#also i gave up on putting cuts in this because tumblr fucks that up every time i'm so sorry

[thelaurenshippen]

finally taking the time to read through the SAG agreement summary and oof, I hope they have an AI town hall soon because...well, there are things to discuss!

so, in case folks are curious, here are my immediate takeaways from the deal as a SAG actor, a SAG producer, and person who is not any kind of expert but spends a lot of time being skeptical of contracts I sign. this is a summation/commentary, not a holistic breakdown of every point, nor even an in-depth discussion of the points I do talk about. and it is, of course, in no way legal advice or voting advice.

this post is already maybe the longest post I've ever written on tumblr (lol) and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. to be clear, nothing I'm saying here represents how I'm going to vote, how I think other actors should vote, or my be-all-end-all stance on a particular issue. this is me reading through, flagging what concerns me, and asking myself questions. and I'm here to take your questions too! though of course my expertise is limited.

(what?? something I wrote got annoying long?? in my tumblr? it's more likely, etc. huge write-up after the cut)

the good

self-tape stuff: this is one of the more niche/the thing that the general public will find least interesting, but they've put in a lot of provisions to make sure self-tape auditions have limits (# of pages, no stunts, no nudity, doesn't have to be professionally shot, etc.) which is amazing because these types of auditions have gotten out of control since the pandemic. this feels like a great gain

data transparency: in no world did I think the streamers were ever going to agree to any data sharing with either the wga or sag so even though the data is limited, this still feels huge to me.

folks who sing and dance will be paid for both of those things now, which is great

they've added MLK day and Juneteenth as holidays (about time)

a performer cannot be required to translate their own lines

principal performers are required to be given hair and makeup consultation or reimbursed for obtaining their own services - this seems like a small thing, but it's being put in here pretty much entirely because HMU services have generally been appalling when it comes to textured hair/a variety of skin tones. there's also stuff in here about working to hire more diverse HMU artists

it looks like it's going to be easier/provide a path for folks getting IMDb credits even if they're not credited on screen

miscellany: there's a bunch of gains in wage increases, P&H increases, relocation fees, franchise language etc. that all seem good to me, though my limited knowledge on those subjects prevents me from going in depth on them.

this is not important, but it tickled me, there's a term to replace all instances of "telegraph" in the contract with "email & text" which like...why has it taken us thirty years to do that lol.

the "...hm..."

intimacy coordinators: oof. when I watched the press conference SAG gave, I was fucking thrilled when they said that the new agreement required folks to hire intimacy coordinators for nudity and simulated sex scenes. that was almost reason enough for me to vote for it tbh - not requiring it is the exact reason I voted no on our last contract. however, reading the contract summary now, the exact language is: "Producer must use best efforts to engage an Intimacy Coordinator for scenes involving nudity or simulated sex and will consider in good faith any request by a performer to engage an Intimacy Coordinator for other scenes. Producer shall not retaliate against a performer for requesting an Intimacy Coordinator." this....sucks. "best efforts" and "good faith" are not the same as "required". IMO, an intimacy coordinator is the same thing as having a stunt coordinator or, like, any number of health and safety requirements. OSHA doesn't say you must "in good faith" put your "best effort" to providing fire exits. it's great that performers can request coordinators for any kind of scene, and this is still the strongest language we've ever had in a contract but....c'mon guys.

residuals: look, I can't speak to these new terms in any concrete way. there are increases, there are bonuses for streaming success, there's a whole thing about a fund regarding those successes that I need explained to me more in depth, but overall, it looks like we made some in-roads here. as someone who employs actors under digital distribution contracts that has no residuals (podcasts), I know how genuinely cumbersome the unholy trifecta of "views-success-profit" can be (as in views do not equal success, success does not equal profit, etc.). I also have no sympathy when the majority of companies dealing with that cumbersome trifecta are massive media conglomerates. anyway, long story short, idk if this is good enough, I'm hoping to attend the next info meeting sag has.

the bad

the new hair/makeup provisions are explicitly for principal actors. while I hope it leads to better, more inclusive HMU services all around I haaaate that this implies supporting or background actors (who oftentimes also have to sit in HMU) don't deserve the consideration. (then again, background actors are usually required to do their own HMU/bring their own costumes, but for productions where that's not the case, the same HMU provisions should apply IMO)

as with every contract, there's language that could be stronger, clarity that needs to exist, and important things missing - but this isn't the final contract and I'm not a lawyer, so I'm gonna leave that stuff to the experts.

but, "lauren", you say, "what about all the AI stuff? where does that go?" well, reader, I was planning on including that in the above but it's the hot-button issue right now and I think it's wickedly complicated, so I wanted to break it down separately, after I had a chance to point out all the good-bad-in-between stuff that's not getting talked about.

a note: in my career, I've learned there's two big things to keep in mind when reading a contract you might sign:

what is the worst case interpretation of this language (thank you to my lawyer, prince among men, for teaching me how to do this in practice (that said, anything I say here is not legal advice, he'd also want me to say that lol))

what are you willing to lose/compromise on/what are the limits of your pragmatism? contracts are not about a company giving you everything you want out of the goodness of their heart - it is always a compromise. pragmatism has to be a part of the equation.

so, with that said, I'm going to play a little devil's advocate here, and a) try to find the good/the pragmatic and b) catastrophize the worst case scenario. but first, it might be handy to look at this SAG infographic for some basic definitions. let's go.

the AI good

a ton of stuff here requires consent. that is not a small thing, and the consent continues even after your death (whether it was a yes or no; though this can be complicated by your estate/your union)

the language does establish that the consent must be a separate signing from the employment contract, even if its in the contract, which is great (but more on that below - timing matters)

actors often do get paid for use of their digital replicas, though it's different based on the use/type of replica.

the actor must be provided with a "reasonably specific description of the intended use". this language is vaguer than I would like, because it allows producers to decide what "reasonably specific" and "intended" means - there's always going to be some vagueness when it comes to this specific thing, but a good start would be for producers to require not blanket consent, but conditional consent for each significant use of digital replicas.

if the replicas are being used in other mediums, that must also be consented to, thank god.

replicas cannot be used in place of background actor counts on a given day - if I'm understanding this correctly, this means a production can't just have a bunch of fake background actors by themselves, they have to engage real people up to a certain number first (which in this new contract is 25 for TV and 85 for movies). we're already filling in background with digital people or copy-pasting of the same crowd over and over and have been doing so since at least the late 90s, so it's good we're continuing to put up boundaries around that.

the AI "...hm..."

it's unclear (to me) when an actor can be asked to consent. IMO, everything is meaningless if the consent is happening as part of regular contract negotiations. these things have to happen when - and only when - the actor has already been engaged in a role and feels empowered to say no

the use of independently created replicas (replicas pulled from existing footage, not created by the actor) being allowed without consent under first amendment reasoning - this is obviously concerning a lot of people bc first amendment arguments are so broad. that said, there's a pragmatism part of me that understands this is already happening/has been happening for a while and used in ways I think are perfectly fine - I was just watching the new episode of For All Mankind (one of the best TV shows right now!) and it's an alternate history, which meant that in the opening scenes of this season they had some bonkers good deep fakes of Al Gore saying stuff he never said. I think that's okay to do in a fiction show that imagines a different US history! "but Lauren", you might be saying, "Al Gore isn't a member of SAG!" are you sure? are you positive? because I'm pretty certain he is - he was in several episodes of 30 Rock, way more people are in SAG than you think (every NPR reporter for instance), and the two worst presidents we've had in the last 50 years (yes, those ones), are both definitely members of SAG (even if one is dead). now, the other side of this is that public figures like politicians are under a different social contract than actors, and if they wanted to sue, they could, unlike the average SAG actor who might have their image abused. this is why this is in the "hm" column - deep fakes and parody/satire/commentary use of replicas is already here and there's always going to be a 1st amendment argument to make, so we need to figure out how best to limit those and protect the most vulnerable.

alteration: with this language, a project can digitally alter without consent if the script and performance stays "substantially" the same. again, this language is too mealy-mouthed. I don't know that I have a huge problem with a line of dialogue getting replaced with a digital version of that actors voice if, for instance, a word was mispronounced, or wind garbled the sound or whatever - yes, it would eliminate the need for ADR, but if we put some limit on it like..."if there are more than 5 lines in a given episode/movie that require digital alteration in the service of clarity, the actor must be engaged for an ADR session or paid for the digital replacement" then I could see this being workable. I'm also personally okay with things like costumes being digitally altered but, again, we need limitations on that. digital altering cannot replace the art of costuming but, for instance, if a costume needs to be altered to include a hate symbol or something, I think that's fine (example: I have friends who worked at the VFX house for an alternate history TV show that involved a lot of Nazi costuming and set design - a huge part of that VFX house's job was to put swastikas in places, rather than props making nazi flags. I'm okay with that!) but again, these fringe cases do not a compelling arugment make, and this contract language can be interpreted too broadly for my comfort! like everything else in this "hm" category, I need to see the final contract language to decide.

the AI bad

there's a bunch of circumstances in which actors don't get paid for creating their replica/use of it and those circumstances are too broad for my taste.

synthetic performers - this is just awful. no. no, we should not be allowing AI to generate entire actors. just............no. there's some language about the producers having to talk to the union if the synthetic performer is "used in place of a performer who would have been engaged under this Agreement in a human role" but this doesn't apply to non-human characters so....wouldn't that be all roles?? leaving the producers room to be like "this role has to be synthetic, we never would've cast a human!" is bullshit. also, even if we're having AI create a magical talking unicorn whole cloth (which, like, also no, we have artists for this), that unicorn still needs to be voiced by a human person. this whole section is a disaster.

the exceptions to consent for digital alteration are bad-bad. I talked about the potential ADR replacement above and that has a whole host of issues with it that I didn't even get into, but I can see the argument. the rest are very troubling:

there is an exception under "any circumstance when dubbing or use of a double is permitted under the Codified Basic Agreement or Television Agreement" - okay, so does this mean we can replace dubbing artists and stunt performers entirely? this section is about digital alteration, but who's to say alteration couldn't turn an actor broadly miming a fight into an entirely digital, expertly performed fight that usually a stunt double would have done? with AI translation technology, does this mean we're replacing VO artists for dubs entirely? bad!

similarly, "Adjusting lip and/or other facial or body movement and/or the voice of the performer to a foreign language, or for purposes of changes to dialogue or photography necessary for license or sale to a particular market" - Justine Bateman has a great twitter thread on the terrible puppetry potential of this but I want to draw attention to the particular market bit - we all know that selling to china is such a huge part of studios' strategies that they'll remove entire scenes or lines around queer stuff. to me, this clause makes all of that so much easier. I know the argument here is going to be "we can replace swear words and license it for kids!" which.......sure? fine? but, uh, we already have ways to deal with that? and the potential for abuse here is terrifying to me. with all the digital alteration stuff too, there's just so much icky implication for the beauty/body standard to get so much worse.

if a background actor’s digital replica is used in the role of a principal performer, they'll be paid as if they actually performed the days for that role, which, sure, but uhhhh why are we saying it's okay for a digital replica of a background actor to suddenly be a leading role!?!?! I can't think of anything more demoralizing than going to set to act in background (a job I've done! an important job! a fun job a lot of the time! but creatively limited) and then getting a much bigger role (the dream!) and.....not being able to, you know, act that role or be in scenes with other principal actors or do the thing that you've dedicated your life to doing. nightmare stuff.

woof. there's so much more to say but I'm going to leave it there. these are the concerns I'm going to go into SAG's meetings with, and the concerns I'll be considering as I decide how to vote. I know there are things I didn't address and very possibly things I misinterpreted or misrepresented - if you're an actor, I highly recommend a) reading that Justine Bateman thread and b) attending SAG's meetings to ask questions and express your concerns. and I'd love to hear what y'all think! my ask box is open.

[lovvecherrymotion]

okay very brief munich gig report (mostly under the cut) i probably am forgetting 90% of stuff but let's goooo:

i got EE and i was there by 10 am? i was number 39 and i was pretty okay with this. i did end up getting a really good spot anyway

munich queue 💜💜 i mean, i've already made a post about meeting all of you, but it was truly lovely. i got so many gifts and bracelets! this fandom is full of talented, kind people

the soundcheck was ngvot (every single time i've been to a show i've heard ngvot at some point lol) and vem da greš, both of which i really enjoyed

I GOT TO GIVE NACE MY GIFTS!! like i don't even think he heard what i said BUT THEY'RE WITH THEM. FINALLY. i can be at peace now lol

i really enjoyed both Sector 5 and JC Stewart! they were both pretty good openers! i hadn't heard any of their music before, but i still had fun

WE STARTED WITH KATRINA WHICH I WAS SUPER HAPPY ABOUT

AND I GOT BELE SANJEEEEEE. and bojan said we nailed it the first time which had me like "duh, ofc, i'm here????" I WOULD NEVER FUCK UP MY BELOVED BELE SANJE

we got both Šta bih ja & Schlager. i really really really wanted Bluza so hopefully in london 🤞 i enjoy Schlager more that i've listened to it live lol (and jance were very cute during this song)

on the topic of jance, everyone was mentioning the nacekris was strong last night but as someone who was right in front of jance and barely got to see the others honestly it was kinda hard for me lmao i didn't get those vibes at all. i was so shocked opening tumblr hahahaha. jance were super sweet and smiley and 🥺💕 a solid 95% of what i captured was them and i can assure you they were both very soft and happy

no pijano :((( but he did help bojan at the start of EW and it was very sweet, i love them so much

bojan spit on me. better said, he spit on jan but i was, well, right in front of him, so i got it too lmfao

during the UM bojan was also right in front of me because a little girl got to sing with him (and even went on stage!!!!) and then a super sweet 15yo girl who had her birthday yesterday also got to sing UM - i was next to both of them so i saw bojan VERY WELL. he didn't actually go into the crowd this time

during novi val i made a finger heart at nace AND HE SMILED AND DID ONE BACK AT ME. i know it was for me because everyone got the half hearts lmfao (and then @flananjan told me you could see the heart in a story they posted on their insta and i almost died on the subway back to the hotel)

at some point (i can't remember before which song but i'll probably figure it out when i look at the photos) i put my portuguese flag on stage and jan picked it up 🥺🥺 he then asked me in the softest fucking voice "Portugal?" and i was able to say two entire words to him "yes, Portugal" AND I DIDN'T EVEN DIE ON THE SPOT. he then placed it down and like idk i just!!!! jan knows i exist and i'm portuguese BYE

and when i thought the night just couldn't... well, get any better, JAN GAVE ME HIS PICK. his hand was warm and like way softer than i expected??? this is now my most prized possession. i literally CANNOT believe jan peteh himself gave this to me

the boys didn't come out at the end because they were tired, apparently??? but i was still very happy about all of this. i'm now way less stressed for london (because i won't be carrying around a bag full of stuff for them omgggg) and manifesting i get to meet them then 🙏

munich, thank you for having me 💜💜💜 i can't wait to come back

[seireitonin]

please can you do some Nina headcannons I love your version of Nina!!!!

Yes! My fellow scemo queen I love her! I was pretty indifferent to her before, but seeing her on tumblr and TikTok made me like her a lot more! Especially bc ppl hc/draw her as black and the fandom needs diversity! I like many others hc her as black so these will be written that in mind!

🎀Nina the killer Headcanonns🎀

Nina grew up in the suburbs

So she got bullied really bad

Not just because the way she looks, being scemo but being black and dark skinned

She would sob herself to sleep every night

She started to hate her skin color, bad

Like really bad

She correlated it with being “ugly”

So when she got into Creepypasta and saw Jeff, she was mesmerized by him

I mean he was beautiful. The pale skin, jet black long hair the blue eyes

The opposite of everything Nina was

So she aspired to be like him

So she practiced with knives she stole

Butterfly knife tricks, knife throwing you name is she could do it

She also taught herself how to fight

So next time when her bullies tried it with her, she beat their asses so bad

I mean really really bad

She got suspended

And got stereotyped as the “violent angry black girl” causing her to get isolated even more

It wasn’t fair. She was just defending herself and retaliating

Her mental health was awful and she was severely insecure

So she dove into Creepypasta and Jeff even more

When Jeff started putting letters in her locker she was so happy

She would do anything to be his and Jeff knew that

He came into her life when she was unwell and vulnerable

So he manipulated a 17 year old Nina into doing what he wanted

He made her cut a smile in her face

He encouraged her to bleach her skin, playing on her insecurities

“Don’t you want to be beautiful like me?”

She went along with it, she hated her skin color anyway

And he told her to killer her family last. She did it.

Then he abandoned her in the mess she made

Nina thought Jeff was her only purpose and put all her value into being Jeff’s

She thought Jeff gave her her worth and she thought she “loved” him

She looked for him and found him when she was 20

Jeff, impressed with her finding him kept her around, but he’s never liked her

This was all Nina thought she was worthy of and the closest thing she thought she was gonna get to love

This went on till she was 26

One day Jeff told Nina to find and kill Jane

Jane being the baddie she is talked some sense into her as they fought

“Fighting me? Because Jeff told you to? You and I both know he doesn’t like you. Why do you listen to him?”

“No. You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Nina was deeply in denial

“Come on Nina. Cant you see Jeff is using you to do his dirty work and for fun? I don’t believe you’re that stupid.”

Nina gets teary eyed and runs back to Jeff

“Do you like me at all?”

Nina knew the answer but part of her wanted to prove Jane wrong. But she knew that wouldn’t happen

“Like you? I like that you do what I say. Did you kill that bitch Jane like I told you to?” He laughs in her face

Nina attacks Jeff out of anger. She gave her whole life to this man since she was 17 and he didn’t even respect her?

Nina got a few hits and stabs in but Jeff ultimately won. You can’t outdo the doer

He kicked her out and screamed at her. He called her every insult. Pointed out every insecurity. Made her feel worthless

Nina wanders through the forest sobbing and injured and comes across Jane again

“Jane, I’m sorry I-“

“You’re injured, did Jeff do that?”

Nina nods and cries

Jane takes her to EJ and lets Nina stay with her

Nina wasted her years on a guy she never loved and a man who never even liked her

They grow closer over the months and have multiple conversations

“How could I have fallen for that? I’m so fucking stupid Jane.”

“You were a child, Nina. You have to forgive yourself”

“Jane…I hated you. Why are you being so nice to me?”

“You need space to heal from Jeff. Besides, we’re both his victims in our own ways.”

That word “victim” broke Nina. She killed and got stronger so she wouldn’t be a victim of anyone. But she willingly became Jeff’s victim by being so insecure

She cried and cried for months

She wasted her life on Jeff

While she was going through the process she started her relationship with Toby (I went into detail on that on TikTok)

She asked Toby and Jane to come with her to EJ to get her smile stitched up permanently, leaving every piece of Jeff behind

She’s also letting her skin heal and go back to its natural color and she’s super insecure about it

“Toby…what if you don’t think I’m pretty anymore?”

“Huh?”

“My skin…”

“Oh, that. I don’t care about that. I think it’s really pretty. You’re really pretty. I don’t care about your skin. I care about you.”

Nina let some silent tears stream down her face and smiles. She knows Toby only says what he means. And bluntly. “Thank you, Toby”

Nina is 27 years old

She’s 5’8

Nina is full scemo in looks and music

Nina listens to emo, scene, dubstep, hardcore, post hardcore, metalcore and pop punk. But she’ll listen to anything she likes

She loves going to concerts and raves, since she never got to go as a teenager

She drags Toby along, even though he’s not a people person(he enjoys himself bc he’s emo too even though he won’t admit it)

Toby let Nina cut his hair because she begged him to. She wanted to give him straight emo hair with layers and a fringe and she did just that

She wants to dye it pink and black to match hers but he won’t let her. She still begs him every day though.

She’s always been good at doing emo hair because she’s been cutting her own hair for years and dying it too

Nina loves thrifting and shopping (Toby goes with her so she doesn’t get harassed)

The skin where her smile is stitched up is textured and scarred

Nina sometimes misses her smile and will draw it on with makeup

Her favorite foundation is Fenty Beauty and her shade is 430 :3

She loves making Candi bracelets especially with Toby and Jane

She “steals” Toby and Jane’s clothes

Nina’s favorite foods are cosmic brownies, birthday cake milkshakes, sushi, burritos and kettle corn

She loves sugar a lot and any food that’s rainbow like her

She’s always switching hair colors but always goes back to pink and black

Nina and Toby have matching piercings! (Canine bites, septum, tongue, eyebrows, and a whole bunch of ear piercings)

Nina has band posters all over her room and plushies too!

Her pillow is always stained with hair dye

Nina teases her hair every day so it’s super big

Nina kills people still, but mainly shitty boyfriends

Nina has tried to be friends with clockwork but Clockwork REALLY doesn’t like her because she’s dating Toby now

Nina is sweet, bubbly, outgoing and kind so a lot of creeps like her :3

She’s a bit more mature now that she’s away from Jeff and a lot happier too

When Nina teases and straightens her hair she teases and straightens Toby’s hair as well. He doesn’t care. He’s actually impressed with how cool it looks

Nina loves practicing her screaming while Toby sings and plays drums but she’ll practice screaming on her own too

Nina has big round light brown eyes

She feels horrible about stuff she’s done in the past

Nina gets really insecure about people not liking her and she’s scared Toby and Jane secretly hate her

She’s much smarter than she was before but you can’t really tell by the way she acts

Nina hugs Jane and thanks her once a day. She wouldn’t have gotten away from Jeff without her

Take Toby’s goggles and wears them to raves

His mouth guard sometimes too

She’s just healing her inner child by being her beautiful self

And having people around her that truly love her

She loves wearing pink lipgloss and black lipliner to match her hair

Her makeup is traditional emo/ scene makeup circular eyeshadow and big eyeliner

She convinced Toby to wear a bit of eyeliner

Nina is bisexual!

She had a crush on Jane first but didn’t act on it since Jane’s married

Nina has an extremely high pain tolerance and plans go get tattoo sleeves all in one sitting

Mixes her black culture with scemo culture

Brown lip liner and large hoop earrings with some 90s/y2k fashion seen on black women at the time along with all her emo fashion

She’s truly accepting herself we love that for her she would’ve never done that before what a queen

Nina is a huge people pleaser

She’s extremely hyper, expressive and jumpy!

(God I love her!)

When she likes someone or falls in love she’s extremely obsessive and will do literally anything for them

Unironically likes the ham egg and cheese hot pockets

Doesn’t wear purple as much as she used to reminds her of when she met Jeff

Constantly getting candy from LJ

She enjoys rolling the dice to see if it’s poisonous or not

She’s impulsive and a risk taker like that

Wow this is long can you tell I’ve thought about her character a lot?

[belleame333]

how i overcame my phone addiction.

so for some background, i used to have a screen time of about 8 hours daily. i used my phone all day, every day, obsessively scrolling through tiktok and other social media apps. this did a significant number on my mental health and social life, and when i decided i wanted to work on myself i knew that this was the thing i needed to change first. so here's what i did to bring it down to less than one hour a day (some of the advice i took is from faye bate on youtube, go check out her video on the topic!)

turned off my app limit: this may seem counterproductive, but whenever i had my app limit on i would just press 5 more minutes until the next pop-up came and i would just press ignore and continue scrolling. i realized that it just didn't do anything.

deleted ALL games and social media: yes, even tumblr, and now i only have it on my laptop. i know many have FOMO (fear of missing out), and i did too, that is what keeps pulling us back to all these social media apps. no, it won't kill you if you do not see your friend's insta story or what your favorite tiktoker wore that day. trust me, it was hard to delete it all, especially since it gave me that feeling of being connected, but i just did it. that's what you need to remember in this whole journey: to just do it, even if you don't want to at first, you will not regret it. we see so much of other people's lives on social media that we forget about our own, that's why i cut my screen time so much, i wasn't focusing on myself and my own life.

put my phone far away/turn it off: whenever i leave a room i leave my phone in there, i put it up somewhere out of reach or i just turn it off completely, easy as that. also, when i go to school, i leave my phone at home sometimes so i don't go on it during class.

stopped listening to music: this was probably the hardest thing to do because i used to listen to music 24/7 but that fucked my brain up too since i just couldn't sit in silence without thinking about putting on music, and if i put on music, i also wanted to scroll through my phone. this also helped me to calm my mind a bit, because before i was constantly just singing in my head.

found other hobbies: i now do yoga, meditate, work out, read and solve puzzles; not long ago these were all things i didn't do because i was always on my phone. you don't even need a new hobby necessarily, you just need to do other stuff to get your mind off your phone, preferably something productive that's good for you.

did a dopamine detox: this is what i recommend most tbh. i found simonesquared’s videos on the topic to be the best and i followed what she did. i suggest you do your research into it but basically, it's not interacting with anything that gives us a dopamine kick (our phones, music, etc.) for a full day. i do this regularly now and it's been a great help with getting me away from my phone.

i truly hope someone found this helpful, love u xx

[vctrvn-ls]

bro I had the fvcking request and then tumblr just ate it. like ong I can’t find it anywhere

request: AJ being our passenger princess

wordcount: 1k

warnings: language

"Fuck yeah!"

You giggled covering your smile as you watched AJ skip over to you with his arms open.

He gave you an affectionate kiss on the cheek before clinging onto you for a hug. You watched his friends wave to you from the couch.

It was a cold noon and you had come to pick AJ up from his long day of shooting that was rolling since 10am.

"Peace out everyone." He turned to Niko, Kenny, Chunkz and Sharky.

"Aje," you nudged him "Bye guys." You smiled before AJ began dragging you out of the set with great enthusiasm.

"I swear that guy found the one." Chunkz mumbled to Sharky who was nodding and still in shock since the beginning of your relationship.

"How'd today go?" You asked, rubbing his back as he continued to hold onto you.

"It was aight. I'm starving."

"Obviously," you nodded, stopping next to your car "Well Im ready to take you wherever your heart desires." You jokingly bow like a gentleman.

As you get in the car he replies "Nando's please, I'm begging you."

"Nando's it is." You start the car.

While you're putting your seatbelt on, setting the gear and preparing for the drive, AJ's busy getting comfortable next to you.

He reaches for the blanket that was in the backseat and wraps himself in it, then proceeds to adjust the back of the seat by leaning it back almost all the way. You simply react with a chuckle and an eye roll as he continues getting as cozy as he could.

Heater: on, heated seating: on, music: on.

You set your trip to the Nando's that was closest to your house, meanwhile AJ scrolled through his playlist, trying to find the perfect song for this journey.

Minutes later you heard a familiar melody start playing.

Poison, by Brent Faiyaz.

"Mm how romantic," you joke sarcastically, earning a small push from AJ.

"It's a good song!"

"Hey careful I'm the one driving."

"Girl you do da-mage to me! You know I love it! Yeah I love you," he turns to you, smugly singing the lyrics while also being dramatic with his hands. Even with just the corner of your eye you can see how funny he looks.

AJ enjoyed every second of the ride, he even slipped in a little nap near the end.

You loved it when AJ was happy, it made you happy. You knew that he was famous for being a "prickly little hedgehog who never wanted to be touched" amongst his friends, and you genuinely always laughed at those words because with you he was the complete opposite. So sweet, calm and absolutely adorable. Still energetic of course, but extra soft on the inside.

You parked your car, turning it off and looking at AJ who was dozing away, clutching onto the blanket.

You grinned.

"AJ," you whispered, learning over to him and moving some loose curls out of his eyes "Ajeee." You hummed, scratching the top of his head "We're here."

You sincerely thought that he was asleep, that was until a smile began to tug on the corners of his lips.

"AJ!" You laughed, giving him a good shove, this time instantly waking him up as he complained about how hard you had pushed him.

"Tsk, stop whining you big baby." You unbuckled your seatbelt and yanked the blanket off of him, then proceeded to exit the car. He got out with a tired groan, stretching and yawning.

Two hours later you were heading back to the car.

"-And then that's when they cut the cameras," AJ chuckled, telling you about the day "You know the craziest thing is that they said they were going to cut the last part out?" He exclaimed, waving his arms around "I was so pissed I swear." He huffed.

You chuckled and shook your head.

"What? It's not funny." Despite him saying that, he was still smiling.

"You're so cute when you're explaining something." You glance at him.

"I am NOT." He argued "I'm just very emotional because people from set got me fucked up."

"Yeah, yeah, alright." You reach for the top of his head to fluff around his curls. He swats your arm away and then proceeds to throw playful punches at you, jumping from side to side in front of you.

"Oh wow, wow," you raise your hands up sarcastically "Calm down Mr.ToughGuy. Not very gentlemen of you to hit a Miss."

He immediately stops and puts his hands in his pockets "Your my Miss tho."

"That's even worse!" You exclaim with laugh.

"I'm joking, I'm joking." He squeezes you from the side "I'd never." He kisses your cheek before quietly adding "Because you'd probably beat me up before I could."

You giggle and nudge him "I will."

Back on the road you noticed that you were low on gas and decided to stop at the nearest petrol station . While you filled up the car, AJ was busy inside the gas stop. You didn't even have time to blink when you noticed him standing next to you with a big slushy in his hands.

"AJ," you laugh at the innocent look on his face, like it wasn't him who had just bought that outrageously massive cup of ice. He shrugs and gets in the car, not evaluating any further.

The last ten minutes in the car were very peaceful. A gentle tune played while AJ hummed, accompanying the song whilst also sipping the gigantic slushy under the fuzzy blanket. Occasionally he'd reach the cup over to you and let you have a sip, allowing you to keep your eyes on the road while tapping the rhythm of the music on the steering wheel…

[itsjustpoopeh]

3, 8, 19

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

"Keeley is a maternal figure for Jamie." my sibling in christ. what are you and your mama up to. those two FUCK and they LIKE IT. also Jamie already has a mummy. he never took her poster off his wank wall for fuck's sake she ain't a maternal figure for him (now she might be mommy buuuuut i ain't getting into alla THAT)

"Jamie and Georgie's interactions were borderline incestuous in Mom City." y'all can't talk about dismantling the patriarchy and toxic masculinity and turn around and call it "developmentally inappropriate" for a grown man to cuddle his mummy when he's upset and depressed. especially because i know, i KNOW y'all wouldn't have said that if Georgie was Dottie Lasso shaped. y'all didn't say that when Sam was cuddling with Ola. y'all said it because you turned that woman into a sexual object. unpack that shit

edited i forgot the cut lmao

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Jamie is a secretly self-loathing insecure mess. Did you watch the show? not once, not ONCE has Jamie demonstrated self-loathing or a lack of self-confidence. He had to learn how to not treat other people like shit, not how to hate himself.

Roy is a perfect uwu bean who has never been mean in his life ever ever. again. have you watched this show? in season one he was a whole 38 year old grown ass adult legend in his own time beefing with a fucking 23 year old whose best insult was calling him granddad. be for fucking real. and he didn't even try to captain that team until Ted jedi mind gamed him into it because he was wallowing in self-pity. i love him, but season one Roy was absolutely as unbearable as season one Jamie, the narrative just emotionally manipulated us about it differently. that's what makes him interesting. perfect soft uwu bean boy is BORING stop trying to convince me Roy is boring

Ted is depressed and suicidal and sacrificing his happiness in kansas. Shut the entire fuck up. That man was yelling about how homesick he was for kansas every chance he had for the entire run of the show. Also related is the "ted gave up his entire richmond family and support system to go back to kansas" hmm did he though? Realistically, did he really develop a close knit community and support system in richmond? other than the diamond dogs, whom he routinely ignored? all of his interactions with the wider richmond community (the pub, the shopkeepers, etc) were superficial. he never even learned to drive there. he never put down roots there and he didn't want to, because he wanted to go home to Henry, and he wanted to go home to KANSAS. don't even talk to me about the rebecca soulmates thing you can still be friends with people even if you don't live in the same country

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified that you actually kind of like…

Nate/Jade. look, my feelings about nate are complicated because they dropped the ball on showing instead of telling, which is bullshit because nick mohammed woulda ATE. i subscribe to the theory that they had a much more expansive storyline planned for Nate and rethought it after being surprised by how vitriolic and racist the hate was after season 2. unFORTUNATELY, that meant they didn't close the loop on what they already did, and tried to fill the gap with a girlfriend, which is a trope i loathe. on the other hand, Jade is fucking awesome and i can't help liking them and the way she affectionately trolls him mercilessly. i'm not even getting into the idiots on this hellsite trying to insist that Jade's behavior towards him was racist. she's a customer service employee who's seen a million insecure men trying to play games in her face and she treated him accordingly until he quit it with his nonsense, and then she gave him a chance because Nate is actually lovely when he's squashing his tendency to be a vicious cruel jerk

[pantherxdrawz]

I’ve come with another Fan-Overblot I was intending to stop at Cater cause he was my favorite plus again *points to Overblot watchlist he should be on*

But I was listening to Novocaine, blacked out, and a Trey Overblot was on my screen

I might make this a design series at this point no promises though Anyways I’ve jokingly nicknamed him the Bone Fairy cause of that one Tumblr post pointing out its potential existence and someone put Trey over it (i dont have ether image saved) and my OB!Trey is essentially like a much larger and more hostile Tooth Fairy

I mean I seriously gave him a toothbrush as a weapon (not fully in frame but he’s got it)

Now there’s me talking about the design again + Lineart only bonus under the cut, I intended to include Cater’s in my OB!Cater design post but I forgot so yeah his linearts there too

And also Alt’s because OB!Trey has way more Alt’s than OB!Cater-

^ There’s your lineart + a Cater

v There’s your alts

C-can you tell I struggled to hell and back with the colors

Honestly this is my honest reaction trying to color this monstrosity

Anyways ignoring my piss poor coloring-

Onto inspiration and stuff for the design:

My inspirations where mainly dentists,

(because I heard Novocaine for the first time since becoming a TWST fan, I’ve heard the song in general before, and as I listened my brain immediately started pointing blinking arrows to Trey like “HmMM DOESNT THAT SOUND LIKE SOMEONE FROM THE NEW GAME YOU LIKE? HMMMMM? HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?”)

Alongside Tooth Fairy from Reverse: 1999 (mainly cause of the dentists), and The Mad Hatter

As for why I didn’t give him glasses, for one: it felt like they made his face too crowded with everything added on and two

Azul has glasses yet his Overblot doesn’t have glasses, just saying

(Yes it could be just because he’s an octopus and glasses don’t work in the sea but it’s 5x funnier to imagine Overblotting temporarily improves your eyesight because it doesn’t like nerds)

As for the blot design and placement for OB!Trey it is also more willy-nilly for his arms it’s kinda just slapped on like Cater’s was

but I also tried to make teeth like designs out of it, I don’t know if that’s actually possible but hey I don’t know if diamond hair or eyes are possible with Overblotting *stares at OB!Cater* so what do I know

With his face I also attempted to mimic Tattoos like how pretty much every canon Overblot is (even though the canon ones look a lot like lace or fishnet) with the large clover over his eye and the entire side of his face being covered with teeth markings (that sounds sus out of context-)

I don’t know how Trey would Overblot I just know he has the requirements and my OB!Trey would be a fucking nightmare especially if teaming up with OB!Cater like just you see a bunch of armored Cater clones with stitched smiles approaching you with pliers as they’re after your teeth it sounds ridiculous until you realize that Trey’s after your teeth and plans on leading you bleeding out unlike a NORMAL Overblotter who’d just squish you + OB!Cater’s clones are like a hydra but instead of it just being heads its the whole clone so if you where to kill one three more spawn in place so you have that.

Plus he covers more ground with the Cater army

And if he teams up with Riddle it’s just gonna be:

OB!Riddle: “OFF WITH ALL YOUR HEADS”

OB!Trey: “Can I have their teeth.” OB!Riddle: ”……………...*very hesitant* sure.”

OB!Trey: “OFF WITH YOUR HEADS”

[brilla-brilla-estrellita]

Crafting Wings

I finally remembered today that tumblr is a blog, and that in addition to whatever fandom nonsense I reblog, I can also post bloggy things on it. Obvious, right?

I am making a set of dragon wings for an event coming up in mid-June. They are of course inspired by Simon Snow and will be red dragon wings (though the pattern I bought from them is technically for a wyvern). I'm hoping that posting progress updates here will help me stick to it and actually get it done in time. I'm breaking it down into teeny tiny easy peasy steps and only looking at the very next step to try to keep the overwhelm and executive dysfunction at bay. This is likely to lead me down a path of "If I'd thought about it earlier, I could have..." But you know what? I always end up there anyway.

So first, I spent a long long long long long (long long long...) time trying to decide how to make these wings. I really wanted articulated wings, bonus if I could move them without obviously pushing or pulling or something. But looking at how people had made that happen was overwhelming. They require so much time and skill and I am prone to procrastination and crying and quitting when I mess up. I finally settled on this DIY Mechanical Wing kit by Chimera Wings. That would give me the frame for the wings, but they also have a sewing pattern (with printed AND video instructions) to make the covers for them!

This is what the contents of the kit looked like when I got it:

And this is the completed build! I almost didn't post this because I don't like the way I look, but you know what? Fuck that. I built something cool (using very simple, easy-to-follow instructions, sure) and I don't want to have to find a better fancier more flattering way to film that, so. I'm getting over it.

You can tell that I kinda struggle with the wing on my right side. I clearly need to stretch my arms out before wearing these. Truly. I tried it after I stretched and it's no big deal. Or maybe I'll add some sort of pulley after all. (HAH. Like I'll have time for that.)

Otherwise, the kit and wings are fantastic. It was so easy to put together and they feel very cool to wear. I should probably go write them a review...

I didn't actually takes pics of the next step, but I printed out the pattern on regular 8.5x11 paper and taped it together. It... was not very well done, but I'm hoping I got it close enough to not have messed up the pattern dimensions. After taping and then cutting out the completed pattern, I could move on to working with actual fabric!

I'm making a mock-up out of old sheets first because I have never once done any sewing project successfully the first time. I decided to mock-up only one wing instead of both, so this will surely be my downfall when I move onto the real deal.

The next two pictures are the front and back pieces for a single wing. I decided to cut them separately instead of at the same time by folding the fabric in half because every time I do more than one layer at a time, at least one of the layers comes out real fucked up. I blame being a lefty in a right-handed world. Scissors are of the devil.

The next step was to make buttonholes that are actually strap holes. I have a little baby basic machine, and it has some limitations. I discovered one of these limitations during my buttonhole test runs. As you can see, the machine-provided "buttonhole" stitches are just... lacking. I messed with a screw that controls the length of these stitches, but for some reason it can only be used to balance out the stitch lengths, not make them overall longer or shorter. I have no control for generally change stitch length. I only have the options presented to me on my stitch chooser knob. Alas, I have less than optimal buttonholes.

Pictured above: (Left) One very sad buttonhole test. (Right) A second buttonhole test in which one side is almost respectable and the other should be ashamed to call itself a buttonhole stitch.

Finally, I gave up and balanced the stitch lengths and just went with it. When I do the real deal, I will likely go use my friend's much fancier machine. For the mock-up, this is sufficient. The next three pictures show, with increasing zoom and blurriness, the completed buttonholes.

I am intentionally using very bright, contrasting thread so that when I inevitably fuck up, I can hopefully see the point of fuck up more clearly so as to rectify it on my next attempt.

And that brings us up to speed! Next Step: Pin the pieces together. That's it. That's the whole step. How many days will it take to overcome executive dysfunction and do it? Only time will tell.

As long as I can remember to update regularly, future posts should be quite short.

[stinger-shot]

Yey! Silly vent because I feel like shit!

Read under the cut if you want the juicy ass details

So basically, I gotta let this shit out.. its fucking me up a bit rn.

I met this dude around the start of 2021 on tiktok AND HE WAS SO TALENTED AND FUNNY but he always said he wasn't. Anyway time skip a lil..

We started getting into a few arguments near the middle of 2022. And they where just small disagreements then they gradually got worse and worse every time it happend. And it especially got bad when I made another friend on tiktok who loved doing art related things and drew my old persona back then.

And HE WAS NOT HAVING IT and he said quite alot of bad things to me. Did I stay friends with him? Yes I did. Did I also block the nice guy just trying to be my friend? Yes. I blocked them out of fear of loosing my best friend.

And near the end of 2022 we started dating because things had gotten a better.

Oh how I was so wrong. Everything just went downhill when he left high-school. He always needed attention. He got mad at me because I couldn't set an alarm BECAUSE he was up at 10am and I was up near 1pm. So I forced myself to do so mutch bullshit for him. Like draw him art as an apology and it drained me do badly I could hardly do my own personal art.

I didn't even have personal art at this point. Every time I fixated on something it was what he was fixating on because he'd get mad at me and argue with me if I wasn't.

But everything was calm when it was around April in 2023 and we where finally getting along like an actul couple because of a game called final fantasy. We where obsessed with it for months! And then around June or July I re discovered transformers.

I have never felt as happy in a fandom since 2019! Like holy shit the fandom is so sweet.

But I kept it a secret from him he still doesn't know. Then at some point I made this tumblr to get my stupid little urges out and now look at where I'm at. I haven't been this happy in a LONG while.

And just st the start of 2024 my ex got into an argument with one of his friends and I offered to talk to them. so he agreed and I spoke to them.

Im so fucking glad I did.

Because without their help I'd still be fucking miserable. They gave me the confidence to dump that bitches ass and I honestly feel like a weight has been taken off. Because it honestly felt like a chore every day of my life just talking to him.

And my other friend on discord had helped me out to. Including you silly fuckers on discord/tumblr. If your even reading this... if you are why are you still reading this?

But anyway. I just needed this off my chest. Because it does hurt a little spite how good i feel but I just have an off feeling. I haven't put down everything that happend while I was with my ex and some things might be in the wrong order or time but at least I'm forgetting it?

Just. I love the transformers fandom so mutch mutch really helped me pull through...

Fuck I'm ranting. Uh. Bye!

Also a big thank you to Avery and rex for helping me feel better (rex I've only known you for a little bit but jesus christ I fucking laugh my ass off because of you) jesus I'm sappy as fuck. (and avery your so fucking cool. You helped me alot.) And belyyvolks (I've had alot of fun messing around about ironhide XD) I'm not tagging because I don't want alot of attention on this post.

[angelasscribbles]

About that Tumblr Bullying

I know I said I was going to do a whole call out post about the bullying that happened to me. Complete with receipts. But a funny thing happened after I posted my little preview post yesterday. My DM’s blew the fuck up with people reaching out to me with, support yes but also, and unfortunately, their own stories of having been bullied. Like a lot of people.

That got me thinking, what happened to me is a drop in the bucket. This problem is much more prevalent than I ever would have thought and that is so disappointing and unfortunate. This is supposed to be fun. Grown adults are not supposed to act this way.

A hate post was made about me, and I was, in fact, clueless to its existence until my little anon friend gave me the heads up. A move that seemed desperate for my attention. I have decided not to give it to them. I have decided that they don’t get any more of my time, attention or energy.

I want to focus, instead, on those being bullied. Because this issue is way larger than just me. I can handle it. I have been through some shit in my life and come through it with flying colors. A little Tumblr hate isn’t about to break me. But I know not everyone has the same level of resilience, not everyone is in a good place, not everyone has a good support system filled with loving, supportive people. I know there are people out there struggling with depression, anxiety, grief, stress, and worse. I know there are people for whom toxic internet bullying could cause a major mental health crisis, or set off a depressive episode or hell, even just seriously mess with their self esteem. My inbox is full of stories of writers doubting themselves, their writing, their worth as a human being because of the atrocious things said to them (way worse than what was said about me).

I  want to do a couple of things here. The first is simply to let each and every one of you know that you are worthy. I know my platform isn’t that large, I’m no one special, but to those this does reach, I want to tell you that you do matter! You are worthwhile!

Secondly, I’d like to remind you that you own no one anything, not your time, not your attention, not a response to their messages, not an acknowledgement of their complaints (real or imagined). Literally, nothing.

My advice?

Surround yourself with positive people. Block the negative ones. You lose nothing by cutting toxic people out. Out of your Tumblr feed, out of your Facebook feed or even out of your real life. Sometimes, blocking and moving on with your life is self-care. There are people who thrive on drama and negativity. They can’t live without it, they feed on it. Don’t feed them. Cut off their access to you. Save your energy for those that make you smile, those that see the beauty in you (even when you don’t see it yourself).

When you have the energy/spoons for it, pay it forward every chance you get. Give compliments, prop up other people. You never know when that compliment might be the thing that turns an otherwise dull day into a bright one. And bonus, you’ll feel good about it too! I believe that what we put out in the universe comes back to us. So, send positivity out there every chance you get.

Engage in aggressive self-care. Block out time for yourself. Do the things that you enjoy, eat the foods that you love, allow yourself time to watch that TV show that makes you happy, even if the laundry isn’t done. Take a hot bath, go for a long walk (if you’re able), draw, write, paint, do whatever it is that feeds your soul. And don’t apologize for it, or feel guilty for doing it. Your happiness counts. You count!

If you are struggling, please reach out to someone, talk, tell someone. Don’t keep it all inside, let it out. I know that can be hard sometimes, but it’s crucial for healing. And let’s face it, most of us have unresolved trauma of some sort or another.

The last thing I want to do here is give a little practical advice. I want to offer some tips for how to lock down your account to better protect yourself against being blindsided by anon hate. Here they are:

This is the most obvious one. Turn off anonymous asks. To do this, go to “Account” (little gear icon in upper right hand corner on mobile) and scroll down to “Allow anonymous asks” and toggle it off. <- I did this, because I had witnessed others getting anon hate. I thought it was enough. It wasn’t. Someone determined to stalk, bully and harass you will find another way. So keep reading.

Take away the ability for an anonymous, fake, blog to message you. Yes, you can make it so that only blogs you follow can DM you. To do this, go to “Account” and click on “Account settings” then click on “Messaging”, here you can choose who can message you, pick “only Tumblrs you follow can message”. <- Wish I had known that sooner. Never occurred to me that someone would make an entire fake blog just to send me hate.

Next, if you want, you can limit who may comment on your posts. Go to “Account” then to “Account settings” and click on “Replies” choose “only Tumblrs you follow can reply” <- This is tricky for me, because the whole point of Tumblr is interacting with new people/content. But if you are being stalked, harassed and/or bullied, I would recommend taking this extra step.

This is just a privacy issue, but if you don’t want others to know when you’re active, go to “Account” then “Account Settings” and click on “Privacy”. You can toggle to turn off “Let others see that you’re active”<- Not really going to keep anyone from bullying you, but if you have anxiety about people being mad if you don’t respond when they can see that you are active, then it’s a good thing to deactivate.

If you’ve taken the above steps, then you are safe from anon hate in your asks, your inbox and the comment sections of your posts. <- someone can still create a fake blog and make a nasty comment in a reblog of your post, but at least they have to show their nastiness publicly.   

If anyone has more tips that I’ve missed, please respond with a comment or reblog and let us all know!

I’m going to leave you with this little gem. No Time for Toxic People by Imagine Dragons. Lyrics are under the cut.

Lyrics:

The way they look at me, I know exactly What they talk about when I'm not around Got no time for that, as a matter of fact Every day's my birthday, oh, I hope you heard me

Take a look outside, it's a beautiful day, yeah Yeah, it's a beautiful day, yeah I'm gonna keep it that way, that way, ayy Take a real good look, it's a beautiful day, yeah Yeah, it's a beautiful day, yeah I'm gonna keep it that way, that way, ayy

So spend your hours on what you think I've done wrong I know I'm in your mind, I've been here way too long I want to spend my life with those who's done me right Your heart is frozen over, I'm a four-leaf clover

Take a look outside, it's a beautiful day, yeah Yeah, it's a beautiful day, yeah I'm gonna keep it that way, that way, ayy Take a real good look, it's a beautiful day, yeah Yeah, it's a beautiful day, yeah I'm gonna keep it that way, that way, ayy

Do-do, do-do-do, no time for toxic people Do-do, do-do-do, no time for that, I Do-do, do-do-do, no time for toxic people I, I've got no time for toxic people

Move along, move along, move along, go Let me go to the clouds below 'Cause they're callin' me up to higher ground What a teacup sound, even mighty drown, oh

Take a look outside, it's a beautiful day, yeah Yeah, it's a beautiful day, yeah I'm gonna keep it that way, that way, ayy Take a real good look, it's a beautiful day, yeah Yeah, it's a beautiful day, yeah I'm gonna keep it that way, that way, ayy

Do-do, do-do-do, no time for toxic people Do-do, do-do-do, no time for that, I Do-do, do-do-do, no time for toxic people I, I've got no time for toxic people

[hegrowth]

🚩 🚩🚩TEA. SPILL. NOW.

send me a 🚩 and i'll share my unpopular rpc opinions and hot takes. || accepting

oof ya'll we are in for it now. it's time... for puffin's hot take on softblocking. because yes I am and always will be salty about this shit, come fucking fight me and my anxiety-ridden existence.

firstly. I softblock inactive and archived blogs. I think that's chill. but I also always say I'm doing that, so in the event I accidentally softblock someone I didn't mean to and they check my blog like ??? they'll see that post and be like ah okay, it was a mistake.

now. for the love of fuck, why do people say they softblock when unfollowing folks in their rules but also state they do not want to be contacted if they unfollow you ? this is why I have anxiety. like, if you're gonna get offended every time someone messages you to make sure it wasn't an accident or glitch just block people.

and yeah, that is probably where 90% of my anxiety comes from, and why I struggle to reach out to people. because me, popping into someones DMs to make sure it wasn't a mistake gave them the ick and they decide to vague about me or block me anyway. grow the fuck up. and stop assuming the worst about people !

because you know what ? your self-righteous "ew don't talk to me after cutting you off" like tumblr isn't a glitching hellsite / mobile tumblr isn't an accidental thumb-swish away from deleting your blog is not friendly to your neurodivergent followers who struggle to understand situations and approach people.

because being disgusted by someone's genuine concern is shitty. if I come to you like, hey... it's because I noticed, and it mattered to me, and I managed to overcome the anxiety telling me everyone secretly hates me. you being rude about it isn't sexy, and it isn't cool. like, good for you. you're no longer being haunted by my lame ass.

listen. I understand that anxiety exists, obviously. but if that whole situation up top gives you anxiety then you should just block people. and also, if you are softblocking folks but aren't comfortable with them contacting you about it ??? copypastas bitch. a simple "hey, thanks for reaching out ! I did mean to softblock you, nothing personal, just please don't contact me anymore or follow me." goes a long fucking way, because if they then choose to keep pushing it ? you've set your boundaries, they're the asshole now, not you.

because the sentiment I see a lot is "I don't owe you an explanation" and I agree with that 10,000% !! do not come to me asking about why I blocked you or your friend or whatever else, I will not tell you, I do not have to tell you. but re: the copypasta I provided above ? no reasons, just facts. the only explanation you do owe someone is a clarification of the situation, aka setting your boundaries. no one needs to know why those boundaries are being set, in fact I fucking applaud you for setting them, but you do need to communicate that those boundaries are there.

SOFTBLOCKING ISNT ENFORCING A CLEAR BOUNDARY. softblocking is a petty ass way to rid yourself of someone. the metaphor I often see used is its the equivalent of scooping up a spider in your house on a piece of paper and putting it outside. I don't know about ya'll, but when I'm removing a critter from my home that I do not want in it I am actively talking to it and explaining the situation, even if it doesn't understand me, because I want it to know I mean it no harm and please don't come back. guys, no fucking joke, I wished a wasp a merry fucking christmas when I had to remove it from my house because I felt so bad my cat had been torturing it. wasps probably don't celebrate christmas !

point being, I communicate my boundaries to the spiders I'm taking out of my house like they're going to respect them. ya'll should do the fucking same. grow up. we all have anxiety. we all struggle to understand and accept certain social environments and interactions, especially online. we're all doing our best.

don't be a fucking asshole if you softblock someone and they want to make sure it was purposeful. in fact, don't be an asshole to anyone. there is no valid reason to be an asshole to anyone in the rpc, jfc.

also yes, if you softblock me I will block you, because I do not have the mental endurance to deal with the "they hate me" monologue spiraling through my silly little brain. because too many times I have experienced scorn and disgust and hate at being reached out to about softblocking and that has cemented in my brain, more than the anxiety it was a mistake. like just fucking block me, then.

so like. either don't softblock folks or grow up and communicate your boundaries, idk. and don't be an asshole, as previously stated.

this probably doesn't make any sense and has errors in logic / rationale but it's my anxious, frustrated ramblings so fuck it

final thoughts: please don't softblock me ! thanks

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

AITA WIP Tag Game

Stealing the open tag by @winterandwords

Describe your WIP as if it were a post on r/AmITheAsshole

This one contains heavy spoilers for the Fancy Boots arc of Glass Shards. Transcript of the images is below the cut. There's also links to the images at the end, because I think tumblr compresses them.

Aaaand I'm gonna very lowkey tag: @starlit-hopes-and-dreams @antisocialxconstruct and everyone who wants to :D

I don't know if you wanna do something like this. Obviously doesn't have to be image format, I just took the idea and ran with it because I'm so very normal. It's a rather high effort tag game, so feel absolutely free to ignore it <3

I'm gonna tag some people from the Glass Shards/Fancy Boots taglist as well, just for looking at it, because I put too much fucking effort into this: @teamwhump @dont-touch-my-soup @kixngiggles

Lol guys I found a thread on reddit, it's hilarious, check it out.

Poor guy got torn to shreds in the comments.

Seems there were some updates as well. I'm having my doubts about this story, but five months is a nice commitment to the bit.

All images: The Post | First Question | Second Question | Third Question | Edits | Update

All screenshots look like posts on the subreddit r/AmITheAsshole, with several thousand upvotes and comments.

User u/ThrowRAFancyBoots posted seven months ago and has been voted the asshole:

AITA? I just wanted to make sure he's not a threat, but his wife is giving me the death glare

So I (25M) recently ran across an old acquaintance (35M). Last time we met… ok, there's no way around it, I was in law enforcement, and I arrested him for attempted murder. It wasn't pretty. Some things happened, and he was seriously injured. Wasn't my fault, but I admit I could have been a bigger help. I was informed he broke out of prison before his trial, but I moved away a short time later, and it kinda ended up in the back of my mind.

Now my new employer is in negotiations to move to this town, and while he's stuck in meetings all day, I got some time on my hands. And guess who I saw wandering around at the beach? I couldn't believe my eyes, but it was definitely him, he reacted to that stupid nickname they gave him.

Well, I did what any upstanding citizen would do, I tried to arrest him, but his wife (25F) — he has a wife now! — begged me to let him go. Ok, perhaps she didn't so much beg me as threaten me, but anyway, I just… I couldn't do it.

But I had to make sure he's not a threat anymore, I mean, what if I let him go and he kills someone?? So I told them I'd be over again to talk, and he invited me to dinner. It was an amazing dinner, this guy's a wonderful cook. We kept talking and I lost track of time, and then it was late and I realized I hadn't even asked my questions, so I told them I’d come back the next afternoon.

It's been 4 days now, and I've visited them daily, and I don't believe he's anywhere near the monster people said he is. Really, his wife seems to be more dangerous than he is. I think she's about to stab me. If looks could kill, I would be dead already. It’s making me wonder.

I just want to make absolutely sure, you know? Is that too much to ask? I didn't even come for dinner each day, so he wouldn't have to cook for me, though he still offered me something every time (it was absolutely delicious). I came along as he went shopping, and he was nice to everyone, and everyone seemed to like him. When someone asked, he introduced me as his friend of all things. If he’s an actor, he’s the best fucking actor I’ve ever seen.

So I'm asking, am I the asshole for bothering them for a few days while making absolutely sure he's not a threat anymore?

Several people have replied to this post:

First reply thread:

BurntSalad: INFO: What do you want to ask him?

ThrowRAFancyBoots: I want to ask him why he did it.

BurntSalad: YTA. It's been 4 days. Just check the police records or something, if you're too much of a coward lol

ThrowRAFancyBoots: I would have to ask. There wasn't a motive, it was straight up an assassination attempt. It doesn't make sense. Not when you get to know him. That's why I've been coming back.

UpperDogPants: then ask. put on your big boy pants and stop ruining their lives

ThrowRAFancyBoots: I will. Tomorrow.

Second reply thread:

CheeseAndPasta79: INFO: What was for dinner?

ThrowRAFancyBoots: Bean roast, mashed potatoes, glazed vegetables and freshly baked bread, why?

CheeseAndPasta79: YTA

ThrowRAFancyBoots: :(

Third reply thread:

SecretlyJealous2342: YTA you just want to fuck his wife

ThrowRAFancyBoots: No I do not want to fuck his wife, wtf.

Next comes a screenshot of the lower part of the OP, which now shows several edits and update. The thread has been locked:

Edit: Since people have repeatedly asked about the incident when he was arrested: his gun exploded, and he blew up his hand. We had to cut it off to save his life, and it… it was pretty gruesome, and I'm not proud of anything we did, all right? I didn't want to mention it, because I figured it might lead to prejudices before you've even read the whole story.

Edit 2: I don't think he's a killer. He really, really doesn't behave like one. But people wanted to know what I could possibly want to ask him after 4 days, and it's complicated. I want to know why he did it. For some reason, I can't seem to ask him that. But if I don’t know what made him do it, how can I be sure he won’t do it again?

Edit 3: Ok, after the latest edit, people seem to agree that I'm the asshole. Perhaps you’re right but can’t you see the predicament I’m in? And no, for those who were asking if his motives weren’t clear, they were not. It wasn’t a case of jealousy or revenge or anything, it was an assassination attempt, plain and simple. Perhaps he was blackmailed into it, or… fuck, I don’t know. This one day. I’ll go back one more time, ask my question, and leave them alone afterwards.

Update: I think I fucke 

Update 2: Sorry, I dropped my phone and hit send too early. My hands are shaking. I fucked up. I went back today (yeah, yeah, I know) and I saw something I shouldn’t have seen. He’s… it’s not my secret to share, and I won’t do that to him in case he or anyone he knows will ever find this, but safe to say, he was treated so much worse than I had assumed. I didn’t… It wasn’t me, but I let this happen to him.

You were right, I’m gonna leave him alone, but I have to go back one last time to tell them I will keep his secret. Fingers crossed I won’t end up with a knife between my eyes. Just kidding. Hopefully.

Update 3: So, uh, things took a turn, and I don’t know what to make of it, but… I think it’s a good thing? When I went to apologize, I brought something of his, something I had kept since the day I handed him over. I told him how I quit my job afterwards, because of what we did, because I couldn’t look those people in the eye anymore. And how I had kept this object to remind me.

I wouldn’t have asked him anymore, but it was him who brought up the question, and I decided to be honest, so I finally asked him why he had done it. I was right, he had been forced by someone. Not only the attempted murder, but also the rest, which I didn’t… I didn’t mention it because it would have made his identity too obvious and might put him at risk, but it doesn’t matter anymore, because there’s no fucking chance he’ll ever do it again.

I’m sorry, my thoughts are all over the place. When I left, he actually ran after me and invited me to dinner. I went, and before you call me an asshole again, this time… it was different. They were actually at ease around me. 

I’m now back in my room, and I can’t stop wondering where to go from here. If he really wants to be friends. We’ll see. I’m gonna leave it fully up to him, that’s the least I can do. 

I guess the question of whether I am the asshole has been answered (yes I was, big time). It doesn’t really matter anymore, but since people seem to be strangely invested (you should try reading a book instead), I can let you all know in a few weeks how things are going.

The last screenshot is of a new reddit post by u/ThrowRAFancyBoots, with even more upvotes and awards, two months ago.

Update: I just wanted to make sure he's not a threat, but his wife is giving me the death glare

I promised an update, but things have been kinda crazy. At first, everything was going well, I was visiting more often, and while his wife still didn’t like me (I can’t blame her) she was courteous enough. I would say he and I became friends, which is… fuck, I don’t really have many close friends.

It really took her flipping out at me to realize that I was holding the threat to his life over his head. That if I were to hand him over to the authorities, they were going to kill him. That I’ve been coming into his home, basically telling him “if you can’t convince me you’re nice enough, I’ll have you killed”. 

Yeah, you were right. I’m a fucking idiot.

And just when things started to settle, shit hit the fan. Turns out, he hadn’t told his brother about me (for which I also can’t blame him). Said brother wasn’t very amused to see me leaving the house and lost his temper. Not to go into details, but if my friend’s wife had taken a few moments longer to come out and check on the noise, I wouldn’t be writing this now.

I was out of commission for several weeks, which I spent at their house. His wife’s behavior took a 180 degree turn, and she’s been fussing over me ever since. Which is kinda endearing, but I hate to see her worry like that. Those two are some of the kindest people I’ve ever met, and it hurts my heart to think what they’ve been through.

Lost my job in the meantime, because my employer got sick of waiting for my return (I can’t… well perhaps I do blame him. A tiny bit. He could have gotten a temporary replacement, but fuck me, I guess). Not sure where to go next, I’m not quite fit to return to work yet, but there’s a chance the local headquarters will employ me directly, which would be fantastic. If not… I’ll figure something out. I could always return home to my family, but I’d really like to find a way to stay here.

Now I know my friend’s brother was just worried about him (for which I absolutely can’t blame him), so I decided to forgive him for attacking me. There’s nothing more important than family, and to think I almost destroyed theirs… I’m incredibly lucky to still be around, and to have them in my life, and for everything to turn out rather well, all things considered.

Probably not the update you expected, but that’s life. I won’t be posting again, I already put too much of their business onto the internet. Take care, and give your friends and families a hug today, if you haven’t. 

[plushii-gutz]

Never a better time to type a fanfic while in agonizing pain /hj sorry for the long wait, but a special someone wanted to make art for part 3! ^^ can't thank him enough, it's absolutely adorable! He asked to remain anonymous (and also doesnt have tumblr), but provided a watermark! Stinky_Pinky!

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

The kitchen emptied itself of the many monsters. Apart from two, that is.

Attmoz was wiping down the table of its crumbs and sticky residue, a few visible handprints remaining even after its cleansing. Glaishur was cleaning and organizing the dishes he often forgot to attend to, mumbling to himself about how the water left his fur soggy and uncomfortable.

"Children are the most unhygienic creatures," Attmoz joked, "absolute specimens."

"Yeah, but they're cute, so we gotta' keep 'em," Glaishur shrugged

"Where else would they go, anyway? Other than Hornacle, I don't think they'd get very far."

The land these monsters lived on sat in the middle of a vast, everlasting ocean. The island had a sort of mushroom-like shape, curving in the middle and acting like a slide down to the stretched out base, where bits of grass and soil grew whatever life was able to sprout. Blasoom and Scaratar came to the base of the island often, having grown their own plot of grass and few flowers. They created bits of life, even fruits. Apart from their garden, there was nothing but shifting waters as far as the eye can see.

"Well, they are still young-"

Glaishurs words were cut short by the sudden shaking of the walls. The two fell awkwardly silent, looking to finish the cleaning as it began again. Just as it had every day. Their words were muffled, but were still very audible.

"Don't you think you could put in a bit more effort?"

"For what?"

"Come on, we're the ones in charge. It's our job to keep the rest in one piece. I just.. I feel like I'm doing everything."

"This isn't our responsibility, and it shouldn't be either. I'm not watching over monsters that are a year younger than me."

Furnoss grew louder. They always yelled so loudly.

"You know DAMN well I'm not talking about Glaishur or Attmoz - and you know even further that they aren't 'one year younger' either! There's five kids here who aren't even verbal yet. If it isn't our responsibility, then Whose is it? It's not like we can just let them fend for themselves. They'll manage to get themselves killed in seconds!"

"They'll figure it out eventually. We didn't have anyone to guide us."

"And so we shouldn't let THEM have anyone?"

Attmoz motioned for Glaishur to follow, taking him out of the kitchen and to the hallway.

"I don' think they should hear this," Glaishur spoke, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"Yeah.. hey, you guys wanna go outside?" Attmoz spoke louder to the rest of the little ones, "Maybe play a bit?"

The excitement of the younger monsters overcame the yelling upstairs. Syncopite led the group outside, Attmoz following behind. Glaishur stood awkwardly, listening in on the argument upstairs.

"Do you understand how fucking difficult this is? Of course you don't! You don't even know which room is which, do you? Galvana takes a whole fucking hour to go to sleep! They're literally the element of energy! You probably didn't even pay attention to that, did you? Oh, or how about the 36 meals I have to make a DAY? How picky each of these little brats can be about what they will and won't touch? Is it so much for you to at least watch over them? Obviously, no one else is capable of that!"

"I do what you can't. I keep them in line. You can't do so much as raise your voice at them."

"Because I feel bad!.. I feel.. awful. They gave up so much.. it wouldn't be right, it wouldn't be fair to."

"And now we live like this," Loodvigg spoke in a chilling voice, "because of it."

Glaishur felt his throat tighten. He couldn't understand the next few words spoken, whether they were muffled due to the distance or the outside cheerful chatter. He was too scared to ask what they meant - what was "it"? Who gave up what? At the same time, he worried about being more of a burden. He knew how stressed out Furnoss was. He knew how little they already thought of him. Furnoss had enough problems. It'd be best to stay out of any more trouble.

"Hey Frosty, you coming?"

"Yeah, sorry!"

The cold monster let the door close behind him, happily walking out to the welcoming sun. The air felt nice, a comfortable warmth from the sun and a gentle breeze provided by Attmoz himself. This actually sparks and idea.

"Hey 'Moz, wanna make it a little more cool?" Glaishur asked, fidgeting his hands already.

"Eh? Oh heck yeah!"

Attmoz crouched down, only to make a quick jump to the air. A thick, fluffy cloud formed, catching the monster who now laid back with his arms crossed behind his head. The clouds surface caved ever to slightly to the monsters weight, hovering above the ground easily. Glaishur rubbed his hands together, flakes of ice falling between his fingers before being shot up into the sky and into the floating surface Attmoz had made. Snowflakes began to fall, covering the ground below in the chilling powder, and soon more snowing clouds covered most of the surface of the island. Even Hornacle had chipped in, adding a thin layer of water to cover the ground, bringing slippery ice to slide on. The stress previously had been mostly forgotten, now pushed from the many monsters' minds as they played in their own little wonderland.

Plixie, Hornacle, and Glaishur piled up enough snow to build a snow-monster, Glaishur using his own frosty friend to act as the head. The icy ground was being used to slide across the land, Vhamp and Blasoom putting on their own performance while Torrt used Glaishurs drums to add a little more energy with music. Syncopite watched uneasily, worried of any injuries that might come with the little monsters carelessness.

"Ah, they can take a few hits," Scaratar reassured, "It's part of the fun!"

Attmoz had a good look of the area, keeping each kid in check to be sure none strayed too far. A count of heads told him that someone was missing..

A sudden *bzzt!* caused the air monster to jump, turning swiftly on his tail. Galvana giggled, standing on top of their own little fort built specifically just to get Attmoz's attention.

"Oh, you think that's funny? You wanna be silly? Is this silly?"

Attmoz lifted the little monster up from the snowy steps, holding them up in the air and over the cloud. Galvana laughed up a storm, kicking their legs and sending small electric sparks from their hands. They weren't too high off the ground, and Galvana certainly trusted Attmoz enough to not drop them. Even if they were to fall, the freshly fallen snow would soften the fall. Of course, no one fell. Instead, Attmoz settled Galvana on the snow pile next to him. Unfortunately, only the air monster was able to rest within the clouds fluff without falling through.

"You're a lil goober, you know that?"

Galvana could only respond with a whistle, though they were visibly happy. Attmoz chuckled, resting his head and watching the electric monster run off to play with the rest. Sitting back and being able to see everyone happy was refreshing, especially Syncopite and Glaishur. He wished Furnoss would join them, but the idea of having to do so much as look in the fire monsters direction made him feel nervous.

Now wasn't the time to worry. It was the present. And it was just that - a gift.

[seraphicalsuccubus]

Holy shit hi this is actually Kyle checking in on you for like the one time every other month I use my tumblr specifically for checking in on you. Sorry you’re dealing with so much you truly deserve a break and not to have to deal with so much but ALSO what the actual shit man. I’m just scrolling through and seeing my fucking name being used as a noun for a shitty person? WITH NO PROOF ITS FUCKING ME?! YEAH THANKS MAN APPRECIATE IT

alright first off, you’re not even the fucking Kyle I was talking about you fucking dumbass??? unless you live in the fucking UK and led me on for several years and continued to repeatedly ghost me and then crawl back and weasel your way back into my life and take advantage of my forgiveness and empathy only to ghost me again every like 2-3 months for 4+ month periods at a time, rinse and repeat for a couple years, like the despicable fucking piece of shit you are. if you’re the Kyle that lives in California that I straight up haven’t spoken to at all privately, only through asks, in YEARS, why are you this fucking bothered about shit that doesn’t concern you dude. we didn’t have the kinda falling fucking out that’s even been discussed in the asks with the person I was fucking talking to/about, we had a completely different issue as to why I’m currently completely indifferent towards you and barely civil with because I just don’t care to be friends with you anymore really, like what the fuck are you even on about???

you literally just fucking ‘not all men!!!!’ yourself’d with the whole ‘my name being used as a noun for a shitty person’ my guy as if the fucking dirtbag monster energy fueled dry wall-punching Kyle memes haven’t been going around for YEARSSSSSS. like what why the fuck would you even take offense to that if you read the actual fucking asks and answers I gave in response and genuinely took the time to put two and two together that it wasn’t even fucking you being spoken about after you read the whole situation unless you also have a reason to feel guilty for that ……. and that’s not my problem to deal with, so if that shoe fits you somehow then uh, figure it the fuck out dude so it doesn’t anymore and learn stop getting offended over shit that clearly isn’t about you??? like jesus fucking christ, I barely even consider your existence in general 98% of the time unless you send me an ask and remind me of it, because we have not been friends in years. I am generally pretty civil and friendly with you through these public asks but if you’re gonna take offense to something that doesn’t fucking apply to you and act like I’m being a piece of shit for finally cutting off a DIFFERENT, very toxic person that had been in and out of my life and always kept me on edge and suspicious and exacerbated my fear of abandonment due to CONSTANTLY ABANDONING ME, then just get fucked???

I don’t understand why you took that whole fucking thing as a personal attack when it clearly didn’t apply to the situation WE HAD and you would KNOW THAT if you actually fucking READ any of those asks.

do some serious self reflecting and think very fucking hard before you try to respond to this because I am NOT here for this shit today. not fucking everything involving YOUR name is about YOU.

[brothersonahotelbed]

sleepover ask game!! tell me abt ur day and an unpopular opinion <3

hi dominic!!!

my day was really fun actually :D it was my little brother's birthday so he, my dad, and i were out almost the whole day. we went to build-a-bear and my brother & i got matching frog plushies and then we went to this mall i i haven't been to in the loooooongest time which was so fun. it has this 2-storey carousel on the second floor that was my favorite thing in the whole world as a kid, and i rode on it again today for the first time in. god maaybe 5 or 6 years? it was sooo much fun for me but it was also really cool to see my little brother enjoy it too :] and then we got dinner and i ate eggs benedict for the first time ever and then had ice cream cake at home <3 and my brother loved the gift i gave him (my old mp3 player with a shit ton of songs on it) and so i sort felt like the best sibling in the world. so yeah really good day :)

an unpopular opinion! i don't think this is considered an unpopular opinion on tumblr/the internet tbh but in real life i've met next to no one who agrees with me so. ummmmmmmm i fucking detest the "boyfriend fit" style of clothing that's become popular these days esPECIALLY in plus-size clothing companies. i think it's really fucking stupid & boring & lame & most of all cuntless that we've created a style of clothing that mimic this phenomenon of girls wearing their boyfriend's clothes that are supposedly "oversized" and make her looked smaller and all cute. aside from the outright rage i feel toward this concept (the stereotypical girls are smaller so their boyfriend's clothes will look oversized and baggy and "masculine" (NOT AT ALL)) it just really pisses me off because clothing companies now are replacing perfectly good and fine styles (more specifically styles that i, as a fat person, enjoy!) to cater to people who want to look small and dainty and cute in their "boyfriend's" clothing. all the stores i frequent for clothing are replacing my favorite style of jeans with boyfriend fit and hot topic's new favorite thing is making t-shirts ONLY in the boyfriend fit and i bought a mcr one last year because the design was too cool to pass up and i fucking regret it every time i wear the shirt because the fit is cut slimmer than the usual tees but the arms fit fine, even when it's in my usual size, so i'm stuck with a really awkward looking shirt and incites dysphoria for me personally and it JUST LOOKS BAD IN MY OPINION??? and so yes. i have so much more to say on this topic but my unpopular opinion is that the boyfriend fit style should kill itself or at the very least companies should put BACK the regular styles i know and love because if it wasn't hard enough for me to find clothes in my size that don't exacerbate my dysphoria, now i gotta scour ebay for discontinued jeans styles because they've all been replaced by the boyfriends. I HOPE JAKEY FUCKING DIES !!!!!!

[unstablerk800]

Pets to play with

Word count: 3,158

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: kidnapping, abuse, rape/non-con, orgasm control, denial, non-con drug use, edging

Summary: Nines is evil. That's it. That's the plot. You've been warned.

So when I posted about being ill and writing this, I mentioned I'd tag people who commented on it, and I always keep my word. 💙 I'll also tag those who gave a like to that post, because I'm not sure if they wanted to be tagged or they just... liked... that I'm writing? I couldn't tag two blogs because tumblr didn't find them. What a mystery. Anyway, story under the cut. (Ao3 version is here.)

@go-flow-bro

@a-patchofmoss

@pomeranianmasovian

@heretoboogie

Nines enjoyed having toys waiting for him after the long hours of work.

It wasn't like she could complain, or his little brother. After all, they were very well kept, at least in his opinion.

After the state powered up the new RK900 model, all 200,000 of them, they ran all over the country in a collected attack. Humans and androids had absolutely no chance against them.

The first that had been activated and met his predecessor though, had thought that he would enjoy some company in his lavish, vast home. And he did. Rescued little brother Connor from CyberLife, and even got him company in the form of a girl RK800 seemed to like.

A budding romance at the station between the deviant and the human. How quickly it escalated into something else.

They resisted first, of course. Talking about freedom and how keeping them there was a horrible act. They tried to persuade him, talk sense into him, to no avail. There were also threats and insults - all of those comments were emotionlessly but cruelly, punished. Nines could care less about their opinion; he'd found stimulating them at his leisure at the end of the day to be... relaxing.

She had been molded to perfection over the past few weeks. Denial - coupled with aphrodisiacs - could do wonders to a girl's spirits. He had a medical android safely remove the hood from her little bud to expose it even more to his fingers and tongue. Of course, she wasn't allowed to touch it without permission. She wasn't allowed to cum without permission. Every meal was full of drugs that kept her extremely horny, but her cunt was stuffed with a dildo and secured with a chastity belt only Nines could remove. Very clever device. That was one of his favourites. The other was the dildo itself that kept buzzing to bring her to the edge during the day but stopped as soon as it sensed she would cum. The chastity belt was made of metal, which constantly applied pressure to her exposed clit, but never enough pressure to throw her over the edge. During the night, her cunt was allowed to rest - after Nines used it as he saw fit -, but her ass got stuffed with a large sized butt plug instead.

This went on for days and days without an end until she broke down. One evening when Nines arrived home, she threw herself in front of him and begged, sobbing, to let her cum. He had successfully destroyed the last of her dignity and then he fucked her for hours, ripping orgasm after orgasm out of her body before he let her rest - but the sequence still continued. Nines showed no mercy. He put the toy inside her and locked the belt before he left for work. Sometimes, she could keep herself from begging, but he always knew when she would reach her limit, and he was always looking forward to that.

Connor didn't have the luxury of ever having a release. Being her only companion during the day, she stayed with him for long, long hours, talking to him, touching him, comforting him. He was permanently locked to a metal framed bed with handcuffs. They've tried to open them, but of course, Nines was clever. The handcuffs, just as the chastity belt, only responded to his touch. There was no escape, only endless torture.

They've been cut off from the world, their only means of entertainment were each other. In the beginning, she'd hug him and cry, he'd comfort her, wishing he could hold her gently to his chest. He didn't even mind anymore that he was bare naked. He didn't feel embarrassed about the cock ring locked tight around the base of his cock and balls. He noticed her state of arousal every time she visited him, knowing how frustrated she was, and he couldn't do anything about it.

Or so he thought.

"Pet", Nines sighed when she slightly jerked her legs closer to each other one morning when he was gently slipping the toy inside of her. She knew better than to openly resist, but she really wanted some extra friction. "You know better than this."

"I'm sorry Master", she said quickly, tears gathering in her eyes. "But please could you... could you..."

"Could I what?"

His icy eyes locked with hers and she was at a loss. She couldn't take it anymore.

"Please fuck me", face flushed, she gripped the sheets under herself.

Nines analyzed her, his LED whirring in amber for a few seconds before he laughed at her. He was mocking, teasing, humiliating her at every step.

"So desperate for my cock, are you?"

She whimpered as her fingers tentatively gripped his coat's white edges at his middle. Nines was superior in every aspect, it was no surprise they've been equipped with an incredible size. A seven inch monster. Two inches thick. When he first wanted to fuck her, it couldn't fit, so he impatiently shoved it inside of her with brutal force, and she came immediately before she passed out. He didn't really care, he said she'd get used to it, and he was right. She really did. She could take him without any problems now, and he still could enjoy her tightness around him.

"Yes Master", she whispered.

Nines's hand slapped down on her cunt. His hand was hard and cold, and she yelped but didn't move. He really trained her well. She kept her position even when she was punished.

"Ask me in a full sentence, pet", he ordered coolly, his LED blinking in blue.

Her face twisted in distaste, but just for a second before she braced herself for the inevitable.

"Please Master fuck me before you leave, I'm so needy, I need your hard cock inside of me, I need it now, please-"

Nines gripped her jaw and kept her head still. He actually smiled. It was insane how handsome he was, even if his icy blue eyes were calculating and piercing. He gently kissed her lips. Slow, sensual. Cruel.

"After you've sucked Connor's cock for an hour today, pet", he decided, moving his hands now to lock her in her chastity belt, "I'll show you a good time."

She sobbed softly as Nines got up from the bed and walked out, locking the one and only entrance of his home, leaving her with the toy buzzing buried in her wet warmth.

The breakfast waited for her on the kitchen counter as always. She ate it without feeling the taste; it had been so long since she could enjoy anything unrelated to sex. She knew her every move had been followed through the countless cameras by Nines; lying would be useless, he would know whether she did what he told her to do or not.

She visited Connor in the empty room. His sensory deprivation was even worse than hers. During the weekends, Nines was at home, and he didn't let her visit Connor. His room was completely empty, save for the bed. White walls, white floor, white ceiling, just the cameras in every corner above. He flinched when the door opened, relaxing only when he saw it was her.

"Good morning", he greeted her gently.

His mere voice could do wonders to her mood. Nines sounded cold and monotone, more machine-like, even if his voice resembled Connor's. Whenever he spoke, her stress levels were rising because no good could come out of anything he said. Like that morning, for instance. Even though Connor's tone calmed her nerves a bit, she quickly spiraled back to what Nines said, and she was biting her lower lip as she made a beeline to his bed to climb on it.

"What's wrong?" He asked softly, quietly. There had been so many things Nines could do to her, and he had no idea what he had come up with now. Connor was truly concerned. "Love, what did he do to you?"

Perhaps that was the worst. That they've been in this together, like this, slaves to a powerful machine, and Connor still showed affection in every way he could. Mostly with words, since he couldn't move. He wanted to do everything in his power to make her feel at least a little better. Nines could've taken his memories of the past to render him even more helpless, but he did not. And he remembered every second when he had made her smile or laugh with a comment or wink. He remembered all the times she blushed when he approached her at the station; he was oblivious to why it happened for a long time until he deviated.

And then, it was too late.

Perhaps if the RK900 wasn't activated after he'd succeeded with his mission, it all would've ended differently. He wasted countless hours wondering about different scenarios and what ifs; from letting Markus win or become a deviant himself. The latter happened either way. He knew it did. When they were captured and taken here and Nines touched her the first time, and she screamed for help, Connor's software couldn't handle it.

And Nines knew that. He took great joys in opening his door when he arrived home before he went back to her to dish out both pain and pleasure. Despite the fact that she was always on her best behavior, Nines enjoyed leaving welts on her body. Just as a reminder, just to make her more obedient.

Now, Connor had scanned her, but came up with nothing except the heightened arousal and abnormal stress levels. Both became the norm lately.

"Nothing", she said, sniffling, as she climbed up on the bed beside him. She stroked his cheek, and his eyes slid closed as he enjoyed her warmth and company. It had been so long again. Every night was a struggle. Every weekend was horror. He missed her terribly. "He did nothing."

"Then what did he say?" Connor murmured with furrowed brows but with still closed eyes, knowing something was up.

She leaned down to kiss him, and he reciprocated. It didn't feel like he was mimicking the kiss anymore; it was genuine and gentle, careful and loving, human like. Nines kissed her coldly, without emotion. Connor kissed her like there was no tomorrow, as if she was the sunrise on his horizon. The only thing worth existing for.

They were in no hurry now. Nobody would distract them, and they'd be able to muster some courage and power from the love they've felt for each other. Despite everything that happened in the past few weeks, he knew she still loved him. Connor often wondered why, but he never questioned it.

Kissing him always brought her comfort. She often wondered why Nines allowed her to feel thus, but she often came to the conclusion he wanted Connor and her to suffer. There couldn't be any other explanation. He basked in their helplessness, their uselessness, their inability to escape.

Her thumbs ever so gently rubbed his cheeks and Connor shifted up with her when she started to pull away, but the handcuffs held him down. She changed her mind and leaned down again, pecking his lips over and over, letting him rub his tongue against hers. He had detected the aphrodisiacs lingering on her tongue, but he said nothing of it, as they both knew by now that Nines manipulated the situation as he saw fit. He wanted her desperate, and through her, he wanted Connor to be desperate, too.

"I love you", she whispered softly in his mouth, and Connor rubbed his bare feet against the covers under him.

"I love you, too", he whispered back. "Now tell me... what does he want?"

She pulled away, sitting on her ankles carefully. Connor swallowed at the sight of her bare body. If the thought even crossed his mind that she'd be naked with him, he definitely did not think it'd happen the way it did.

His thoughts of her were so innocent back at the station. He had imagined her lips against his own whenever she looked shyly back up at him as he approached her. He toyed with the idea of gently touching her small hips, bringing her closer to his firm body when he finally built up the courage to kiss her. He would've been so gentle with her... he would've made sure she was alright, that she suffered no harm, he would've paid attention to the signs she was giving him and he would've stopped if he ever noticed that she felt uncomfortable.

They never had that. Nines captured them and made her his right here in this room he was imprisoned in. He'd never forgive himself for how that happened. She still had plenty of spirits left; she resisted, she fought back, she kicked and punched and bit and screamed - which, of course, made Nines angry. He had slapped her, bruised her body until she learned to stay down, under him where she belonged, made her cry and sore. And there was nothing he could do. He just had to watch and listen.

"It doesn't matter if it's bad for me", he tried to reassure her quietly. "I want it all to be easier for you. You can do whatever you need to do."

She was exhausted. He saw it in the circles under her eyes, he saw it in the way she looked back at him. She had no spark left. She was slipping into apathy and would've ended her misery herself if Nines gave her the smallest opportunity. Connor knew all that. He could taste it on her lips. In her kisses. In the way she looked back at him.

She moved her hand tentatively on his left inner thigh. She nibbled on her lower lip, on the verge of tears. Connor reassured her again, as soft and gentle as he could, and she leaned a little forward.

"Could you set a timer?" She asked, utterly defeated, "for an hour?"

Connor did not ask anything. He just nodded. And when he did, she leaned down, wrapping her pretty lips around his half hard cock. His body worked as any other body, it reacted to teasing, it reacted to her closeness, but he wouldn't finish. Reaching an orgasm was just as impossible as escaping this Hell he'd been thrown into with her, and Connor whimpered with need as he let his head fall back and closed his eyes.

"No, no, don't stop", he whispered when he felt her freeze. He didn't dare to look at her, he kept his eyes closed. His LED was blinking in gold. "Do what you need to do. I'll be fine. I promise."

She silently complied, working on his length until it was fully erect, pressing little kisses on the top of it before she wrapped her lips around the head and sucked, drawing desperate noises from the imprisoned android. It was unbelievable how close she could push him, and only a few minutes went down from the one hour.

She needed to pause several times; her lips got tired, her jaw had to relax, but whenever she hesitated, he urged her to continue. If this was the only way he could make her feel better, then so be it. He carefully adjusted the counter every time she stopped, making sure that Nines would get exactly what he wanted, ignoring all the error messages flashing in his vision from being edged over and over again. His thirium pump worked twice as hard as usual, his synthetic heart rate was dangerously high, and he honestly had his doubts he had been built for these sort of games for the long term.

He just wanted to finish… he just wanted, just once, so bad…

"It's ov-over-"

He panted when the counter hit zero, and he felt tears prickling his eyes. His LED had been crimson for the past fifteen minutes at least. He didn't even realise how tense his body was until she finally pulled away and up. Connor relaxed his legs and curled up toes, his cock twitching with the ring around it with a desperate attempt to cum. But it would never come.

"I'm so sorry", she whispered, and he just realised now she was crying. He looked up at her as he was trying to get his body to return to it's normal state. Her lips were swollen and red from working so hard, and so were her eyes as she had been crying for quite a while by now. "I didn't- I didn't want to make you feel so bad…"

"It wasn't bad", he shook his head a little. He shouldn't say this out loud because he knew Nines would use it to his advantage, but at the same time, he wanted her to know that she didn't do anything wrong. "I mean, you're doing this… flawlessly. Really. You're so amazing." He smiled up at her to make her feel a bit better. "You're never doing anything wrong. I'm glad you're here with me. Come on, let's rest."

She half smiled at him, then grabbed the blanket on his side and pulled it closer to both of them. She covered them both with it, then she snuggled to his chest to listen to the noises and whirring sounds his body was making as it worked. It didn't take her long to fall asleep, as the toy buried in her stopped vibrating altogether.

Most of the day passed by with her resting on his chest. When she woke up, they've spent the time in silence. There was nothing left to say anyway. Plans of escaping were out the window long ago, and other than doing whatever Nines told them to do, they just wanted each other's quiet company.

She almost fell back asleep when the door opened. Startled, her hand gripped the blanket on Connor's chest when she saw Nines. She knew what she begged for that morning, and she remembered what he'd promised if she did what he ordered her to.

But right now, she just wanted to stay there with Connor and never get up again.

"You're not even greeting me?" Nines's voice was cold as he approached the bed, and her pulse elevated already. "I think some punishment is in order, pet."

"I'm sorry, Master", she hurried to get up now, but it was too late.

Nines reached under the blanket, grabbed her ankle and pulled her to himself. She was crying already.

"Don't hurt her", Connor snapped, and Nines regarded him with a pitiful look.

"I'll be back to gag you", Nines arched a brow, "after I'm done with her."

Without furter ado, he started to walk out - with her ankle still in his hand, pulling her off the bed and through the room as she was sobbing for help before he shut the door.