’s…yeah. I have Agust D fan art in my house now and it’s *beautiful.* So you asked if I had a bias, there it is!

Thank you so much for being curious! I adore your blog and I’ve literally had no one to talk to about any of this, so forgive me for rambling on!

--A Muggle

Thank you so much for writing this. It's beautiful! RM would be proud.

I haven't read that interview, but it's great that it touched you and inspired you! It's funny that it was a music show performance of Black Swan that got to you. When you said Black Swan, I immediately thought you'd bring up the infamous MMA performance! But all Black Swan performances are good performances!

Agust D is my favorite member musically, and I relate to Suga so much! I don't know how you found my blog, but it probably wasn't because of my many reviews of his work?

Thank you for loving my blog, that makes me really happy!!! You can always come rant to me. You wrote so beautifully that I don't even know how to reply, but this ask has to be one of the best I've ever received! BTS *are* art indeed.

And you aren't a Muggle anymore! That can still be your nickname though! You're Army now. Welcome, first time with BTS?

Thanks for the ask!

[orphancookie69]

Now Watching: The Super Mario Bros. Movie!

Mario has been on a roll this year, anyone else thinking we should quit our day jobs and become plumbers? Between Universal Studios adding “Mario Land” and the movie debuting on 4/5 in theatres everywhere...don’t even get me started on the amount of games from the franchise that are selling hand over fist. Let’s talk movies! 

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

So, before I watched this movie-I have played the games for my whole life, my parents played the game before me. This game came out in 1985, which puts this on the radar of my parents growing up-and then on my radar in childhood. My nephew is avid gamer, who has done everything mario related. He has either played or watched youtube for gameplay footage, and even just went to Universal Studios. So, you have Mario on 3 generations. His current favorite game is Super Mario Maker 2. 

This game, turned movie, can almost be too iconic to succeed. I meant what I typed, I know the phrase is “too big to fail”, but I mean what I type. One question I had before was: who was the target customer? Was it my parents who played the OG game? Was it me who played the current game with extended storylines? Or my nephew who has probably watched more people play it more than he has actually played it? 

This is your spoiler alert. Here I will go into some things I loved and did not love about this movie. 

There was so much movie in such a little time. While there are a lot of games in the franchise, from my knowledge of the mario universe-they covered the following game: Mario Kart, Super Mario Odssey, Luigi’s Mansion, Yoshi Island, and so many more. The movie is 1.5 hours long. Some references to the games were more subtly referenced, and others were like watching a video clip from the games. 

The movie itself is well made, the actor list is not a bad mix. The story is not untrue to the base material. The mixture of real world and game world is a little odd, but kind of necessary. In game, there is no question of why you are there. In the movie they have to establish why humans are in the video game world. The movie needed to be a little bit longer to kind of establish the brothers. Yes you know the brothers, but when you are changing the story-you have to explain it. 

While you are normally helping to rescue the princess, the tables are turned. I wonder if that would of been the case if we weren’t in a time of feminist trying to dominate the world. Music is all over the place, half the time it is video game classic tunes and the other half its oldies over the generation. There is even a beastie boys song in the movie! 

There is a lot of movie, in too short amount of time. In my opinion, I don’t feel like Nintendo struck the “classic kid movie balance” in putting jokes for the adults but keeping the movie kid friendly. It was definitely more for the younger to youngest generation, the older generation is too busy adulting to keep up with the ever continuing story. For me, there are some things that are “classic mario” that I would of loved to see more. I did not see enough ghosts or yoshi’s. I know there is a lot of types of being in the universe and its hard to show them all in 1.5 hours, but if it was done differently-you could of slowed it down and maybe had a sequel. 

While I do love this era of gaming turned cinema, not every game is successfully turned into a movie. I would say this game was middle of the road, while I have heard good things about D&D being turned into a film. 

Did you know if you look up Mario games, there are 50+ games in the franchise? IMDb gives this a 7.5 out of 10, and a 53% on Rotten Tomatoes. Would I recommend this movie? It is not bad for older kids. Older people will not totally understand everything, but like anything that makes money these days-its about targeting kids and getting adults to pay for them. Have you seen this movie? What would you tell someone who hasn’t seen it? Inquiring Minds Want To Know. 

[musicarenagh]

Behind the Music: GIANFRANCO GFN Discusses the Making of 'SAIGON' In our latest feature, we look at the creative side, exploring the artistry of the man behind a new single called “SAIGON. ” GIANFRANCO GFN is known for his unique style and this single is no different. ‘SAIGON’ is a perfect blend of acid jazz, groove and soulful progressions paying homage to the past while embracing the present. The track demonstrates the consistency of GIANFRANCO GFN, in providing good music and how he pays attention to detail in his performance. The creative process behind ‘SAIGON,’ from its pre-production to the final product, is discussed in detail in this exclusive interview. GIANFRANCO GFN provides interesting information regarding his unique approach to creating art-music, the meaning behind the words, and hints at further projects that will be interesting for both old-forgotten and new fans to hear. Unmask what inspired GIANFRANCO GFN to create ‘SAIGON’ and the feelings behind it; a sneak peek into the life of this artiste and the progression of his music continually. Listen to Saigon below https://open.spotify.com/album/6aN88npXgLo9eVvurISLkz?si=nlQBaEsUQEqdV5edeZ2AUw Follow Gianfranco GFN Facebook Twitter Spotify Soundcloud Bandcamp Youtube Instagram Tiktok What was the inspiration behind your latest single, "SAIGON"?  Is there a specific story or message you wanted to convey with this track? No, there's no specific story or message! It all started with the text, which was originally written by Alan Jackson, one of my lyricists. However, I had an idea of how the song was going to come about, but in the end, I surprised myself because it took on a certain musical breadth. Can you walk us through the creative process of making "SAIGON"? How did the initial idea evolve into the final product? I had Alan's text, which was later modified in collaboration with singer Vladi and sound engineer David. It all started with a melody I had or and when I put the first words to the music, it just clicked! But the end results you're listening to today wasn't planned that way! There was even a moment when this piece was almost instrumental! Anyway, once the guitar composition was done, the whole process took shape in the studio, and that's when the song began to take on a musical dimension. How would you describe the musical style of "SAIGON"? Did you experiment with any new sounds or techniques that you haven't used before? Describing the style of a piece of music today is a bit difficult, there are so many! But I think we can define the style of this Pop-Soul piece... but that's subjective! The big challenge with SAIGON was the symphony orchestra part. It was a big job and a magnificent challenge to put it all together with all the other instruments. The lyrics of "SAIGON" seem to carry a lot of weight. Could you share the significance of the lyrics and what they mean to you personally? Lyrics are always very subjective, because we're all very different when it comes to interpretation and logic... In all my songs and their lyrics, I don't want to put across any political or religious message. In this text first of all, I wanted music where you can travel and at the same time tell a story, a story that can have many meanings depending on who you are... but one thing's for sure: there's always an element of realism linked or not to a slice of life's story. https://www.musicarenagh.com/unveiling-gianfranco-gfn-a-dive-into-the-melodies-of-sing-the-song/ What were some of the challenges you faced while working on "SAIGON"? How did you overcome them? I love composing and creating, and above all I love the studio. For me, it's a huge challenge every time, and there are always plenty of challenges to be met, but it's also very rewarding. Saigon was an even greater challenge because, as I've already described, there was the whole symphony orchestra part to place, and I'm very proud of the result. The work done for the whole piece involved

even more work, because mixing all the instruments and having them all in their proper places was a huge challenge. I loved it. Does "SAIGON" hint at the direction of your future work? Are there any upcoming projects or releases that fans should be excited about? The beauty of music is that you're always learning and improving! Saigon is one of those tracks where the challenge was very great and compared to other tracks I've brought in new things, which as always with my musicians who are fantastic, and each of them brings an extra musical touch. Every piece of music is unique, every song is a challenge, you're always evolving! https://open.spotify.com/artist/5YuiqszXJxjrSDp71OjDZb?si=llyWjC4XR2y0Uqm7iHoJpA Does "SAIGON" hint at the direction of your future work? Are there any upcoming projects or releases that fans should be excited about? I wouldn't say a direction, because you'll see that the next piece, which will arrive between now and the end of August, will be lighter because it will have a more bluesy connotation... on the other hand, yes, my work in the future will be more demanding, and an experience like Saigon opens up a lot of perspectives. In my projects, there will always be surprises, such as an instrument you wouldn't expect, like a cello, an accordion, etc.... What does "SAIGON" mean to you on a personal level? How does it reflect your current state of mind or experiences? Being very much in the musical world of ACID-JAZZ, or more commonly known today as "R&B-SOUL", SAIGON brings another opening both in its composition and in its softer, more cinematic style... for me, there's the side of a composition that's more demanding in its arrangement than in its composition, and its instruments, which is something that brings me a lot in terms of musical artistry and execution. What advice would you give to emerging artists who are trying to find their unique voice, especially when working on a project as personal as "SAIGON"? The only important piece of advice I could pass on is never to stop, even if you have a piece of music or a composition that you're not convinced of! do it, finish it, because over time that's how your musical world will grow. When you're composing, of course you should listen to advice, but above all you should listen to and follow your own ideas and feelings, because that's how you'll create your own musical world and style. Never give up, you'll have moments that aren't easy, but once you've achieved them, you'll be proud of your creation…. Viva la musica The title "SAIGON" suggests a connection to a specific place. How do you think your music resonates with audiences around the world, and what do you hope they take away from this track? In my musical world, I hope to bring an escape in the minds of listeners, everyone takes it in his own way, a memory, a dream, a situation lived ... Many write me telling me that my music brings them something different, especially with current styles, many people tell me that it reminds them of specific moments of their lives ... when you say such compliments, I'm proud and I tell myself that my music, my art, will leave something in time!

[j-a-smiths-blog]

1752 5May24: Chapter 126.1

Zero accomplishments so far.

I'd say the only thing I've done today is wore my 18th century clothing almost all day minus breakfast. I doubt I will go take a few photos later because I just don't think I can get my wife or my nephew to capture what I'm looking for.

I ended up using faceapp and posting a selfie on Facebook and Instagram about character building. My goal is to grow my beard out like that but I highly doubt I will grow the hair on my head out that far... just bothers me... so anyways. Posting that photo triggered some reactions and I ended up messaging one of the friends and her husband. Which ended up becoming me explaining the entire thing to them and what my plan is as far as youtube. So here is the quick rundown as a reminder:

1. ASMR. it seems to big a big deal thing. So having sounds of the treadle lathe in operation, with hopes that there is a bit of squeakyness.

2. Tutorial/behind the scenes making of things. So of course with the treadle lathe first it would be able the tools, cuts, and projects I am making.

3. Cinematic shorts to build a story. Great thing about these shorts are that they don't need to be big productions. They can be single stand-alone shorts, or they can be pieces of a bigger pie.

So I mean... thankfully, these past couple of days, I have been motivated and keeping on track to continue with this project. I haven't been tempted to deal with 1/6th scale stuff.

Summer days should be slowly starting to mellow out but what does that really mean? It's still going to be hot to me hahahaha

I don't know how to delete these questions:

[actionfigurebullshit]

An Unexpected Return to AFB

But it's not "Chaos Corridor", it's the blackberry bushes. Although this year's attempt at BTM 3 is different from the others, that there would be a kids show in the style of the early 90s "Fox Kids Club" has been there at least as far back as 10 years, probably more. Well, what's one of these shows without some cheap animation, heavy on stock, to fill a time slot?

There is now something of a new AFB story brewing inside BTM 3, though it uses live action, also. Footage from Jane's "ASStronauts" and "Starburners" is (re)used to create the appearance of a small invading force with a powerful doomsday weapon, capable of wiping out all the star systems within a large galactic nebula. Despite the destruction, it would seem these bad guys missed one of their targets, but who was clever enough to escape?

MOXIE!

And now I'm using stock from an animation project from 2011. I didn't get very far into that one, but one of the animation sequences was a shuttle flying over the surface of a strange world. I was able to tweak it a bit, and make this "world" appear to have a base on it. The base is the "space base", which was from something from 2017, I think? I had a few ideas for that one- another, different AFB idea, and later offering it to Jane, but also using it for a variety of things on my end. It's possible it will depict the Space DMV should "Chaos Corridor" continue development. Until, it's simply the place Moxie and Greta are working for unknown reasons.

The story doesn't have to make too much sense, as it's a movie within a movie, perhaps with another "within a movie" thrown in, depending on how you look at it.

After the establishment shot of the mountain base, we cut to the scene from CC where Newton takes the TV, but the video doesn't progress past the shot of the movers taking the damn thing away; instead, it rewinds to right before they take down the TV, and then, inspired by a disturbing scene from Faces of Death 7, as seen on YouTube, I have us advance frame by frame until we're looking at the frame where you can see THG, which in this case may stand for an older checkered character, though I've wondered for many years if the checkered character from AFB was related to one or both of two from BTM 2 and 3.

I've been up all night editing this scene. There's not a great deal to do on AFB's end- simply pull the right footage, and then do some audio work to make it something new. I want the free YouTube music removed when Newton speaks, put something different in, which then transitions to that spooky audio from FOD 7, stretched out for the scene.

Jane has already popped up in this attempt at BTM 3- a second and a half of a tutorial video she was giving me because I asked for direction on a scene. Elsewhere, I wanted to include her "happy birthday" message her and a couple actors filmed while they were making "Secret Origins"- or, I think that's what they were working on, it was about seven years ago.

And Moxie makes an appearance, too.

Now I'm at the point where Jane-as-Moxie is appearing, but it's not all stock, per se. I mean... of course, it is now, but some of the stuff recorded has not been paired with animation because it's not Chaos Corridor, and it's being mixed with other things to create a new narrative.

As my friendship with Jane was through video and film making, and the only time we ever saw each other was through video, doing all this almost feels like reviving her, even if it feels like I've created a Frankenstein's Monster version, or a digital ghost. It's her, but it's not. Think of all those actors who died years ago, yet we keep seeing them, sometimes we get to see them in new things, which can be incredibly dystopian when done by corporate giants. Me, I just want my friend to be here in one of the most important projects I've ever made.

The plan is, should I actually finish this video, AFB is next. I might even work on it over the next couple weeks. I kept getting sick over the past few weeks, including getting COVID a second time. I don't know if I would have worked on AFB had all that not happened, but it definitely wasn't going to happen because it did.

But I feel a strong urge- a clock ticking, where I want all this stuff that has languished for years to come to a close and be done. I don't want this to continue to languish in Development Hell as I go into my 40s and 50s and beyond (if I'm so lucky). Whether I have 40 years left or just 40 days, there just doesn't seem to be enough time left in this life to continue to let these things languish in Limbo. I must either finish them or let them go... and we know the latter just isn't going to happen. I could say "I QUIT!", and burn all my footage and props, but there would be no closure, only a sickness that I have created such a high obstacle to finishing. It would never leave my mind, so, I think the thing to do to give myself closure is to simply do the thing and be done with it.

I know there's no such thing with "done" and these projects, though. All those ideas I wanted to do but didn't will be like cancer cells that didn't get cut out and were allowed to proliferate once again. I can live with that, but boy am I covering a lot of bases with this attempt at BTM 3 (there's about one attempt a year, with varying degrees of success and accomplishments). That which does not get in... well... I'm hoping I'll be okay with it, that I can put my creative forces to things more urgent and important, and maybe if there's room and time left... revisit.

But one thing at a time. Right now, it's this weird mash up being passed off as cheap entertainment for a cheap show on a cheap channel that might only exist in the mind of a troubled person's nightmares.

I almost went with shooting extra footage- stop motion, Moxie and Greta, the works. But this is how I hamstring myself. Can it be done without it? Yeah? Okay, then. Leave it out. I can't get too lost in this project within a project within a project. I need to keep my eyes on the prize and tread carefully where tangents thrive.

[firestarter91]

It's nice to hear that he feels more confident now playing parts using his native Irish accent more often which he didn't in the past because of the troubles, it's really beautiful.

When he's considering roles, he's attracted to things he doesn't 'know how to do', does it need to be a challenge then we ask, Otherwise there's a chance of playing the same character over and over, almost as though the actor ends up continually playing themselves.

'Hey look, some people can do that, some people make careers out of it, and do you know what, they're very good at it. I don't feel like I know myself well enough to play myself. I'm still figuring it out.'

I kind of admire people like that, the George Clooney's of this world who can be George Clooney, in kind of everything they do, I think that shows a real sense of confidence in themselves, but yeah I'm way too insecure for it all.'

Awww poor lad, trust me you can be fifty and still figuring out who you are as a person. 😉

Another actor I can think of like Clooney is Tom Cruise, but going back to what Colin said made me think about why he's never done another sort of Merlin style enterprise. I see some fans wishing he'd either reprise the role or appear in stories playing a similar character because they figure that's where he belongs and would be happiest, they see roles he's played since then and don't like them or respond to them like they did with Merlin.

I saw on youtube for The Boy that Never Was there was a fan saying he's picking the wrong roles, he's be much happier playing someone like Merlin again. However, having read interviews with Colin over the years and looking at his output, it's clear he's not wanting to play it safe and keep doing the same thing over and over. He's wanting to explore and do things that may even make him uncomfortable, if it means exploring different things and maybe discovering a bit more about himself along the way.

He played Merlin once and that was enough, at least for a good while, maybe forever and as much as some fans may want him to keep playing similar roles because that's what they enjoy seeing him in, that's not what he wants to do and we need to respect that decision.

x

[buttercream-squad-imagines]

Tinder in Real Life

Pairings: Harry Lewis x fem!Reader, Sidemen x platonic!Reader Word Count: 2k Warnings: Language some people may find offensive, sexual themes, recycled lines from Sidemen Tinder in Real Life because I'm not at all creative Request: Hey! Could you do reader x Harry imagine where the sidemen do a collab video with the reader who is also a big youtuber and Harrys celebrity crush. And during the video the reader is very flirty, leaving Harry a flustered mess when the flirting is directed towards him, but very jealous when its with any other sidemen.

The Sidemen were one of the biggest groups on YouTube and one that you were very familiar with. At the age of 23, you were a fair bit younger than some of its oldest members but yet you had a close relationship with JJ, whom you had met through YouTube.

You had started your channel when you were 17, just under four years ago, making makeup videos, which was a passion of yours when you were younger. Not that you were any good at it back then. Those videos quickly become unlisted when your channel started blowing up in late 2016, now nearing 20 million at the present time.

It wasn't long before you expanded your horizons and had started making different sorts of videos, including vlogs of your everyday life - which wasn't and still isn't that exciting in your opinion - and those where you just had a laugh, attempting to do stupid challenges that were so popular back then. It was those, however, that grew your channel. Your fans seemed to love them and so you gradually started to make more.

As your small channel began to grow significantly, it caught the attention of KSI, a member of the Sidemen, who reached out to you to for a collab. You were ecstatic. You couldn't believe it at the time, why would someone like KSI with 20 million subscribers want to collaborate with you? By that time, you couldn't exactly call yourself a small channel anymore, with almost 5 million subscribers but it still didn't make any sense to you.

You and JJ quickly bonded after filming together. You had a very similar sense of humour and interests. As the years went, the older boy became one of your best friends, the nature of your relationship being very teasing and flirtatious but the both of you knew it was a joke. It was just the way you both were.

Though despite having known him for nearing 3 years now, you had never met the rest of the Sidemen, with the exception of Simon, as he lived with JJ. Which is why when he texted asking you to collaborate with the Sidemen, you couldn't turn the offer down. You were a fan of the group and the content they were producing. You thought the videos that they made were exceptional, that they were pushing the envelope of the standard of content on YouTube and often found yourself excited for new videos.

He had explained that they were filming another of their 'Tinder in real life' but a YouTuber version with the likes of BambinoBecky and ChiWithAC. You were so excited. You were finally going to meet the rest of JJ's friends and you had the opportunity to be a part of a Sidemen Sunday.

You arrived at the studio the boys were filming at in the afternoon, finding and greeting JJ before he introduced you to the other sidemen in addition to Lux, Freezy and Stephen.

"And you've already met Simon." He finished.

"Yeah. Nice to finally meet you all. JJ tells me a lot about you guys." You laughed.

"Because that's assuring." Ethan pointed out with a chuckle, the other boys letting out agreements.

"Not all bad, I promise." You teased, winking at him. Ethan felt the blood rushing to his face, immediately becoming flustered and stumbling over his words. You found that you often had that effect on people as you could be very direct and flirtatious even when you didn't mean it. To you it was just friendly banter.

"Geez Y/N, stop flirting with people you met literally five minutes ago." JJ rolled his eyes.

"You sound a bit jealous, Jide." You smirked, a teasing grin spread across your face.

"Nah, allow it." There were eruptions of laughter around the room, coming from the boys. You were quick to notice Harry standing out of the way and was significantly quieter than the others, with what seemed to be a forced smile on his face.

Harry was in his own head, barely paying attention to what was going on around him. When JJ had told him that you were going to be in the next Sidemen video, he panicked. You were an accomplished YouTuber who he was quite fond of to say the least. Well, that would be an understatement, he had a fairly large crush on you. A crush that no one but Freezy and Lux knew about.

He knew that JJ had been friends with you for some time now but never considered the possibility of even meeting you. His anxiety acted as a barrier to even the thought of it. But he was currently in the same room as you and had said nothing more than a short 'hello'. He longed to have the confidence Ethan had to speak to you, even more so for you to look at him the way you were.

Already you were flirting with JJ and Ethan, something that caused a pit to form at the bottom of his stomach. He wouldn't admit it, but he could slowly feel the jealousy forming. Not that he had anything to be jealous about in the first place!

You continued to speak with the boys as you got your mic set up, telling them stories you were sure would embarrass JJ.

"Y/N, stop." The older boy whined. He could be like a child sometimes, but it was one of his more endearing qualities. He simply wouldn't be JJ if he wasn't.

"No, carry on." Simon laughed.

"Oh, don't worry, there's plenty more where that came from." You teased.

"I think it's time we started, don't you think?" Harry grumbled.

"Right." You smiled at the boy, who's cheeks became tinted red. He ducked to hide his face and walked around to stand in the line, hiding himself in the middle.

"Hi, I'm Y/N, I'm 23 and I'm from Y/H/T." You spoke to the camera once you were given the go ahead.

"I'm Simon, I'm 28. I like to practice safe sex."

"Always a good start."

"I could tie you to the bed, so you don't fall off." He finished with a giggle. You acted like you were pondering it for a moment before letting out a laugh and swiping right.

"I'm down for that." You teased. The boys all let out rumbles of laughter

"Hi, I'm Ethan, I'm 26 and kiss me if I'm wrong, but you're gonna swipe right."

"What would you rather?" You joked. Ethan shrugged his shoulders and walked closer to the board, sticking his head through with his lips puckered, eliciting a cry of protest from Harry that this wasn't allowed. You laughed and made an over exaggerated motion to swipe to the right, causing him to pout playfully but walked over to the right anyway.

"Hi, I'm Josh, I'm 28. KSI has a top ten single, but you're the only hot single I can see."

"Wow, that was smooth!" You said with a grin. "Definite yes from me."

"I'm Callum, I'm 26. Are you into fitness?" Freezy asked.

"Can't say I am." You replied, unsure of what turn this could take.

"How about you fitness dick in your mouth?"

"I wouldn't get too excited babes, I gag on my toothbrush." You laughed. "We could try though."

You swiped right on him, chuckling as you watched him let out a yes before joining Simon, Ethan, and Josh. You frowned slightly, a crease forming between your brows as you saw Harry whisper something furiously at his friend but ultimately got distracted by Vik stepping up to go next.

"I'm Vik, I'm 25. My ex-girlfriend always said I'd never do better than her, wanna prove her right?" You could hear the cries of the boys in the background, some scolding him, others laughing.

"Man actually said prove her right. Not wrong." JJ shrieked with a shocked look on his face, holding his head with his hands.

"You need to find someone for that." You snarked, swiping left on the boy, who shrugged and walked off.

"Damn! You got told!" Lux cackled.

"Uh hi. I'm Harry. I'm uh 25, no I'm not I'm 24." He stumbled. "Are you sure you're a muggle? Because that ass is magical."

"You should see how magical it can be." You spoke before cringing at yourself and laughing, swiping right to avoid a reply. The boy's face grew a bright shade of red, closely resembling the colour of a tomato.

"Geez, is that an offer?!" Freezy yelled from the right side. You laughed, observing how Harry whispered furiously to the boy to stop and winked at him once he had could see. Your laughter only increased as you watched JJ step up.

"I'm JJ. I'm 28 and are you a raisin? Cause you're raising my dick." The boy in question stood in front of you so confidently, hands clasped together in front of him so seriously that you just lost it. By the time you composed yourself, there were tears almost falling from your eyes.

"A* for effort." You laughed, swiping right eliciting a cry of success.

You had wrapped up filming your segment of the video, which conveniently was the last of the day. You found JJ who you spoke to whilst the other boys were otherwise occupied talking to each other.

"Cheers for coming, Y/N/N. You've been great."

"Anything for you." You joked.

"Don't tempt me." He laughed. You could feel eyes on you, eyes that were burning into your side. You turned your head to see Harry staring you and JJ down before looking away after being caught in the act, and suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

"Does Harry not like me or something?" You whispered to JJ, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden.

"Not that I know of." He frowned looking at the younger boy. "He can be a bit awkward at times and gets flustered a lot."

"Right." You agreed. You excused yourself before sauntering up to the boy in question, calling his name to snap him out of the daze he appeared to be in.

"Oh, um hey Y/N." He stumbled.

"Hi." You smiled gently. "I uh, I was just wondering, do you... have I done something to offend you?"

"Offend me? Why, uh, why would you think that?" He rambled.

"It's just... it's nothing, it's probably just me overthinking things." You waved it off, feeling like a complete idiot.

"I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I don't like you. I don't not like you, in fact I really like you! Oh, um I mean I like you, you're very pretty." The boy couldn't stop rambling which made you laugh. "No, wait."

"You think I'm pretty?" You blushed interrupting him. Harry felt his mouth go dry, not being able to get anything coherent to come out. "Well, Harry, I really like you too."

"What?" His eyebrows shot up so far it was almost comical. "Really? So, you don't like the other guys?"

"What? No." You laughed. "That's absurd. Why would you think that?"

"You seemed very..." The boy trailed off, not wanting to offend you after you had admitted to liking him.

"Flirty?" You finished, causing him to nod. "I'm like that with everyone, I don't mean to be half the time."

"Oh."

"Well, how about you give me your phone number and when you finally grow a pair, you can ask me out?" Your confidence levels had shot up spontaneously.

"Uh, sure." His cheeks had become a dark shade of red as he passed his phone to you so you could put your number in. You kept looking up at him as you typed, putting your name under 'Y/N x' in his contacts before handing it back to him.

"Y/N! Come on! We're going to Nando's!" JJ called from the other side of the room.

"Call me." You winked. Your bottom lip was caught between your teeth and was currently the only thing from stopping the wide grin from spreading across your face. A grin that hadn't disappeared from your face for the rest of the day, much to the curiosity of JJ, who was disappointed when you refused to tell him why, or more appropriately who, had put the smile on your face.

[absolutebl]

Do you have any theories/thoughts on why Semantic Error is blowing up so much and crossing into the mainstream? Don't get me wrong I am a huge fan, but I am a little surprised about stuff like the Elle photo spread, the DKZ presale numbers and the "average Korean YouTube reaction channels" reacting to it.

Also, do you think it will have a positive influence on future productions or was it just a one time fluke?

(There's obviously not one right answer, I'm just curious about your BL expertise take 🤗)

Why is Semantic Error so popular? 

It really is that good. Look, I have loved me some Korean BL, it has gotten the most 10/10 ratings out of me - Color Rush, Light On Me, and To My Star - but they're all flawed. CR had faulty chemistry, LOM had a difficult love triangle (and is high school set, almost always less popular than university), and TMS has a very wonky story arc (story, what story?).

Korea hit it entirely out of the Parks with Semantic Error by doing a university set BL featuring everything we expect from BL just done exactly right. It has Korea's signature quality executed perfectly, and added bonus good story, great pacing, stunning visuals, and fantastic chemistry. You cannot ask for more from a BL, let alone a KBL.

It is basically flawless. The attention to detail in this show was mind numbing. Their continuity supervisor should win MAD awards. 

ALSO

Enemies to lovers is one of the most popular romance tropes. And let’s be fair, these two actors are hypnotically beautiful both individually and together. Finally, they kissed well. Like actually kissed. In a Korean drama. 

That said, plenty of flawless shows over the years haven’t taken off.

So the next question is, why now? 

Not only are Kdramas but BL in general is still on the up swing. More and more new fans are being added every day. It’s constantly being discovered. 

A lot of those new fans are coming to BL via Kpop. As Korea casts more and more idols, KBL gets consistently new fans. Fans who specifically LIKE Korea’s clear precision style and attention to PRETTY. Because it’s the same style and approach they take with forming Kpop groups and filming Kpop MVs. 

I don’t know Viki’s true numbers, but I can take an educated guess that they at least doubled their subscriber base over the last year, possibly tripled. Hosting Kingdom, iLand and now Queendom has pulled in a LOT of Kpop stans and there’s huge BL crossover in this demographic, so a lot of them are moving into Kdramas and KBL. Initially many were following idols but now they’re delving fully into BL

In this instance we are also helped by Viki’s “Top 10″ algorithm which, unlike Netflix’s, is not filtered by user preferences. It literally just shows the Top 10 most watched stuff on the site. These days there’s always some BL in there. The more BL content Viki acquires, and the more BL fans are subscribers, the more BL shows in Top 10. Especially as BL watchers tend to be chronic rewatchers and last time I assessed it Viki’s count was based on runtime eyeballs, with no filter on IP/user. (Which means they don’t eliminate rewatches like YouTube does.) Semantic Error is still sitting there. Which means people are still recommending it and still rewatching it. 

Korea is now onboarding a new wave of fans, after Thailand brought in the first wave.

There’s about to be a bifurcated BL fandom. This is inevitable. There’s now too much content for anyone but the obsessives to keep track of and try to watch everything, so we will start to get BL camps: people who are fans of one country’s BL style more than another. I think the first tribalism will be around Thai BL vs Korean BL. In fact it’s already happening. 

This is not a weakness, this is human nature. 

(source)

[cole-grey-writes]

Symptoms of Loss

Universe: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Timeline: Post-Avengers: Endgame

Character(s): Wanda Maximoff, Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes

Pairing(s): Wanda Maximoff x Male Reader (platonic(?))

Warning(s): swearing, graphic depictions of mental illness (depression), briefly implied self-harm (minor), not Post-Avengers: Endgame compliant (especially not WandaVision compliant lol)

Request: Hi, I’m a big fan. Could you do a Wanda maximoff x male reader who has depression, but who doesn’t tell anybody. I’d like it to be post endgame.

A/n: heyyyyyy….. feeling the need to apologize a lot for taking a lifetime with this request. my hyperfixations are hella sporadic. anyway, idk if this is exactly what you wanted but i hope you enjoy this little one shot anyway. sidenote, not sure if it’s accurate but google says wanda was like 20 during infinity war and endgame (prior to wandavision airing) so that’s how old im portraying here. also, i realize you didn’t specify if you wanted this to be romantic or platonic so i hope i wrote it well enough to be seen as whichever the reader prefers. anyway, i really like writing stuff for you guys (even if it takes me a lifetime to get the stories out lol). till next time :)

The buzzing snaps you out of your heavy sleep. You don’t know how much longer you keep laying around in bed, cocooned in the covers, before you finally push yourself until you’re propped up on your elbows. You blindly search for your phone, having no idea where it ended up after you fell asleep while watching random youtube videos.

You look around your room while your hands blindly search, wondering if it fell out of bed at some point. Although, there’s likely no room for it to have done so. Your room has grown excessively messy throughout the past few weeks. You’ve been meaning to clean, of course, but you just end up blowing it off at the end of each day.

The floor is overrun with clothes and shoes miscellaneously strewn everywhere they can reach. The pillows you don’t use sit haphazardly at the end of your bed and there are even a few old half empty mugs on your bedside table, mugs that you haven’t felt like getting up and setting in the sink to be washed.

You finally grab your phone under the covers, near your legs. You first notice that it’s just past noon, which is a lot earlier than you’ve normally been waking up at. Wanda’s text is the next thing you notice.

It’s not weird that you’re getting a text from Wanda, in its own right, seeing as you have a very good friendship going that dates all the way back to the aftermath of Ultron. You and Wanda were the closest in age, at the time, so it was only natural that you congregated towards each other. Things were awkward in the beginning given that Wanda had been juggling the grieving process from losing her twin brother as well as trying to find even footing as the newest member of the Avengers. But, you and Wanda eventually were able to grow close.

So, no, it’s not weird that you’re getting a text from Wanda. It’s just a little unexpected. You haven’t talked to Wanda in a while. Actually, you haven’t talked to anyone in a while.

Wanda [12:04 PM]: heyyy n/n wanna go out to lunch?

You sigh, really not wanting to go out anywhere with anyone. You’re almost tempted to leave Wanda on read, but you decide against it due to the smallest amount of guilt that manages to claw its way into your chest. Plus, Wanda would spam you for at least a few hours or until you answered if you didn’t reply within five (5) minutes.

You [12:08 PM]: idk

Wanda [12:08 PM]: come on, sam and bucky are coming

You wonder if Wanda meant that to be persuading in a positive way when actually that just makes you not want to go even more. You are so not in the mood to deal with people.

Wanda [12:09 PM]: you should come, we haven’t hung out in a while

You [12:10 PM]: wanda i really dont know

Wanda [12:10 PM]: just lunch pls you don't even have to get dressed up

Wanda continues on before you can even flat out say no.

Wanda [12:10 PM]: im picking you up in 15 minutes

Clicking your tongue, you don’t even have the energy to try and get out of going now. You drop your phone next to you before flopping back onto the bed yourself.

Wanda is knocking on your apartment door eventually, giving you barely enough time to get ready. You shuffle through your apartment to open the door for her, gesturing for her to enter without even a simple hello on your part. “I just need to get my shoes on,” you tell her, grabbing the pair that was sitting next to the door.

Wanda hums in acknowledgement. “Sam and Bucky went ahead to get a table for us.”

You nod back as you slip your shoes on sloppily, not even bothering to tie them. Standing up straight, you tell Wanda, “Ready to go.”

Wanda steps up next to you, smiling brightly while taking your hand in hers. “Let’s go then.”

The diner is close to your apartment so you and Wanda decide to just walk, leaving Wanda’s car in the parking lot so she can drive home later.

There's a soft, cool wind blowing as you walk the streets to the diner, something that actually feels refreshing and different from the usual stale air you’ve been surrounded by in your apartment.

Through the diner’s windows, you spot Sam and Bucky sitting at a table as you walk across the street. The air is just as cool inside as it is outside, you note, as you follow Wanda into the restaurant. There's also the aroma of freshly made food and coffee that stick to the air. The delicious smells would’ve normally made your stomach growl, but it seems you’re not phased by it anymore despite you having no clue as to when your last meal was.

Sam and Bucky greet you and Wanda when you take your seats across from them. Wanda greets back with a simple ‘hey’ while you smile at them awkwardly just as the waiter appears out of nowhere. The waiter drops off two more menus before she asks you and Wanda about drinks.

“Strawberry lemonade,” Wanda says before she and the waiter look at you expectantly. You mutter an order of plain water, looking at the menu, mostly out of obligation rather than any actual desire for food.

You keep track of the two pairs of eyes trained on your slumped form all while not bothering to mention it. You choose to let the two people the eyes are attached to make the first move while you continue to repeatedly flip through the menu, the menu you haven’t actually read a single word of.

Eventually, Sam is the one to break the silence. “Well, you’re quiet, Y/N,” Sam wonders as playfully as he can muster. “Why is that?”

Sam’s observation causes irritation to grow in your chest for some reason that you can’t actually pin down. For that, you’re not able to stop yourself from snapping. “I’m tired,” you say, simple and curt and holding a level of bite to them.

Sam… doesn’t react the way you expected him to as soon as the words were out of your mouth. Sam did not react at all, in fact. He doesn’t even smile in the way that means he’s brushing off your attitude. All he does is hum and then change the subject. “So, what is everyone ordering?”

It takes a few seconds for your mind to fully process the question. It seems as if no one else at the table had the same problem, however, because Bucky is answering easily. “I was thinking of getting a cheeseburger.”

Sam scoffs, side-smirk and all. “Copycat,” he mutters, Bucky rolling his eyes in response.

You interrupt quickly, before Sam and Bucky could really get into quipping with each other. “I’m not really that hungry.”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say because it catches the entire group’s attention. You sink lower in your seat as soon as it clicks in your mind that no one is ok with you not ordering food.

“W-well,” Wanda stutters, slightly turning in her seat so she can face you. “How about we share something?”

You want to argue with Wanda, you absolutely want to, but a wave of exhaustion hits you suddenly. You can tell it’s just surface level tiredness but you know that this feeling is a prerequisite to a more bone deep feeling of exhaustion, the one where you just want to collapse as soon as you can get to the nearest sleepable surface (which doesn’t necessarily mean something that is particularly meant for sleep). It dawns on you that your social meter is depleting, rapidly.

Sighing, you don’t argue.

Your friends’ odd behaviors throughout lunch isn’t lost on you. You notice that your friends are acting extremely weird almost from the very start.

Sam doesn’t respond to your attitude with some of his playful remarks to lighten the mood or to get you to relax and enjoy the company like he usually does. Bucky keeps his own quips to himself as well, which is as red as any flag can get given he’s not let anyone stop him from displaying the identity he’s regained since he’s escaped HYDRA’s tight grip.

The final straw is when Wanda says nothing about you barely touching the meal that she had so heavily suggested you share with her.

It’s completely stupid and foolish, but you are maybe and completely out of your mind angry about it. You don’t even care enough to stop yourself from storming out of the diner without any notice.

You have no idea where the hell you plan on going, not that you honestly care. Maybe you can finally find a place to crawl into and hide away from the world forever.

You make it around a corner before you even realize that Wanda has been trailing behind you the entire time. Sighing heavily, maybe growling through your teeth a little bit, you whip around to face her. “Why did you make me leave my house? I would’ve had a much better time sleeping.”

Wanda stops walking just shy of getting in your space, cautiously leaving some space between you but you honestly wonder if that’s the real reason or if she thinks you’re angry enough to do something in a blind rage if she’s in close enough proximity. It simultaneously makes your heart jump up your throat, almost prickling your eyes with tears, and plummets all the way to your stomach while leaving behind an ice cold trail. You force all those feelings down just like any other day.

“Well, I know you’ve been feeling really bad lately, so–”

“Oh,” you snap bitterly, “and you thought lunch was gonna fix that?”

Still, Wanda doesn’t rise to the bait of your defensive attitude and shakes her head softly. “I didn’t think lunch was gonna fix it. I want to fix it,” she explains gently, her hands beginning to fidget with each other. “I want to help.”

It’s not hard to connect the dots about where this is headed. A few weeks back, Wanda had a one-sided conversation with you about it over text. You had never responded to her messages and Wanda hadn’t brought it up when she came to visit you in person a few days afterward. Now that you think about it, you’re pretty sure that day had been the last time you had seen or talked to each other, even over the phone.

“I'm not going to therapy,” you state bluntly, turning back around so you don’t have to look Wanda in the face. You continue your original trek down the street, albeit at a much slower pace.

“Why refuse so quickly?” Wanda wonders, unsurprisingly still following you. She quickens her pace in order to be next to you instead of behind as she talks.

You stubbornly look ahead, refusing to meet her eyes even as you answer out of pure frustration from this conversation. “Because it won’t help.”

“You don't really believe that,” Wanda sighs.

“And how the hell do you know what I believe?”

Wanda’s hand suddenly snatches you by the arm, effectively leaving you with no choice but to stop walking and look at her. “Y/n,” she talks gently, in a way that’s meant to coax you into spilling your genuine thoughts and feelings. And, damn it, it works.

It’s the fact that you know Wanda will never let it go now, and also maybe, deep under all the repression, that you’ve wanted someone to care enough to make you talk about it, that gets you to cave.

You purse your lips tightly, almost painfully, as if you want it to hurt, before the words begin tumbling out of your mouth. “I lost so much in the Blip.” Scoffing, at your traitorous, shaky voice and at this bullshit world, you quickly continue before you lose your nerve. “It was reversed and some people came back… but some didn't. And it’s so much worse now ‘cause they’re really gone this time. There’s no way for them to come back.”

Memories flash through your mind involuntarily as you talk. Bright red hair, always in a new style every other time you saw it. A glowing chest and calloused hands, stained with oil. A reassuring smile attached to a protective, superpowered body.

“I just can’t forget anyone this last… fucking battle took away.” Wanda’s head tilts in sympathy, her hand taking hold of yours in a tight squeeze as if to convey just how much she empathizes with what you’re saying. “It’s a betrayal. Moving on is forgetting.”

“Y/N,” Wanda says, voice sounding water soaked and desperate this time. Immediately, you look up towards her face and you see that Wanda’s eyes have grown wet and red around the edges. The sight alone, of one of the last remaining people that you care about who’s still alive, is enough to make the knot in your throat bubble over helplessly.

Shaking her head, Wanda’s hand migrates to your shoulder in a firm grip. You’re forced to pay attention to what she says, so you don’t forget a single word. “Losing vision after he’d done so much to help me when Pietro… died,” Wanda’s breath catches slightly, “it felt like the final nail in the coffin. And I won’t lie to you, a part of me didn’t want to grieve for him. I wanted to hold on to him and how he made me feel forever, even if it hurt. Grieving felt like I was leaving him behind. But, grieving and healing… Y/N, that doesn’t mean you’re forgetting about them. It just means you are learning to live without them here.”

Wanda’s hands move once again, coming up cupping your cheeks. You watch every twitch in her face, the way her eyes squint and the way she bites her lip, likely attempts to keep the tears from overflowing. It’s useless, though, because as soon as you are no longer able to tramp down the tears, neither is Wanda.

You both break out in sobs at the same moment, yanking each other close and crashing into a deep hug. You stay in that hug for a while, both of you stumbling wetly through amends.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’ve been such a hermit and–and ignoring all of your messages. For being such a fucking ass during lunch.”

Wanda lets out a wet chuckle. “Sorry for dragging you to lunch.”

You shake your head vehemently despite still being pressed close together, your head resting on her shoulder. You know Wanda feels the movement. “I’m not. It’s exactly what I needed.”

Finally, you and Wanda separate. You collect yourselves, sniffling for a few moments, wiping the tears and snot from your faces. Wanda clears her throat, reaching into the pocket of her jacket and pulling out a clump of papers. She hands the clump to you and says, “These are for you. You can look over them for as long as you want before deciding.”

“Deciding?” You repeat, confused. Looking at what the clump is meant to be, you quickly realize that it’s a bunch of mental health pamphlets and therapy brochures.

“Bucky gave them to me when we started hanging out after the Blip,” Wanda explains, playing with her finger nervously. “Now, I’m giving them to you.”

You can’t bring yourself to hold back the teensiest smile that makes its way onto your face. “You had these in your pocket the whole time?”

Wanda’s face grows a little red. “I was trying to wait for the right moment to bring them up.”

Nodding, you eye the pamphlets before shrugging, trying to seem nonchalant. “I’ll look through them.”

Wanda smiles brightly, obviously grateful. Then, she grabs your attention by shyly reaching for your hand. “How ‘bout I walk you home?”

You don’t even need to think about it, surprisingly. Going home sounds really, really nice, especially after you just cried and spilled your heart out on the sidewalk. The thought, actually, catches you off guard a little bit because you hope Wanda means she’ll stay with you when you get there. It’s been so long since you’ve wanted to be in the company of others voluntarily. You hope the feeling sticks around, too.

“That sounds great.” Wanda tugs your hand with an eager smile, leading you in the direction of your apartment, when a thought suddenly occurs to you. You tug back from Wanda. “Wait, I should apologize to Sam and Bucky.”

Wanda shakes her head a little. “I knew you'd probably want to be alone after we talked,” she explains. “I told them we could meet up again in a few days.”

Your chuckle turns into a grimace as complete embarrassment and guilt make a home in your gut. You don’t want to sit on these feelings, especially not after how horrible you behaved towards them. Resuming your walk, you make an effort to match Wanda’s pace. “I do kinda want to be alone right now, but I don’t want to make Sam and Bucky wait for an apology. I’ll invite them to dinner tomorrow.”

Wanda nods along. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Will you come?” you ask suddenly. “If you’re there, it won't feel like I’m trapped alone with them.”

Wanda squeezes your hand reassuringly. “Of course I’ll come with you.” Smiling, you hope your gratitude is easily visible.

“Hey, Wanda?” you wonder shyly. “Can you spend the night?”

“Of course, Y/N.”

(NOT MY GIF)

Main Blog // Other Side Blog

((NO ONE HAS MY PERMISSION TO REPOST MY WORK ANYWHERE EVEN WITH CREDIT))

[thevindicativevordan]

Any chance you've seen Bewate My Power?

I have yeah. Someone uploaded the entire movie briefly to Youtube and when I saw that I said screw it and gave it a watch. SPOILERS BELOW.

First off: if you're one of those John Stewart fans who has been complaining incessantly that John deserves better because he was the DCAU GL, you better buy this movie. This one is for YOU guys. Gives John the top dog status the way Stewart fans have been begging for, in fact this movies goes out of it's way to cater towards that group's wildest dreams. Flopping means all the claims that John is the most popular and well-known GL because of the DCAU are either false, or the situation has changed enough that John being the DCAU GL doesn't mean much anymore. Time to show DC how large the Stewart fanbase actually is!

Animation is good, they've been steadily improving with each movie released set in the Tomorrowverse, and that trend continues here. Final fight between John and Parallux is especially cool looking, they tried hard to make the GL constructs look powerful, and for the most part they succeeded. Everyone gets at least one moment to contribute to the fights and it makes me wish we had gotten more time with the group bonding. Music score, when it played, reminded me of Mass Effect's OST which is a upside. GL franchise would be in a better place if it took influence and inspiration from Mass Effect in my opinion.

Story wise BMP is typical for a DC animated movie: First two acts are pretty good but the quality drops hard in the final act because they bit off more than they could chew. BMP is trying to be a John Stewart origin story, and an adaption of the Rann-Thanagar War, Sinestro Corps War, and Emerald Twilight storylines. Just one of those could be a great movie but it's trying to do ALL of them, and the end result is underwhelming. There's just not enough time to give all of these plot lines the focus they need. We're introduced to the Green Lantern Corps and then almost immediately after it's revealed to have been destroyed. Rann and Thanagar get a little fleshing out but then it's revealed that actually Sinestro is behind the conflict. Sinestro gets some backstory, as does Hal/Parallux who is the real "Big Bad" of the movie, but no one else in his group even speaks. Result is that everyone feels undercooked because the focus is spread too thin. Even John isn't developed to the level I would like.

In line with the DCAU take, John here is a Marine and that's all he is. His interest in architecture doesn't come up once, I was hoping for a mention of that when he was practicing his constructs, but no such luck. Suffering from PTSD, John is looking for a purpose in life which arrives when a Guardian crashes in his backyard and gives him a power ring. Tasked with figuring out how he ended up with the ring of Hal Jordan - the previous owner, first human Green Lantern, and founding Justice League member - John sets off with Hal's best friend Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow. Along the way he learns about the history of the Green Lantern Corps, the conflict between Rann and Thanagar two planets with a history of warring, and the machinations of the fallen hero Sinestro. By the end he's met his predecessor Hal, who has secretly become the evil mastermind Parallux, and beaten Hal in a contest of willpower to cement his status as the new Greatest Green Lantern.

Aside from a minor arc about coming to appreciate what it means to be a GL, nothing is really done characterwise with John. His PTSD is barely relevant to the larger story (apart from a sequence where he almost murders Shayera and Hal attempting to corrupt John by saying he can tell John is sick of war and conflict too). Topics like that deserve to be handled with care and respect, and while there's nothing offensive, I don't have any clue how John's relationship with PTSD has changed as a result of the story. Is he "better" now? Why, because he found a new purpose with the Corps? Will he continue to struggle with that affliction the way real life vets do? Ending is a pretty straightforward "John has found his new mission and is happy" which just makes me wish they hadn't even included the PTSD. Felt superfluous and could have been cut easily since it didn't add anything. Aldis Hodge's voice acting is ok, he does have a few good deliveries like when John is exasperated at the corniness of the GL oath, but mainly he's stoic and flat. In-line with the DCAU characterization for sure. Ollie is entertaining and his VA is great, easily my favorite Green Arrow VA since the DCAU.

Neither Rann nor Thanagar gets much in the way of fleshing out, and the same holds true for the the two characters meant to represent the two sides: Hawkgirl and Adam Strange. Shayera is just a hotheaded warrior here. There's a tease of a romance between her and John at the end but it isn't built up believably and comes out of left field unless you go into the movie knowing that those two are "supposed" to get together because of the DCAU. Adam is a reasonable figure, but he's seemingly the same Adam Strange from the titular short that was released, and if you haven't watched that - I have not - then you're going to be left wondering who the hell this guy is and why he's such a big deal. Sinestro's depiction is terrible to be frank. He's a mustache twirling bad guy who dies like a complete idiot in a way that has you groaning at how cliched it is.

Ending is especially weak. We don't get to actually see John and company negotiate an end to the Rann-Thanagar War, it happens entirely off-screen. How were they able to compel the two factions to end their conflict when all of the conspirators were dead? All John and friends have is their word that Sinestro was responsible for everything and Hal went insane. Adam is gone so there's no reason for the Rannians to believe John that actually Sinestro was behind everything. Shayera is a low level soldier from what we've seen, and even if her side believes her that doesn't fix the problem of Thanagar and Rann being close in proximity to each other, or the long-standing animosity between the two sides. At best I could buy a temporary ceasefire from Thanagar in return for Rann trying to send the planet back where it's supposed to be, but there's no mention made of how the heroes resolved the conflict, we're just left to assume I guess that the war is over and everything is fixed. Never mind the exorbitant loss of life on both sides - that's sure to have resulted in some members wanting to keep fighting until the other side is utterly annihilated - I guess somehow they shook hands and let bygones be bygones.

Meanwhile Ollie is pretty nonchalant about killing his best friend, to the point he and John are seemingly new best friends. They spent what, the equivalent of maybe a week together? How long were Ollie and Hal comrades? Did they even bring Hal's body back to Earth for burial? Man was a founding Justice Leaguer! Writers had it out for Hal here, he gets dumped on relentlessly. Lipservice is paid to Johns' depiction of Parallux as a "fear parasite", but the writers still make Hal out to be a bad guy. At the end there's no dying moment of clarity where Hal tearfully begs for redemption, he dies with a spiteful "fuck you" line about how it's too late for them to stop his genocidal plan. Some have claimed Hal was at his most interesting as a villain but I sure as shit didn't see that here. Typical generic power hungry maniac, with a halfhearted "sympathetic" angle about how Hal was corrupted because he was tired of conflict. Doesn't really make sense given Hal was seemingly in charge after being possessed, and had to be giving Sinestro orders to continue provoking the Rannians and Thanagarians to keep fighting, but whatever he's evil now. Logic isn't his thing anymore.

More I think about this movie the more baffled I am about the creative decisions made, and the worse I rate it. They shoved an entire trilogy into one movie, and left the GLC in their brand new shared continuity completely destroyed. Why would the first thing you do with the GL franchise in a new continuity be destroying it? Where could they even go with a hypothetical GL sequel in the Tomorrowverse? Hal is dead and died unrepentant, kinda ruling out Spectre Hal and an adaption of Johns Rebirth storyline. Sinestro and his fledgling Sinestro Corps are all dead too. No way could they adapt any of Johns storylines in the Tomorrowverse, something I'm personally glad about given how they treated Hal here. Guess maybe they could steal some of Kyle's stories for John?

Like I said at the start, this movie is for John fans. By the end he gets everything Hal had - his friendship with Ollie, his status as the "Greatest" Green Lantern, seemingly his place on the JL - and everything of Kyle's - he's the Torchbearer who will rebuild the GLC, the Last Lantern, the one who surpasses Hal - in a way that's going to piss off those two fanbases. John and Hal are my two favorite Lanterns, and I hate how the two fanbases are at each others throats. Plenty of John fans will eat this up the same way Batman fans eat up another "Superman turns evil and Batman has to kick his ass" storyline, but it just doesn't feel satisfying. John graduates to "Greatest" status over the course of a week and is so powerful he can outwill a god-tier Hal, armed with multiple rings, who was able to destroy the rest of the GLC. It's too fast to really feel believable that a rookie John is that good. While I think it's long past time that John got his due, elevating John at the cost of everyone and everything else is not how I wanted them to do that.

Spreading the story out over a trilogy could have worked. Start the first movie with Hal recruiting John to help him with the Rann-Thanagar War, and have Hal seemingly die at the hands of Sinestro at the end. Next movie do Sinestro Corps War with Sinestro leading his army against Oa, have John lead the GLs to beat them, then you end with the reveal that Hal is possessed. Final movie you do Emerald Twilight where John and Hal face off and the GLC's future is at stake. That would give you time to flesh out John, Sinestro, and Hal in a way that makes the events feel impactful since we'd get to see Hal and John be friends, as opposed to here where the two don't even know each other.

Final verdict for BMP is a 6/10. If you're a hardcore John Stewart fan: go buy this. Show your support for John because if this movie fails you guys are unlikely to get anything else. DCAU fans will have a good time too. Hal fans should stay away, there's nothing for you here and this movie doesn't care about extending an olive branch to you. I do hope we get a sequel because I'm genuinely curious where they go from here, and I wouldn't mind seeing a John/Shayera romance. Make that the focus and stop trying to cram three movies worth of plot into one.

[whiteqnn]

PURE [3] - Corpse Husband x Fem! Reader

A/N: Over 1 thousand notes. You guys are insane. I can’t see any other explanation.

Thank you so much for all the love and support under the previous parts, all those comments just absolutely made my day! I would never expect this story to receive such a positive feedback, which I’m extremely grateful for! 

Anyway, I decided to add some additional plot to this story - mainly, the sudden criticism and hate directed on Y/N after the last Among Us stream. I thought it would make things more interesting.

That being said, I hope you enjoy the third part ^^

part 1

part 2 

part 4 

part 5

PURE [3]

Y/N stared at her phone screen, reading through the latest tweets of her friends inviting their fans to watch their streams. It was Thursday evening and just as it was planned, everyone was getting ready for another game of Among Us. Just as she would do if it wasn’t for all those comments...

The last stream caused sudden, unexpected amounts of attention on her social media. She probably shouldn’t be that surprised by it, given the fact that by appearing in Sean’s and Felix’s videos she wasn’t all that strange to their fans. But people who watched Rae, Toast, or Corpse’s streams didn’t know her. And apparently, some of them weren’t that happy to see a new face among the group of well-known gamers. 

She always tried to avoid the unnecessary spotlight as much as she could, preferring to stay hidden somewhere behind other, much more popular streamers. And it never bothered her. She was never one to enjoy too much attention anyway.

That’s why when she discovered how upset, or even angry, some people were when she played with all those famous streamers, she was quite shocked, to say the least. 

Like all those comments under Poki’s tweet, in which she mentioned who’s gonna be playing this time...

“Duh, why’s that Y/N chick supposed to play with them again? There are at least hundreds of other, much more popular streamers I can think of who would be better than her.”

“Who the fuck is she anyway? Why’s she there?”

“lmao, some random girl who got lucky enough to know jacksepticeye. Don’t get why she’s playing with them though.”

“NOT HER AGAIN. I SWEAR TO GOD SHE WAS SO FUCKING ANNOYING LAST TIME”

Sure, she wasn’t as famous as Felix, or Sean, or Rae, or anyone else for that matter. Her audience wasn’t very small, but it was nothing compared to the number of fans other YouTubers had. It was understandable that most people didn’t know who she was, and didn’t understand why she was there in the first place.

She was, in fact, just some random girl who was lucky to have Sean as her friend. But in a group of such great and well-known streamers, she definitely stood out like a sore thumb. 

Y/N almost jumped in her seat when her phone beeped with a new message, Sean’s nickname showing up at the top of her screen. 

Jackaboy: We’re starting in a few kiddo

Jackaboy: But join the call now so we can both make fun of Felix

After the last game, she was so excited and couldn’t wait for this evening. She looked forward to cooperating with Sykkuno again, to arguing with Toast, to laughing with Sean and Felix, to murdering other people with Corpse... Yet now, all this excitement seemed to vanish just like the mood to play, let alone talk with other people. They would surely see right through her and try to make her spill the beans, which would ruin the stream. And the last thing she wanted was to ruin their game.

Jackaboy: You there Y/N??

She sighed, thinking of some believable excuse that wouldn’t arouse suspicion, but her mind was flooded with all those comments and DMs she received over those past days, which expressed nothing but hatred towards her. 

Y/N: I’m really sorry Sean, but I don’t think I will be joining you today... I don’t feel very well. 

She waited for Sean’s reply impatiently, expecting him to send her some angry emoji or tell her to move her ass and join the discord call. What she didn’t expect though, was that he would facetime her. 

Her first instinct was to throw her phone across the room as if it would make Sean stop calling. He wouldn’t stop unless she’d tell him the truth. 

So she cleared her throat and plastered the widest smile on her face, before answering his call.

“Alright, what is going on?” Sean asked right away, staring at her with his brows furrowed. He wasn’t in his recording room, but in his kitchen, which meant that he left his stream to call her. “And please don’t tell me you’re sick cause I won’t believe it anyway. And neither will Pewds.”

“I’m tired, Sean... I was working late again and I really need to rest.” she lied, trying to keep her voice steady and calm. She really didn’t want Sean to interrogate her now, not when his fans were waiting for him. “I’m sure you’ll find someone else though. Please tell the guys that I’m sorry”

“Y/N, c’mon, cut this bullshit. What’s wrong?” he asked softly, moving his phone closer to his face. “You know you’re a terrible liar, just tell me what happened. If you don’t wanna play then neither do I.”

“Sean, please don’t do it” she shook her head with a sigh. “Your fans are waiting for you, I’ll be fine.”

“Well they’re waiting for you too you dummy, I already promised them you’ll be playing with us tonight” he stated matter of factly, rolling his eyes. Y/N remained silent for a moment, and Sean suddenly furrowed his brows, narrowing his eyes at her in a suspicious look. “Did someone tell you something rude last time we played? Who and what?”

“What? No, Sean, oh my God. Everyone was super nice, it has nothing to do with the last stream... not with you guys, at least.” she mumbled under her breath, dropping her eyes from Sean’s confused face.

“What do you mean not with you guys? Y/N, what the hell happened?” he demanded, slowly getting more and more worried. She wouldn’t tell him though, too scared that Sean would just laugh it off, even though he also sometimes had problems with dealing with hate. And just as if he was reading her mind, Sean sighed, his face softening in a sad smile. “You’ve read the comments, didn’t you?”

She felt so stupid for being so easily offended by comments of some random people on the Internet, that she just nodded her head meekly, still looking anywhere but at the man. 

“Look kiddo... I’m not gonna tell you to get yourself together and just ignore them, cause it won’t help, and I know cause I’ve been there. Hell, I’m still there.” he chuckled to himself and continued “Anyway, you really shouldn’t be worrying yourself about people who don’t even know you. They don’t know you, Y/N, why would some complete stranger’s opinion matter to you?”

“They said I shouldn’t be playing with you guys... that I’m nothing but a burden and you should be playing with someone who’s at least recognizable.”

“Well excuse me Miss, last time I checked I could choose who the fuck I want to play with.” Sean scoffed, clearly irritated by such comments “You’re one of my best friends Y/N and I don’t give a fuck what some haters say. And neither should you.”

“Maybe you should just invite someone else... It would make everyone happy.” she muttered almost inaudibly, but Sean almost barked at her when he heard her words.

“I told you to cut that bullshit, Y/N! Everyone couldn’t wait for this game and now you wanna back out? C’mon, kid. Do you have any idea how heartbroken Sykkuno’s gonna be? When you left so quickly last time, he kept complaining that he has no one to team up with.” she couldn’t help but smile at that, letting out a tiny giggle. “And Corpse? Have you even seen his last tweet?”

“What? No, I- I don’t follow him...” she said, wondering what Sean was talking about. She quickly searched for Corpse on Twitter, still being on facetime with Sean, and her heart almost dropped when she saw the last tweet.

@.Corpse_Husband Really excited for tonight’s Among Us stream, 8PM PST.

Jacksepticeye

Valkyrae

Pewdiepie

Pokimane

Sykkuno

Disguised Toast 

Logic 

Mr Beast

and, hopefully, my partner in crime - Little Y/N 

:)

She stared at the screen with her eyes widened, and her lips corners curling up in a small, bashful smile. It was so nice of Corpse to mention her as well, especially with the nickname that he seemed to like so much since their last game. 

“God, if you could see yourself right now. How’s it that my pep talk didn’t do shit, but Corpse’s tweet magically made you smile, ugh.” Sean reminded her of his presence, and she quickly returned to the call, trying to somehow control her burning cheeks. 

“It’s not like that, Sean, I really appreciate that you’re trying to cheer me up... I just didn’t expect your friends to like me...” she admitted quietly, and if Sean could, he would probably strangle her at that moment. 

“I JUST TOLD YOU THAT SYKKUNO KEPT BUGGING ME ABOUT YOU FOR TWO FUCKING HOURS. YOU THINK HE WOULD TALK ABOUT YOU IF HE DIDN’T LIKE YOU?!”

“I just... what if they’re just being nice, but they don’t actually want me to play with them?”

“I’m done.” Sean groaned, shaking his head furiously. “Alright, here’s what you’re gonna do. You stay away from your phone, join the discord call, say hi to everyone, and we’re all gonna have fun, okay? If not, Pewds is gonna murder you, cause he was already growing impatient even before I called you.”

“I’m still not sure if that’s a good idea, Sean...”

“But I am sure, Y/N! Now come on, we’re playing in five. I’m telling everyone you’re joining as well.”

And before she could even reply, he hung up. Y/N groaned, rushing to her computer to turn it on. Now it would just be plain rude not to join the game, especially after Sean wasted his time talking with her, while he should be talking to his fans. Just as he suggested, she kept her phone far away from her desk, deciding to stay away from Twitter and all those comments for a bit. Maybe it would help her clear her mind and at least try to have some fun. 

An invite to the group call was already waiting for her, along with a message from Sean with a code to the game. Y/N put her headphones on before joining the call and quickly typing in the code. 

“... so let me repeat myself. I ALWAYS sound guilty, no matter what. Please, guys, don’t vote me out!” 

Y/N shook her head with a smile on her lips when the first thing she heard after joining the call was Felix’s pleading voice. Clearly, he was already trying to save his own ass even before the game began.

 Y/N could hear Sean’s loud voice as he commented on Felix’s plea with some snarky remark, later also catching the sounds of Rae’s laughter. Everyone was already there, they’ve been clearly waiting for her to join. 

“Hey, look who’s finally here! Hi Y/N!” Poki noticed her presence first. 

“Hello everyone” Y/N said, as shy and quiet as usual.

“Oh, Y/N! It’s so great to see you again, I was worried you weren’t joining us tonight” Sykkuno said, a pout clear in his voice. 

“WELL ABOUT DAMN TIME” Felix all but yelled, making her roll her eyes with a smile. “What did I tell you about being late?!”

“Give her a break Felix, her mic wasn’t working again... Luckily, I was there to save the damsel in distress” Sean said, and even though she couldn’t see him, Y/N was almost certain that he was smirking. 

“Yeah, I’m really sorry guys to have kept you waiting so long...” Y/N said, feeling genuinely bad. Maybe Sean was right after all? They could have just invited someone else, and yet they decided to wait for her.  

“It’s okay, you’re here now and it’s all that matters” a deep voice sounded out, and whether she liked it or not, Y/N grinned like an idiot with a blush rising up her cheeks. 

“Shit, here we go again...” Felix sighed, making everyone else laugh. Y/N bit at her lower lip, feeling her heart thump in her chest as she felt a sudden wave of courage, deciding to speak up despite her initial shyness:

“Well... I couldn’t just leave my partner in crime alone, right?” she asked, and she could swear she heard Corpse stutter as if he completely didn’t expect her to say that.  

“Ah yes, after all, killing wouldn’t be the same without her, right Corpse?” Toast teased, repeating Corpse’s words from the last stream. Everyone in the call laughed, Y/N included. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling, even though just mere minutes ago she was on the verge of crying. “It’s good to have you here, Y/N/N. Maybe I’ll actually get a chance to finally kill you this time.”

“Jesus Christ, Toast. You sound like a psychopath. Hey, I’m happy you’re here, lemme stab you in the back, please?” someone whose nickname was MrBeast spoke up with a chuckle, before directing his next words to Y/N “I believe we haven’t played together before, I’m Mr Beast, it’s really nice to meet you Y/N”

“Yeah, pleased to meet you!” another player, Logic, spoke up “I also didn’t have a chance to play with you yet, but I’ve seen Sean’s last stream... Let me just say, that Toast murder was absolutely perfect!” 

“Wow. And here I almost managed to block it out. I’m fucking traumatized Y/N, you should be ashamed of yourself” Toast scoffed over Felix’s laughter. 

“You should be proud of yourself!” Sean interfered “Just so you know lads, Y/N may seem like a little angel, but she’s a little demon. You’ve been warned.” 

“Yeah, she’ll charm you with her voice only to snap your neck next second.” Felix scoffed.

“Just like she did with Corpse!” 

“Charm?!” Y/N gasped, her cheeks burning.

“I don’t recall Y/N killing me...” Corpse said in his low voice. 

“I love how that’s the only thing he denied” Poki pointed out in a teasing voice, which only made Y/N sink further into her chair. 

“Can we please start the game now?” she asked in a pleading voice, hoping that everyone would stop making fun of Corpse and her. She could only imagine how uncomfortable he felt, for some reason being the target of their jokes... They must’ve made him feel awkward, right? 

“Jack, did you tell Y/N how we’re playing tonight?” Sykkuno asked, and she sighed in relief that they dropped the jokes. 

“Oh, right! So there’s this mod called proximity chat, where we’re able to hear each other as we pass by another person, and it seems quite fun so that’s what we decided to try out tonight.” Sean explained to Y/N, and before she could ask another question, he added “I’ve just sent you the link, it’ll take a minute to install it.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you Sean” Y/N said, before downloading the mod and quickly installing it. When everything was set and ready, she pulled up Among Us again and typed in the code, and the game finally began. 

“Woah”

“Holy shit!” 

“Guys this is so cool!” Sykkuno exclaimed, his voice so happy and excited that Y/N couldn’t help but giggle. 

“Okay, I’m scared now. I feel like encounters with Imposter are just gonna be perfectly cut screams” Felix chuckled, as they left the dropship and moved down the map. That’s when Y/N gasped in surprise, upon seeing the locations completely different than those she was used to.

“Wait- is that a different map?” she asked through her mic, hearing Toast’s distanced, devilish laugh. There was only Rae and Sykkuno beside her, as everyone else have already split up to do their tasks.

“Oh yeah, that’s Polus, it’s much more fun than the one we were playing in last time.” Rae explained happily and Y/N groaned. She didn’t know that map.

“Great. I don’t even know how am I supposed to do tasks in here...”

“Oh, it’s not that hard. They’re in most cases similar to those you already know, they only look a little bit different.” Sykkuno said in his kind voice, before asking “Do you want to team up again, Y/N?”

“I thought you would never ask Sykkuno” Rae chuckled under her breath.

“Yeah, that would be great! I need someone to show me around” she smiled. The trio finally moved from their spot beside the dropship and went to the left where, as Y/N later realized, was electrical. She quickly did her task in there, being under the watchful eyes of both Sykkuno and Rae.  

Before the latter could do his own task, the first body was reported.

“The body is in the lab” Felix said, and Y/N couldn’t help but smirk as she saw that it was Toast who was murdered first. One less person to accuse her or try to frame her, if he was the Imposter. 

“I just ran towards the lab from the left side, I only saw Poki on my way there” Corpse said right away, and the accused girl was quick to try and defend herself:

“Okay, I wasn’t in the lab, I was doing that engines task which is next to the lab.” 

“Did you see someone else there?” Jack questioned. 

“Nope, just me and the engines.” 

“Okay. Sykkuno, where are you?” the lime astronaut was next on Jack’s list of suspects, which made Sykkuno groan. 

“Why do you sound so suspicious right away?” he asked in disbelief, causing the rest to giggle “I was with Y/N and Rae all this time, we were all doing our tasks in electrical.”

“Is that true Y/N?”

“Yes Sean, that is true” she rolled her eyes with a laugh “I don’t even know this map, I have to stick with someone so I don’t end up like Toast.”

“Alright, what about rest? Logic? I think I saw you in admin but then you disappeared somewhere.” Felix said.

“Yeah I’m with Mr Beast in the office”

“That’s right” Mr Beast confirmed, which didn’t bring anything new to the investigation, so everyone decided to skip.

“Wo- Okay where are we now?” Y/N asked in surprise, when the new round began in some completely new place Sykkuno didn’t manage to show her yet. She could hear as Corpse laughed at her shocked voice, which made her smile widely.

“Yeah, I’m also not used to this new map yet” he admitted, his black astronaut walking up to her white one “Hey, wanna see something cool?”

“Sure!”

-

*Meanwhile Sykkuno*

“Okay this is bad guys, we lost Y/N” Sykkuno said to his mic, running around the map to find the girl he was earlier teamed up with. “I thought she followed us when the new round began, but she must’ve gone the other way... What if she’s dead already? Not good, not good...” 

-

"Woah! This looks amazing! Is there some task here as well?”

“Yes, there’s temperature recording right here” Corpse said, standing by the lava pit, watching as Y/N’s character ran back and forth over the pool of lava. 

“I wonder if you could jump into it. What do you think, Corpse?” she asked curiously, standing close to the edge. 

“Not that I’m aware of it...” he mumbled coming closer to the edge as well “Why would you jump into it?” he asked with a half-smile on his face. 

“So Felix can’t stab me in the back.” she whispered, even though there was no one around them. 

“You think it’s him?” Corpse mirrored her voice, and she hummed in response “Why?”

“He’s constantly suspicious of everyone, last time we played he also kept interrogating us all, without even telling his own location.” she stated as if it was very obvious. Corpse couldn’t help but let out a laugh “What? Why are you laughing at me?”

“Not at you, Y/N. I’m just impressed by your investigation skills” he admitted “In that case, we better both jump in. Felix likes to frame other people.”

“You wanna jump into the lava with me?”

“Sure I do.”

“There you are!” Sykkuno’s lime astronaut came out of nowhere, followed by Mr Beast. Two of them walked up to Y/N and Corpse, and before the latter could even say anything, Mr Beast snapped Y/N’s neck.

“WAIT, NO-”

“OH GOD, OH GOD” Sykkuno yelled in panic.

“KILL HIM CORPSE” Mr Beast screamed, frantically running around.

-

“What the heck?” Y/N stared at her screen in shock, her dead body laying over the lava pit. Mr Beast had already fled to the left, leaving her, Sykkuno and Corpse standing between two of them. None of them said anything for a moment before the black astronaut finally spoke up.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry, Y/N” he kept repeating, regret clear in his voice. “And Sykkuno, I- I can’t even express how-”

He was cut off by Felix’s scream, who reported the bodies before Corpse could kill him as well.

“IT’S CORPSE ALRIGHT” Felix yelled right away “HE’S STANDING OVER Y/N AND SYKKUNO, HE HAS THEIR BLOOD ON HIS HANDS”

“That is- I did not kill them” Corpse replied, calm as ever, as opposed to his frantic apologies. 

“Then why were you standing there?! Without reporting the bodies?!”

“I was... mourning their death.” he replied, which caused the whole group to burst out laughing. “Seriously guys, you think I would murder Sykkuno? And Y/N? I would never even think of hurting them.”

“The simp is strong, we get it, but it doesn’t really save your situation” Rae laughed. 

“Let’s kick him out guys, he can’t even defend himself” Sean chuckled, and everyone else didn’t need to be told twice. Soon enough, Y/N watched as Corpse’s black astronaut was thrown into the lava pit... Oh, the irony...

The game continued with her wandering around the map, doing the rest of her tasks to at least support somehow her fellow crewmates. She stumbled upon Corpse’s ghost at some point and laughed wholeheartedly when he started circling her little character in something she read as an attempt to apologize. 

A little while later another body was reported, this time it was Felix who lost his life. Y/N didn’t really focus on the conversation this time, glancing at her phone instead. There was this urge to reach for it and check how people reacted to her joining the game, but she kept repeating Sean’s words in her head. There was no point in worrying about the opinion of somebody who doesn’t even know her... or at least that’s what she tried to convince herself to think. 

Her attention was brought back to the game when she heard the sound of a new message from someone who was also dead. She clicked on the chat, seeing that it was one of the Impostors.

Corpse: :(

Corpse: I’m sorry 

Y/N thought it was sweet of him to apologize for it, even though it was his main goal to murder everyone after all. She believed he was genuinely sorry for it, just like she was each time she was an Impostor and had to kill somebody.

Sykkuno: Welcome to the afterlife, Corpse!

She laughed at Sykkuno’s constant happiness, which was evident even in his messages, before typing one as well:

Y/N: We’re all corpse here

Sykkuno: Oh, so it means we’re all really cool then ^^

Y/N: Fair point

Corpse: See Y/N

Corpse: I told you I would jump into the lava for you 

Y/N: You didn’t exactly jump...

Corpse: :(

Y/N: But let’s say it counts as well :)

Corpse: :)

Before they knew, the voting ended. Mr Beast was thrown into the lava, which ultimately lead to the victory of crewmates. Y/N cheered happily, when the blue sign appeared on her screen, right above everyone else who was innocent. 

“Yaaay, the first time I wasn’t killed in the first game!” Sean announced enthusiastically, his astronaut running around the dropship.

“Yeah, and the first time it went so fast...” 

“Right? Corpse, I’m disappointed in you. What happened to the King of Impostors?” Rae asked.

“Well.. no matter how good you are, you can’t always win, right?” Corpse replied calmly.

“Hmm, you seemed kinda absent-minded during the game, though...” Poki suggested with a smirk hiding in her voice, and Rae was very quick to pick on it.

“Oh, you’ve noticed that too? Almost as if he was distracted by something” 

“I don’t know what are you talking about” he chuckled nervously, and Y/N just sat in her chair confused about what was going on. “Anyway, who’s up for another round?” 

“Yeah, I have an idea” Sean said, effectively shutting everyone up “What if we play something along the lines of hide and seek? Let’s have one impostor, and everyone else needs to get their tasks done before he finds them.”

“That is...” Felix took in a dramatic breath “THE BEST THING I’VE EVER HEARD ABOUT”

“Yeah, I think it will be fun” Sykkuno replied. 

“It sounds really cool, but let’s maybe tell who’s the impostor? I think it would be more fair” Rae suggested. 

“I think it’s a good idea” Sean concluded, before changing the settings for one impostor only. Y/N waited patiently for the game to begin, and when she saw that she was a crewmate again, she sighed in relief. Only to gasp in a panic a second later...

“It’s me.”

Everyone stumbled out of the dropship as Corpse admitted that he’s the impostor. It seemed that knowing exactly who can murder everyone made the whole game a little bit terrifying...

“I don’t know where the heck I’m going” Y/N mumbled to herself with a nervous laugh when instead of doing her tasks, she searched for the perfect place to hide. When she entered security, she spotted Mr Beast fixing the wires, so she decided to join him.

“OH SHIT- god damn it, you scared me to death!” he all but yelled when she appeared next to him, doing her tasks. 

“Sorry” she giggled, quickly finishing the wires, before speeding out of the room. On her way to weapons, she stumbled across Felix’s dead body, and could hear some screaming in the background... but didn’t recognize who was murdered next. 

Y/N managed to do most of her tasks without meeting Corpse, whom she hoped not to see probably for the first time since they played together. She was just leaving decontamination when she heard Sean’s panicked laughter:

“...tee, bitches love me?”

“Wrong.” Corpse’s voice almost made her squeak in surprise, only to really scream when he suddenly snapped Sean’s neck. 

“Retreat, retreat!” Y/N laughed as she sped past oblivious Rae and Logic, Corpse hot on her tail. She quickly returned to the decontamination room, hoping to flee from her inevitable death, when Corpse’s black astronaut walked in, and the door closed. 

“Please don’t kill me” she chuckled, even though there was no hope for her. 

“Finish my lyrics, and I’ll let you live...” he began, and Y/N furrowed her brows in confusion “ I spilt wine...”

“Wait- what lyrics? You sing?” she asked, completely dumbfounded. Corpse was silent for a moment as if he didn’t understand her, before bursting out laughing “What’s so funny again? Corpse, come on!” 

“Yes, Y/N, I do sing, I was actually hoping you’ve heard some of my songs...” he admitted, still chuckling to himself. She felt a blush rising up her cheeks.

“Oh- I- I didn’t, I-... but I will, okay? I’ll do it right away!” she promised, quickly jumping up to grab her phone and listen to Corpse’s song. She was genuinely shocked, she would never expect him to sing! 

 She unlocked her phone with a wide, somehow nervous smile on her face, which, however, dropped the moment she saw her notifications. Hundreds of notifications. 

“You there, Y/N?” Corpse’s voice reached her after a moment, when she still didn’t say anything, just kept looking at her screen. “I hope my music isn’t so bad that you passed out from listening to it...”

She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, her phone gripped tightly in her shaking hands.

“Um, Y/N?” his voice became more worried now “Is everything okay?” 

Y/N cleared her throat and quickly wiped her eyes, closing them for a moment to steady her breathing.

“Yeah, all good Corpse” she forced herself to smile, so her voice wouldn’t sound weird. “Look, um, I need to leave, can you tell the others bye from me?” 

“Is something wrong?” Corpse asked confused.

“No, of course not!” she laughed through her tears “Something just came up and I really need to leave.”

“You sure you’re-”

“Bye Corpse. It was nice playing with you.” 

-

A/N: I hope you guys are not too disappointed in me... It didn’t turn out as I initially thought it would. Isn’t it too dramatic? And is this hate plot fine? Or is it not? What do guys you think? 

TAG LIST IS CLOSED!

@slytherin-chan @pillowjj @afuckingunicornn @love-and-virtues @ignooynim @crapimahuman @hannahjsworld @laugh-like-the-moon @fallengoddess772 @kingric03 @dolphinpink310 @paigeyisme @bunnychano3o @dxrtygxrl28 @z-nyx @baby-iyania @trashygeek

[melynnwater]

I've been thinking a lot about 17776 recently.

A story which like, if you haven't yet read, you totally should, it's amazing, you can read it here

if you have read it, or don't care about spoilers for the main premise of the story, continue on

This post doesn't really have a point to make I'm mostly just rambling about my thoughts

So I've been thinking a lot about the question of like... What would I do with infinite time?

If I knew I was never going to die, never going to have any worries, if I lived in a true post-scarcity society down to the resource of time, what would I do to pass that infinite time?

And just like... it's an odd question to really think about because like. Any individual activity that you find to do is going to be finite, and if the timescale you're working with is infinite, you will eventually finish that activity. You can take any impossibly large-yet-finite task, and set out to do it, and eventually be done!

Like. If I wanted to sit down, and play every single video game ever released, in order, I will eventually catch up to any arbitrary video game you can choose. Even if I had a rule to play each and every one of those games for a bare minimum of 100 hours. 1000 hours, even! I would eventually work my way through that entire seemingly endless library of games released between the dawn of time, and Undertale, for example.

I could choose to watch every single video ever uploaded onto youtube in chronological order, and I would eventually catch up to any arbitrary point in time you could choose.

One could truly devote their entire life to a medium, only it wouldn't even be their entire life. It would still only be an infinitesimally small fraction of an infinite lifespan.

And the more I think about this little thought experiment, the more I almost find myself disappointed to live in a world where I can't choose to sit down and play every single video game in order, and have enough time to catch up.

The idea of "catching up" is interesting, by the way, because technically, if we kept producing video games at the rate we do, one could never play them faster than they come out. Technically, this could be an infinite task.

But I think that's what gets me is like.

I can choose today's date, at this exact point in time, and play every single game released before then and up until now, and do it!!! that's ridiculous!!!!

17776 (and it's sequel 20020) is a beautiful, amazing story, and it focuses on football, and this is because Jon Bois loves football, and loves talking about football, and wanted to tell this story about an infinite problemless humanity from the perspective of a pastime he loves. And like, that's why I want to really grapple with how would my story be different?

I'm not a football fan by any means, but I'm an avid fan of video games and I would love to see what that infinite world holds if you look at it from the perspective of my interests.

Something beautifully intrigues me about the idea of mastering every single game released, and learning every little trick and quirk about an individual game, fully mastering every element of its design before you move onto another. Fully experiencing every facet of every piece of media in a seemingly endless but still finite list.

There's the story within 17776 of a man who's been hiding in a cave for the last 9000 years, and has these little konami LCD games with him, and he plays each one for 300 years at a time, spending all of his time just. Playing this game that a lot of us would put down within minutes. Maybe hours if we're persistent.

And just.

It's overwhelming to think of how much detail and experience and beauty and things to discover there are in this world, and how comparatively little of it we each get to experience for ourselves, and I just. I get so emotional thinking about this story and about this world and about humanity. Fuck.

There is so much love and art everywhere you look and so much to experience and so much and I just. Agh!

I don't know how to end this post, there's no satisfying conclusion to the question "what if you had infinite time and you decided to play every video game that ever existed." I just think it's neat.