#also if you know where the card i drew is from you're a real one

[skrunksthatwunk]

last minute pre-grandparent-visit room deep cleaning has revealed that within the drawer i tend to assume just has old, off generic birthday cards and theater/concert programs there are also many, many going away cards and letters and things from the last couple of times i moved away. i guess i always thought of it as such a lonely thing, and i talk a lot about how i don't think i made Real friends until recently, and not to get choked up on main or anything but i think maybe i was completely fucking wrong

[tjelestial]

Pick a Pile: Which TS album are you? Part 1

PAC: Which Taylor Swift Album are You? (Part 1)

☆ How to choose your pile: Take a deep breath, hold it for a sec - exhale slowly through your mouth. Close your eyes and focus on the question. Once you're ready, take a look at the number and choose the pile you feel drawn to.

If you feel called by more than one pile, there might be more messages for you.

Remember: Take only what resonates and leave what doesn’t. This is a general reading, therefore I'd be picking up messages for collective audience. May you find your message!

PILE 1

RED

Justice, King of Swords

Alright Red girlies, you alright?? Because your heart has been broken in a way you could’ve never prepared for, yet you still hold onto that hope for love. You’ve got a soft and emotional side, and you tend to swing between intense emotions. There’s more to you though, you’re also someone value justice and equality, and you have a well-developed sense of right and wrong.

You likely possess quick mind and intellect. You may be articulate and thoughtful. You’re someone who is not afraid to speak your mind and strive to make positive impact on your surroundings. Autumn is totally your season and oh, you have a very versatile taste in music. Also, I’m getting that some of you are in no contact situation, just here to tell you that it’s okay, it’s not your loss.

Songs/Message:

“Sometimes all I think about is you” (Heatwaves – Glass Animals) “For years no call” (Closer – The Chainsmokers ft Halsey)

PILE 2

REPUTATION

4 of Cups, 5 of Wands

Okay Pile 2, despite past experiences where trust was broken, you’ve emerged stronger, more cautious, and empowered. You also have a vengeful side, and some of you are exactly the opposite of that but yearns to be that way. You treat people the way they treat you, but underneath all of that, you’re actually kind and sweet. Even if you won’t admit it.

There also may be a sense of secrecy or hidden motives associated with your personality trait. When it comes to love, you might lose yourself in the heat of romance and not always know when to pull back. Additionally, I sense boredom from your energy, it can indicate that you may be feeling emotionally unfulfilled or apathy to your current situation. You might be seeking improvement to your situation to break free from this stagnant state. Wishing you luck!

“said that I was fine, said it from the coffin” (So True – Gracie Abrams) “problem is when I'm with you, I'm an addict” (Lose Control - Teddy Swims)

PILE 3

TTPD

Okay Pile 3, let’s be real, you’ve still got lingering memories from your past relationship. Not necessarily because you can't move on, rather, because those memories hits different. It serves as a reminder of how deeply you can feel, how much you’ve learned about yourself and the world. It’s the same sensitivity that makes you so observant, so independent, and yeah, maybe you’ve got a flair for being dramatic, but hey, it’s part of your charm!

Also, while doing the reading I saw the angel number 333, 33 and again 333, seems like it has some significant to you. Now back to your reading, the cards you drew is the card of pain, resilience and being defensive. Suggesting that you are sensitive, determined and you are protective of your personal boundaries & the things you are passionate about. One thing about you is that despite experiencing pain, you show inner strength, even if it's messy, you can get through it. You’ve got this pile 3!

“But I’m in so deep. You know I’m such a fool for you” (the Cranberries – Linger) “I can't buy your love, don't even wanna try” (Emeli Sande – My Kinda Love)

PILE 4

SPEAK NOW

Ah this is my bittersweet, nostalgic girlies. You’ve always had a gentle, dreamy side that cherishes your inner child, but you’re also strong enough now that you won’t put up with people who have wronged you anymore. This is also my reader pile, what’s your favorite book? Comment down below please <3 okay so you’re very nostalgic, introspective and you’re afraid of not appreciating the moment enough while you’re in it. You don’t want to ever take things for granted. Props to you.

The cards that showed up here indicates that you have a vivid imagination but you’re also thoughtful and deeply connected to your inner self. You are full of ideas and you think outside the box, often bringing fresh perspectives to situations. However, the card also points to challenges, such as lacking focus, head in the clouds and struggling with follow through on your ideas and plans. Your creativity and fresh ideas are a gift, honour them by choosing one project to focus on at a time. With a little discipline, you can turn your visions into something extraordinary. Let’s go pile 4!

“adore me, hold me and explore me” (Juno – Sabrina Carpenter) “hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you” (New Year’s Day – Taylor Swift)

PILE 5

Folklore

Folklore folks, you got that sentimental vibes to you and might just be an old soul. You love getting lost in a good book or writing your thoughts down, all while wrapped up in a cozy blanket. You really appreciate the little details and the deeper meanings in art and life.

The cards you pulled indicates that you tend to take on a lot of responsibilities and might feel overwhelmed at times. You could be someone who is reliable, hardworking and dedicated, but may need to be cautious of spreading yourselves too thin. There’s a theme of struggling with overburdening and exhaustion. You’re willing to put in the work, but it warns against taking on too much at once, causing you to feel burnout. For some of you, you might feel powerless or incapable of turning your ideas into reality, which may result in self-sabotage. Gotta trust the process, take action and take things one step at a time, don’t hesitate to ask for help to avoid burnout, lovelies <3

“put in the work, put in the hours” (Face Off – Dwayne Johnson) “there's nothing, like doing nothing” (Nothing – Bruno Major)

[desultory-novice]

"There Will Be Blood Shed"

" '...Don't do it?' " " 'I want to live...?' "

"I wanted to live too."

"...Once..."

-

Soooooo, as you can imagine, I finally listened to "The Only Thing I Know For Real" from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and while apparently the character in question became something of a meme, for a first time listener, the song hit hard enough that before I knew it, I was sketching murder boy doing what he does best.

Like, not every line hits hard, but a significant number do.

"Memories broken" -Check

"The truth goes unspoken" -To Adeleine? Oooh yes

"I've even forgotten my naaaaaame" -Check and check

"I don't know the season or what is the reason I'm standing here holding my Blade" -I love the "don't know the season" part especially because on Shiver Star "summer" is what we would call "winter." Poor, mixed up kids

"A desolate place without any trace It's only the cold wind I feel" -That's Shiver Star in a nutshell

"It's me that I spite as I stand up and fight" -"Spite" in the sense that he's only hurting himself by doing this but also he regrets finding himself forced onto this path, yep...

"The only thing I know for real There will be blood shed" -See title

"The man in the mirror nods his head" -Reminds me of the Apologies title card I drew where Noir and Blade are reflected upon each other in the gleam of the sword.

"The only one left will ride upon the dragon's back" -....Okay, I have no witty comment here. Dragons are just a rock song thing! Oh! He did wear that dragon onesie when he was little??

"Because the mountains don't give back what they take." -Pfft! I'm sorry! I got curious and listened to "Wheelchair Sam" FIRST and thanks to that visual of him rolling down the mountain, I can't hear any of the "mountain" lines without laughing XD

"Losing my identity Wondering have I gone insane?" -Ahem! Back to serious and yeah. Though, Noir was usually too focused to stop and question what he was doing (...he couldn't dare...)

 "Looking downward from this deadly height Never realizing why I fight" -Ahh...this one hurts, thinking about all the nights he would sneak out of bed to hang out on the roofs and the number of times he peered over the edge (into the abyss...) Though Noir knows why he fights, he probably spent a lot of time wondering why he's alive

-

「やめろ？」 「まだ生きたい？」 オレも生きたかった… …かつて、な。

Sometimes I hear certain chunks of dialogue in Japanese in my head first and have to translate them into English to get down what I want them to say XD And I just really like the idea of Noir being "I might've sympathized, but I just don't have room for that anymore. I have too much to do before the end and you're standing in my way."

[extraordinarilyextreme]

Are you watching under the skin 2? What do you think of the season so far?

hiiiii~ thanks for asking, and sorry for such a late reply. i had been watching but couldn't finish it until recently (hence why im answering so late)...

in short, i don't like it. so if you don't wanna read abt a negative opinion then click away~

i think the cast delivered as wonderful performances as usual, and i think the cinematography was quite beautiful (there are a lot of details that i really adore as an artist). but the script/writing/pacing... even the characterization... left much to be desired.

there are so many things to critique...

to start with, as someone studying psychology, i've found it laughable since s1 that everyone buys into Freudian psychoanalysis so much - but they really took it to the next level in s2. i'm a staunch abolitionist and also anti-police, so i'm always watching shows like this with a critical eye, but it's just utterly mind-boggling that this show/the writers really suggested that crimes can be solved and culprits can be pinpointed because they drew a house in a certain way. and i hate that the show made DC out to be the bad guy for "limiting SY's talents/intuition" or whatever.

i already don't trust our so-called "justice" system; now you're telling me police should be solving crimes and accusing people based on a hunch? (that "hunch" in real life often looks like profiling and stereotyping, mind you, and it can be fatal.)

Du Cheng isn't in the wrong! and i hate even more that even in the last episode before Shen Yi's confession they had him say "but i was wrong. my boundaries, in truth, were limiting your talents." (and yes i know SY corrects him, but) IT FEELS SO OUT-OF-CHARACTER compared to the resolve that DC had back in s1. there, SY's laoshi begged DC to return SY to the art world, but without even flinching, DC firmly rejected that notion.

because being an officer beside DC, in Beijiang, is where SY belongs. AND THEY BOTH REACH THAT CONCLUSION AT THE END OF S1. they both affirm their convictions, that they belong beside each other - so why did we just spend another 28 episodes only to reaching the same result ("where you run to, is where i'll fly to." and "where you are, is where the circle is too." and "i will forever be your best trump card.")???

another issue: yes, SY has always had his reckless streak - but how can he possibly get away with doing so many investigations completely independent from DC and without DC's knowledge?? that's not realistic at all. and, fine, obviously they're dramatizing things, but what i liked about s1 is that it was just realistic "enough" to keep me invested - it deviated just "enough" from your typical procedural/crime-solving show (by tackling cases from the unique lens of a sketch artist) that i could just convince myself it was grounded in reality. but what they did in s2... like, come on. let's not kid ourselves.

Shen Yi being so infallible and able to get away with so many reckless stunts is a Huge failing of s2. talk about "main character energy". they made this into a 大男主 drama when what (i found) appealing about s1 was the fact that it made both DC and SY brilliant and competent in their own ways. this season tried so hard to make DC seem like an unbudging traditionalist or something but ??? like, no! i agree with him that you can't just be arresting people based on their choices in interior design or jewelry! what the fuck??

(but, seriously. i will not deny that our subconscious influences our behavior and choices in many, MANY ways - but for Shen Yi to be making the most outrageous leaps in logic because this one guy had a certain painting in his office or this other guy had a lioness statue, like shut the fuck up... talk about trying to make/find meaning out of nothing.)

(also, also, LOL at talking abt the Oedipus complex in earnest. are you shitting me right now? have you picked up a Psychology 101 book at all?)

the fact this show even remotely suggested that Freudian psychoanalysis could be used as empirical evidence immediately destroys any goodwill i have toward the cast.

ON TOP OF THAT. the fact this show even remotely suggested that eugenicist Cesare Lombroso's theory of the "criminal man" should be treated as empirical and sound research is just... what are we doing here. what are we doing here???

(also if you look up the "warrior gene" and whatever other stuff FKY was "citing"... again, it's not empirical research. and i HATE that the writers tried to pass it off as an established concept.)

honestly i feel like the way they wrote this FKY guy in general is disrespectful af to what scientists actually do (or what scientists should strive to be). at the simplest level, how can he allow SY to walk into his lab so easily? and look at his data?? don't we have IRB protocols in place to protect research subjects??? what about where he gets his funding??? any oversight agencies???

but in terms of characterization, i felt that the parallels they were trying to draw between pre-7 years SY and FKY were such a stretch. because even pre-7 years SY was fundamentally kind - LIKE DOESN'T THE SHOW EVEN ULTIMATELY REACH THAT CONCLUSION TOO?? why WHY would SY ever feel like he and FKY were mirrors; they are fundamentally different in their bottom lines.

all this to say, i love the cast and i'm glad it was 原班人马 because everybody Delivered (and zheng yunlong did a great job too) - but, like, no wonder the original screenwriters left. this story is bs. we should've just left it at s1 because, to me, s2 did nothing except pander to shippers (and i'm mostly happily pandered! but i also care about the story goddammit).

(i say "mostly" because, again, i think they tried too hard to give SY a "protagonist halo." it weakened both him and DC, and their relationship as a result.)

i can't believe they're making a s3 but of course i can because they're making great money from this... hoping and praying that they can get the original writers back.

[personaconcept]

Have you figured out anything new for this project

Also do you have an Explanation for why the arcanas fit the Characters

My goal while I was in a writing rut was to work on getting images of the Personas, following that some of the minor characters like Yuuki, Haruka, and Natsuki. However, financially I've not been doing well the last couple of years, so I haven't had the opportunity.

As for why I have each of the characters as the arcana they are, the team at least I based off the video I drew inspiration from. (Though that video has since been taken down, I've been told) I think I can explain some of them without the video's influence but by my own design. (I'm sorry if any of this comes out confusing, the longer I work at my current job, the worse my ability to talk or write coherently gets). Your other ask only asked about the party, so I'll focus on them, but let me know if you're interested in the rest of the cast as well.

Avis: The Priestess

Avis was not a character mentioned in the video, she is a character of my own creation. I choose the High Priestess for her in part due to the name of the card. The Priestess implies a connection to the mystical, which Avis is, being a phoenix and the guide to The Endless Forest. She is quite literally the MC's spirit guide, much as a holy figure is for people in the real world.

Sayaka: The Heirophant

If you'll remember from previous postings, the only one of the Persona titles I've played is the fifth ("Still!?" the masses cry, but I have watches P4 the anime which I'm told is pretty faithful). Dojima and Sojiro are, by all accounts, father figures to the MC. Why, then, would I chose the Hierophant for Sayaka? Unlike characters of the Chariot arcana, Sayaka is not necessarily a guide. She's a follower. Truthfully, once I get my vision through, she's barely an inciting incident. Sayaka believes, though. Believes in mysticism and magic and spiritual. She's not the magician though, because her story is about her struggling with being who she is, outside of conformity, and seeing she is good enough. Sayaka is the epitome of "reversed hierophant."

Shinju: The Strength

Shinju is consistently underestimated because of her perceived weakness. Unlike the others, what ails her is visible. But in all matters, she's meant to be a mirror of the MC, especially Hikari. It's why they look so similar and why I used similar sounding voice claims for them. The MC has to be strong, the leader. But while they fail the vocal, emotional part, Shinju excels. "The party is only as strong as its weakest link," and Shinju is pretty damn strong.

Masahiko: The Hanged Man

I like making mirror characters, and Masahiko is meant to mirror Miyako. They're both hanging from a noose of their own creation, but Miyako was both neither scared to kick the chair over nor to take the noose off. Masahiko stays where he is.

Miyako: The Death

I recently just watched the show "His Dark Materials." The episode "Lyra and Her Death" feels like something Miyako could relate to. She has accepted it, and so can see her Death. It will come to her when it does, and she will not fight it, but she's not going to run towards it either.

Jun: The Devil

There's so many reasons I could put for Jun being the Devil card. He's not evil, he's just not great. He hides a nasty truth under a princely facade. That's the simplest I can make it without running on and on about him.

Yudai: The Tower

He's largely here because of the video, but... when I think about a tower, I think of something like a lighthouse. A tall figure that someone can look to to guide their way. When things start getting out of hand, it's Yudai that remains steadfast.

Hoshiko: The Star

I'm fairly certain that Hoshiko was not in the video whatsoever (this part I remember because I thought there were too many white haired characters in the party so I decided to change her), and that the character in place of her was a different arcana. In part, my desicion to make Hoshiko the star was a whole "wishing on a star" thing and Hoshiko's big dreams, but also influenced by how she feels unable to achieve those dreams. Another classic reversed case.

I hope those were satisfactory! As I said, let me know if you want me to go into the other characters more. I definitely need to brush up on this stuff more.

[ryan--sky]

Star Nerds Incorrect Quotes

Most of the quotes come from Perchance Incorrect Quotes Generator.

Ford : Valentine’s day is just a consumerist holiday that holds no real value other than drive people insane buying heart shaped chocolates for their significant others and pos–

Doctor : I wrote you a poem.

Ford, already crying: You did ?

Doctor : When I met Stanford, he threatened me with a gun. When I met Stanley, he threatened me with a baseball bat. So, naturally, I assumed that Stanley was the responsible one.

*We see Stan in the background teaching Dipper and Mabel to shoot with a gun*

Doctor : I was wrong.

*Ford joins them with a sci-fi gun and makes a bush explode*

Doctor : There is no responsible one.

Ford : You can't wake up if you never got to sleep.

Ford : Look at me straight in the eyes and tell me the truth, Doctor !

Doctor : You can’t expect me to look into your eyes and be straight.

Ford : I’m this close to falling in love with the Doctor.

Stan : Your fingertips are touching.

Ford : Exactly.

Stan : Ford–

Ford, crying : The Doctor used to call me Ford.

Stan : Because it’s your fucking name !

Mabel, hugging Ford : Grunkle Stan, I told you, HE IS SENSITIVE !

Ford : Ah shit, I forgot.

Doctor : Forgot what ?

Ford : How do you expect me to answer that ?

Doctor : Ford, you love me, right ?

Ford : Usually I'd say yes without question but I'm worried about where this is going.

Doctor : What's gone wrong, Stan ?

Stan : Hey ! Just because I’m calling doesn’t mean there’s a crisis.

Doctor : That’s technically true, I suppose. Why are you calling ?

Stan : Well... There’s a crisis.

Stan : How does the Doctor usually get out of these messes ?

Ford : He doesn’t. He just makes a bigger mess that cancels the first one out.

Ford : My only talent is being stress.

Doctor : Don't you mean stressed?

Ford : No.

Ford : The next time I open up to someone, it'll be my autopsy.

Doctor : Sorry I can’t be emotionally vulnerable with you, it'd ruin the mystery.

Ford, proudly: I slept.

Doctor : Is that so much of a rare thing that you have to say it?

Doctor : Ford is restricted to decaf for the rest of this adventure.

Ford : Sometimes I wonder if I’m hearing voices.

Ford : Then I remember that’s the last bit of sanity I have trying to get me to fall asleep at a reasonable time.

Doctor : I hate you.

Ford : Well, according to this picture I drew of us holding hands, that is untrue.

Ford : Anybody got any crayons so I can color in my Ph. D.?

Stan : You're a lying piece of shit !

Doctor : Oh yeah ? You're the idiot that thinks you can get away with everything you do, WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD !

Ford : I'm leaving and I'm taking the TARDIS with me !

Mabel, gathering cards: Aaaaand that's enough Monopoly for today.

Mabel : You’re like a thousand years old.

Ford : I'm sixty two !

Mabel : And your boyfriend is like two thousand years old.

Doctor : I’m… Wait, hold up. That’s fair.

Ford : What do you call quantums of electromagnetic radiation that don’t get along?

Stan : What did you just say-

Ford : Foetons! *Laughs*

Stan : Wh-what?

Doctor : *Laughs from afar*

Ford : You're ignoring all your problems.

Doctor : I know.

Ford : You also know it's an unhealthy coping mechanism ?

Doctor : I'm ignoring that fact as well.

Ford :

Ford : I'm going to fight the next person who insults the Doctor.

Doctor : I hate myself.

Ford : Alright, square up.

Ford : "You look tired" well, the torment is relentless and the horrors never cease.

Doctor: Alright, so the vampire's gravestone is—

Ford: Cenotaph.

Doctor: What ?

Ford: It's only a gravestone if it marks the location of a body. A monument honouring someone whose body isn't present is a cenotaph.

Doctor: I'm... not sure that's how it works if the body gets up and walks away on its own.

Ford: There's a precedent for gravestones being reclassified as cenotaphs if the body is later removed and reinterred elsewhere. There's no rule that says the body itself can't do the removing.

Doctor: Okay, but the body is very much coming back. That's kind of what we're here to accomplish.

Ford: So it's a temporary cenotaph.

Doctor: And naturally our greatest concern here is avoiding semantic ambiguity.

Ford: Semantic ambiguity is how vampires get you.

[atmymercy]

Hello, hope you're doing well lovely and thank you for another tarot giveaway (again, no pressure into picking me). My question is guess about who? 😆 yeah my specific person aka the only man my soul desires to connect with and I'd like to know more about our connection. This time I won't be on anon 😂

Q: "What is the deepest emotion or feeling that my special/specific person (💙) has towards me?" (I feel like he intuitively knows me better than anyone even if we haven't had a face to face contact yet, but I let you, your/our guides and your cards speak✨)

As for your quest, this may sound corny but the character Goku from Dragon Ball makes me feel inspirational and hopeful. Because he is part of my childhood so is my comfort character and I love it how he always tries to better himself and not undertimate challenges but still being confident in his own capacities. Yes, he fights a lot of enemies but behind that power there's a tender heart, he cares a lot about his family even tho sometimes doesn't seem so lol but is clear he wants to protect them and also about his friends. Also, I love it how in the long run he sees his enemy more as a friend who needs his help even though this friend doesn't want to admit it bec of his big ego but even him deep down cares about his beloveds and he once sacrificed himself for Goku's son and everytime I see this scene I cry like when I was a kid. Goku always lets his ego on the side instead. It's sad how this show is criticized because considered 'violent' but in reality it hides really deep and important messages, very human and spiritual like it was the one who drew the Manga.

Thank you so much, regardless 🙏💙💙 - a.r.

♡ giveaway winner - 2/5 ♡

hello ar! aww! i am doing well, honey! how about you? how are you, honey? i hope well! and aww! you know i never mind getting a question from you about your special person! it's too cute!!!

ooh goku is such a good pick! i can totally understand how you feel! a lot of people want to assume that db/dbz/so on are all about fighting and violence but the true story is about positivity and hope! it's about not backing down to challenges! and making friends with your enemy! omg! yes! goku is such a good role model! i think what i love the most about goku is how he is not afraid to be tender with the ones he loves and fierce in their protection or in the face of adversary! eee! it's so good! i don't know how many times goku has been an inspiration for me! especially with his old voice actor kirby morrow! i hear that voice as goku and i just feel this great sense of hope and faith that i can't even begin to really describe! but i will say i have always looked up to bulma! her brains! her creativity! her tenaciousness! and let's not get into how i ship these two... lolol

for you, i got the world, 10 of swords & the sun.

interesting. right now the strongest and deepest emotions that they have for you are bitterness, exhaustion and ruin. so they are feeling tired and a little run down right now. it's like they keep feeling "like they're losing so much time" when it comes to you, honey! so they're feeling a bit lost without you right now and it's a bit hard on them... but but but! they are also surrounded by your love is the real interesting part here! so it's like they feel tired and listless, yet they know your love is waiting on them and ready to surround them! so it's like a waiting and healing game right now where they are dealing with their annoyances and frustrations while waiting for your love to "come my way" is what i heard. it's really giving that they are trying to finish up the journey they are already on so they don't have to be "miles away, miles away" from you. because it's like they know you are coming for them but until then it feels like "they're dying from the inside out". so their emotions are hard on them right now but they do know the light and your sun is coming for them as well! it's giving the princess up in the tower waiting for her fair knight to come along! lol it's hard on them!

hope you enjoyed it! please give feedback or buy me a coffee/tip when you can! if you want to explore this further, please also consider a private read. also thank you for sharing with me!♡

love & light!

-tea

♡ message me for details/questions & to book a reading! ♡

[havenmoon1369]

Not Again (Sequel to Getting Her Back)

- Chapter 5

"Who the hell is this?" Drew asked in a deep tone, "What? You don't remember your old leader from 3MB?" the country voice said, then it dawned on Drew "Heath, what are you doing mate? Do you have Quinn?" "We'll get to her in a minute, I guess I owe you an explanation" Heath said. "You're damn right you do! Heath what the fuck is wrong with you? You've kidnapped my daughter!" Drew yelled into the phone, "Woah woah big man if you wanna know how to get her back I suggest you shut up and listen to me" Heath demanded. Drew took a deep breath "All right Heath I'm all ears", "I got fired because of you, they wanted to make room for you, what makes you so special huh? I had been with the WWE for eight years, and they brought you back the first chance they got and said the hell with me, my wife left took the kids too, I ain't got nothing to show for after eight fucking years, but they bring you back and make you IC champion within a month? Eight fucking years and what did I get in all that time? A few tag team championships with nobodies and that's it! No pushes, no other championships, nothing! Just low card matches to pay me the minimum. What I am betting is though, they're paying you good money, where you and your kid can live comfortably and still have money put back. You want your kid back Drew? Then one of two things is gonna happen, you're either gonna get me back on the roster with a high paying contract or you're gonna pay me twice what you're gonna be making, that's the only way you're getting your kid back."

Drew sat there in silence and anger for a few seconds before speaking "Let me get this straight, you blame me for your firing and in exchange for my kid you want ransom?" Drew asked calmly, "Yeah pretty much" Heath said sinisterly. "Heath please don't hurt her, I'll get you what you asked for just please don't do anything, she's been through a lot, she has severe anxiety, if she starts to have an attack you don't know how to calm her" Drew said worried. "What are you talking about man, why does she have anxiety, isn't it just something all kids go through, what's the big deal? Heath said jokingly "No Heath it's not something all kids go through, she has it because this isn't the first time she's been kidnapped by someone from my past! Six months ago we were taken because of something I did when I was younger. The bastard broke her arm and nearly drowned her, I almost lost her. Now you've taken her and the only thing I can think of doing is ripping your fucking head off your shoulders, but I won't do that in order to keep Quinn safe, but you have to promise me something. I'm going to get you what you want, but in return you don't hurt Quinn physically or mentally, you do not scare her in any way, and you let me talk to her whenever you call because I know you and I know these situations, you'll call. You also come up with some story about how you're keeping her there for her safety and not that she's been taken. Do we have a deal? Drew asked. Heath was quiet, shocked by what he had just heard, it had jolted him into reality, finally after a few seconds he responded "Fine Drew, you get me what I want and I'll keep in touch with you, and I won't scare or hurt Quinn, I still remember how she looked up to me, you, and Jinder, she's a sweet kid. But if you screw up Drew then I'm going to forget about our friendship and deal real quick, I'll call you in the morning to see what the update is, you can speak to Quinn then." Heath hung up the phone.

Drew's mind immediately started racing and his anger boiled inside of him. "Not again, this can't be happening, why her? Why can't they just leave her alone" Drew said to himself, with tears streaming down his face. He tried to formulate a plan but his thoughts were all over the place, about that time Stephen came walking in, saw Drew crying and started to get worried. "What's the matter bro?" Stephen asked, "She's gone, Heath took her" Drew said crying, "What do you mean Heath took her? Heath took Quinn?" Stephen asked panicked, Drew nodded, "We have to report Drew! They could still catch them tonight" "No Stephen you don't understand, he's planned this for months, he's sent threatening messages since before I came back, I tried having them traced but it led to nowhere, he knows what he's doing, and he'll hurt Quinn if I don't pay the ransom." Drew said panicked, "How much does he want?" Stephen asked, "He wants either twice my salary which would be close to 500 grand, or he wants his job back with that amount on his contract." Drew responded. "He's a bloody idiot if he thinks he's getting his job back after taking your kid. Drew, listen we still need to report it, is he going to call you again? Stephen asked, Drew nodded, "Okay if he sees it's been reported you tell him you had nothing to do with it, that someone else reported it and that you didn't tell the police about the ransom, that you're still gonna pay him no matter what, that way if someone does see them they can get her back" Stephen said. "Okay let's call, but I need to talk to Hunter, explain this whole thing to him, and see if he can help with this ransom situation, the money has to come from somewhere, and I don't have 500k just lying around" Drew said wiping his tears away. "I'm sure he'll help, let's call the police bro, sooner we do the better." Stephen said.

2 hours later... Birmingham, AL

Heath was backing into the driveway of the house he had rented, he got Quinn out of the backseat and took her into the house and laid her down on the couch. He went back outside and covered his SUV with a car cover and went back inside. He turned on the TV and saw there was an Amber Alert out for Quinn with Heath as the main suspect and a description of the car that matched Heath's SUV. Heath had planned for that as well, he had already changed the license plate so it couldn't be traced. "Drew, you've already made a mistake." 

[eyeballtank]

Some random political takes.

>Credit card companies are on a crusade against adult art but barely do anything about their services being used for actual illegal shit.

Shout outs to idiots who said shit like "it's a private company, they can do whatever they want" to whenever someone they didn't like got screwed over by companies.

"Private companies" don't exist, they're just an alternate form of government.

And don't be surprised if they affect even you.

2:

Going back to people drawing like the TF2 Medic punching Hitler, doesn't TF2 lore suggest he could've worked with Nazis?

Even then, didn't he sell the souls of his mates to the devil?

And aren't all the mercs psychos anyway?

Like again, it's the difference between hating Nazis in a moral way vs political way.

One actually acknowledges the horrors of the holocaust and WW2, which means you'd also have to acknowledge the horrors of others.

The other almost lines up with "I disagree with you, therefore you're Hitler" and specially in an age where everyone is already crazy over politics.

At least if you drew BJ and Doomguy, it makes sense since they're both heroic and one fights Hell.

How long until people draw characters like Griffith or George Reitman from Mai-chan's Daily Life lol.

But ALSO: We're in an age people treat fictional characters like real people.

So if people already bitch about fictional characters being "heckin problematic", what's the point of drawing them killing real life monsters when by your own logic, you might as well put them in the same room?

3:

Because Communists fought Nazis, people forget that they're not that tolerant either.

Like yeah, Marx did believe racism was something Capitalism used, so workers never got together to fight back.

But Che Guevara hated black people and Castro was homophobic.

There could be a Commie leader who says shit like "we need more workers, therefore we need to reproduce and only one orientation can do that" or "it's clear which race works the hardest".

Like is it a coincidence that Communism showed up in China and Latin America, when you consider how racist those countries are?

Maybe I am very wrong about this, but it also depends on what kinda info I can trust.

4:

"I used to have an anti SJW phase but I grew up" by saying this, you're admitting to adopt modern lefty beliefs for the same reason why you had an anti SJW phase to begin with: Trying to fit in and chase beliefs for social benefits and convinience.

No actual beliefs, you were always a sheep.

5:

Saw a guy making a cheap horror game with some half naked girl model and there were gamedevs quote tweeting him, by shitting on him.

First of all, why not retweet the people you want to get attention and ignore the other guy?

People are going to think you're jealous over someone that otherwise could be overlooked if not for you.

Second, he's called a grifter: Does that mean he's FAKING being part of a certain group you already hate?

Because when it comes to people pointing out "corporations pretending to be woke" and the like: At what point does it matter to bring up grifters, if you already hate a certain group for their beliefs, regardless if they're sincere about it or not?

You already put "guy who hates when a Japanese game gets censored" and "Alt right grifter" in the same room, even though there's also the narrative of "it's the rightoids that are trying to take your games away".

Like yeah, Grummz sucks but by calling him a grifter means you can't put the "whiny gamers" in the same room if said gamers still have actual taste/preferences and look into the stuff they genuinely like while also knowing Grummz sucks ass.

Anyway, a guy on Twitter said that a lot of RW guys don't actually watch anime and the right wing dudes quote tweeting him are unironically proving his point.

Wow, you posted Frieren: Would you care about that series if not for people whining about it and the race discourse?

6:

A bit of a realization is that sometimes, lame nerds do know good stuff (Even if they hide under layers of irony or come up with "consuming the media critically" excuses to act whiny about it) while the nerds that try to be cool end up having basic taste.

Could be a case of one group being self hating nerds with Troll's Remorse and the other being a "tourist" that tries to be cool and sometimes gets certain ideas like "artists people like were weird and that's ok" but don't actually explore interesting stuff.

[valcuda]

If you're wondering why I haven't been posting much, that's cause I'm currently procrastinating on the project I'm using to procrastinate on writing more of Robert and Avery's, cause I realized I fucked up majorly on it.

This is gonna be multiple related rants, so I've decided to put titles up, so you know what it's about.

Robert and Avery's Story

Anyway, I realized... the story is nowhere near ready for me to write it yet. I'm not joking, I literally don't know when it takes place, which is EXTREMELY important for the story!

So, I was originally going to have it take place in ~2007, as this is when I originally pictured it taking place, with Avery being based off of sitcoms I watched as a kid, notably "Victorious", as that's what I thought highschool was gonna be like. As a side note, it was so different from my experience, that I actually thought it took place in college and had to look that up, and nope, that's a highschool.

Anyway, I then leaned a bit too much into the tech side of things for my liking in that era. Notably, a crucial plot element is that Avery is a contributor to a Fan Wiki for the (in-universe) "Stardust Gadgetory" series. This works, since Fan Wikis were a thing back then, and seemingly of similar quality to modern ones (And even better in some aspects).

However, this lead to me putting a bit too much research into smartphones, as the first iPhone released in 07. This then lead to me realizing Avery and her friends would be PERFECT as more modern era teenagers, like I think ~2018. Jasmin for example, I can't really imagine her using a smartphone, but Avery, I can totally imagine rocking an iPhone, and teasing Selina for having an Android!

Another bonus, is that if I set it in 2018, if I play my cards right, I could reasonably have Avery and Jasmin become friends. Jasmin is 12 in 2018, and Avery would be 17, so in 2019, they'd both be in Highschool, which is where the opportunity shows itself.

Anyway, I don't know if I want the series to take place in the same world. It was initially something I was against, but there's no real issue with doing that! Hell, I'd argue it make my life mildly easier, since I have an explanation for why people just accept Avery has a 1 foot tall person with her, cause tinnies exist. Yeah, they're only a few inches tall, but they're meant to be rare, so most people haven't even seen one, they just know they exist.

-

Now you might think there's a downside to this, that being that I have to follow my own logic, and increase Robert's vocal pitch, like I did with Quinton and Elizabeth. While I am going to do those calculations, (I just spent 2 hours preparing the UI in my tool for the addition of those, instead of writing this post) I won't hold myself to them.

Robert has an excuse. He's a scientist capable of making a shrink ray, and he's surrounded by other scientist, who know he's capable of speaking. This means it's likely he'd have some sort of technology that corrects his voice, possibly made by himself!

However, he's also from another universe, so I could just go the boring route, and say that's just how his universe works.

-

Anyway, Avery and Jasmin crossing over isn't something that could happen, and I think I'd like to keep a possibility, in case I get any ideas for it.

But yeah, I'm not really decided yet on when Avery's story takes place, though I am leaning on the side of 2018, just cause I know it better, and the cross over possibility!

If you wanna know the actual reason I stopped though, I couldn't figure out how to naturally introduce Avery and her friends... This is what made me realize that maybe I should focus on getting the story written, then posting it...

My art got retroactively worse...

All the artwork I show of my characters is actually pretty important to me, cause I use that to help write, and develop them. That's their main purpose, I can't work on a character properly until I have some visual to help ground them.

Unfortunately, I drew Avery way too well.

I think this a feeling all artists can relate to, you draw something that is so good, it manages to make your old art look bad. Like, I know what quality looks like now, and the Jasmin world drawings are far from it...

Basically, I can't stand to look at the artwork of Rossel, Sophia, Jasmin, Quinton, Elizabeth, or Hellen anymore. I already couldn't stand to look at the artwork for Gunther, Tithon, and Trisha, so that didn't change.

Anyway, so I'm planning on redrawing them in my new "AV Style" as I'm calling it, with their current style being the "JWatt Style". (And my artstyle before that was called the "Ski-Z Style"). Unfortunately, the two styles have some differences, notably, the JWatt Style lacks eyebrows and ears, while the AV style has them. This means I actually need to redesign the characters to account for those!

So my current plan is to do what I'm doing with Avery, Selina, and Liena, and first do a design sketch, then a proper illustration in Medibang.

Unfortunately, there's a minor problem, I HAVE 9 CHARACTERS TO REDRAW!!! Jasmin and Trisha have child alts, which are basically their own characters, so 11, then Elizabeth has 2 alts, so basically 12.

-

Now, the AV style is simpler than the JWatt style. Shading in the JWatt style alone basically doubles the time I need to spent per drawing, while the AV style can get it done WAY faster, so the final drawings should take considerably less time to draw... but I need to sketch everyone first...

That's 12 sketches! Followed by 12 drawings! Can you see why I'm procrastinating?

-

Now, the shift to the AV style will provide some benefits! Notably, since the style is simpler, I can more easily do alts, since the shading no longer takes 100 layers, and could easily just be done in a single layer.

This'll be nice, cause it means I can experiment a bit with outfits, which I already kinda do in Sims 4, since I often create my OCs in that. (Junk-Watt is actually an MVP in my multiplayer save, literally saving our asses multiple times, which is ironic, cause I've otherwise scrapped her)

# The End

So tl;dr, I've decided against posting Robert's and Avery's story until it's actually finished, and I'm procrastinating on that by telling myself to redraw all of Jasmin's World's characters in Avery's artstyle, which I'm procrastinating on because that's 12 drawings.

Anyway, that's all for now.

[nothanks98765]

I've been recently thinking about the last ask I sent about my upcoming year and it left me both perplexed and excited.

I'm not sure if you're open to a second tarot ask but I wanted to ask about my future career. I always bounce around different ideas in my head for what I want my occupation to be however I don't know where to start my journey and what it will entail. I feel at (the ripe old) age 20 that i'm being super stagnant but I also have the whole world ahead of me. Any advice?

I do have some questions to get to know the person behind the cards better too.

1. What is your dream occupation and why?

2. Which would you rather be a Fairy, mermaid, dragon, or a magical princess?

((don't feel obligated to answer this you can delete it if wanted))

Hello hello darling 💕

thank you for your follow up questions!!

I want to first apologize that this took so long. Thank you for patience 🩷 I love reading tarot and I want to make sure I give readings my full attention so if it takes me a while it’s just bc I am making sure i can be fully present 💫

I absolutely adore follow ups, please feel free to ask / dm questions whenever you like. I am so lucky to have mutuals who have trusted me with giving readings for them over time (for years even!!), i love hearing how situations work out, and i also love building a relationship and being able to go deeper in readings.

I’m going to answer the personal q’s about me first then jump into your reading 🫶 I’d love to share more about myself thank you for asking :)

The person behind the cards:

I absolutely adore tarot. I have a handful of experiences where I got messages from loved ones who have passed. It doesn’t happen often but i had experiences that were undeniable to me, and I pursued ways to better interpret messages from spirit. I’m a forever student at heart and tarot appealed to me based on the density of the theories behind it and the philosophy of the interpretation. I have an amazing mentor and have been doing tarot as a vocation for 5 years now. It makes me feel like I’m honoring the divine when I do tarot and for that reason I will never charge for tarot readings.

Thanks for listening to my little soap box moment 💃🏻💋

1.) My dream occupation: I actually am working my dream job 💫🫶 I am an environmental scientist. i specialize in water quality! I work in oil spill prevention and response. It’s such a great job. I get to do a bit of everything, field work, lab work, emergency response, policy, leadership. Its wonderful. My dream job was always going to be the intersection of environmental science snd public health. I feel so passionately about it. I have family members who grew sick because of pesticides. I grew up where over time a creek i lived by become to polluted to play in. What drew me to this field was everyone in my family knew why we were sick, knew when the kids couldnt play in the water anymore, or couldnt run through the fields. Everyone knew it was poison and pesticides got sprayed anyways. Hazardous waste got dumped into the creek anyways. I love that the work I do works to prevenr major pollution events.

2.) I literally love fantasy shit sm this has me TORN 😫😫😫

okay insane family lore- i’m american, but my family is from ireland. i was raised to believe fairies were real. (and NOT TO FUCK W THEM) the part of ireland my grandma was from had leprechauns and she spoke of them tricking people into curses that lasted generations. I dont remember everything she said, she passed when I was young, i wish i remember more and i wish i learned the irish she tried to teach me, but i do remember faeries scared me, they can’t go to heaven, live underground and have a lot of rules lmao so mad respect to them but i will not dabble in anything fairy related.

Being a mermaid seems sooo different. i’m a land creature. maybe a nympth of some sort i could do. A river nympth. Being underwater all the time sounds freaky so also no ❌

magical princess SEEMS cool but dont princesses have to marry or rule? nahhhhh. Like i WISH- but i dont believe in monarchy so I’d have to be the peoples princess and redistribute the crowns wealth and give the land back to the people and i fear i’d be assassinated by my late fathers most trusted advisor so i will also pass.

dragon is the way to go it seems. I love that I could fly. Hopefully maybe have a lil egg dragon baby. Maybe burn down a army. Sounds good to me.

Okay!!! So you’re reading:

I made a spread for you based on your questions and what you shared about your career. I will dm you a pic if you want to see the imagery of the cards. The placement is as follows: North: Represents you during this time in respect to your career. South: A field you would do well im. West: your talent East: A skill you need to keep developing. I also pulled a card for advice on your career path, but we will get to that in the end.

So- right away you have some heavy hitters coming up in this spread. In the north placement you have the high priestess reversed. You have good instincts, an aptitude for scholarship and research, editing and procedures. Upright there is lots of room for complex situations, balancing competing ideas. In reverse we see you haven’t mastered that balancing act ⚖️You may be wanting things to be more concrete than they are. Tap into your intuition, especially your faith in yourself and your ideas. make room for the complicated. 🕊️

your talent: ten of swords reversed. interesting because i looked back on your previous reading and this card exactly, even reversed, was your good news. we see it again for your talent. So interesting. For this to be your talent is incredible- it shows resiliency. if you get knocked down 9 times you’ll get up 10. you always have your eyes on the horizon, looking for whats next. Your ability to move on from mishaps and failure is going to be key to your success. It seems you wont even entertain the idea of not succeeding- you have the drive to find a way. The fact that this card showed up for you again tells me you are dealing with a situation that is apart of a pattern. use your talents. learn from it and keep going.

The skill you should develop more: 3 of cups.

Your work should be fun! aspire to be inspired. play with it. you are not locked in to any one thing. your goal should be about building that resume- write down everything you learned and make connections! for future references but also as a networking tool- maybe a old coworker can recommend you for your dream job.

The field you would do well in: The Lovers

VERY interesting. a couple things i like to clarify about the lovers: it so often gets reduced to romantic relationships or marriage. it is a blessed or “favorable union” Its ruled by mercury and correlates with gemini. it symbolizes balance between two dichotomies , represented by the feminine and masculine (this exists within ourselves and is not necessarily gender specific)

The field you would do well in involves unifying two parties for a common goal. Community organizing, politics. With mercury i see you doing well in a communication setting. Working with immigrants perhaps, based on the mercury element. The field has to include unifying something. bringing harmony and safety to a situation. It will inevitably have front facing duties and then things you have to do on the back end. balance will be key. but it you will thrive in impactful work.

Advice Card (for career reversed)

Temperance reversed

My question to you based on this card is this: What resources do you have that you aren’t using? Now is the time to take advantage of all advice offered to you, all opportunities. Literally say yes to everything (career specific). You are in a very prosperous spot and time but not utilizing it fully. This card can also show up when there is some extreme behavior throwing the balance off. Dont drink too much, sleep to much, or do too much of a vice, its distracting you from opportunities.

Overall, you sharing your age, you are in such s great spot purely based on your mindset. seriously!!!! work on trusting your gut- find a few likeminded friends so you can push each other. Most importantly- play around snd have fun. Fail, succeed, learn. meet a mentor, learn what you like what you don’t. your instincts are strong snd will guide you. don’t forget to use the tools you have.

Best of luck friend 🎉 You have a bright future 💛

[astralartefact]

after all that happened you still think they made nymeia, the incest sister god, look like manah on accident????? it was 100% an accident

FFXIV 6.3 Thoughts and Feelings - Heavy Spoilers (kind of turned into a weird rant? sorry)

First off I feel generally pretty positive about 6.3, I liked it, Euphrosyne was nice, I'm not in a 'Everything is going downhill' mood at all, I'm thriving, Bunny Boys finally have short hair, I'm super excited for Eureka Orthos (bc of the music q.q my favorite ff theme is comingggg)

...but...

I'm hardly the first person to point out that the writing in 6.3 was... pretty meh.

And I had a bit of a thought about why it felt like that, because on the surface, I'm fine with what happened. I like Zero and her arc about making friends and her starting to care about others, I like the reveal that the twelve + 1 are Venat's group (When they pointed out that the thirteenth god might be the moonwatcher I legit gasped, I don't know why, I began to care about this guy at some point and didn't even notice)

But like. All of the writing was kind of flavorless, which made it a bit boring tbh.

Zero learns the magic of friendship through another mo-cap eating animation bc people liked the Graha Burger scene i guess (what is it with Endwalker and animating eating please use that cutscene budget for something else I don't want to see it anymore)

Rubicante and Cagnazzo exist I guess. I love their designs and fights, but the other two had a little bit more build up and it shows imo. (We fought Scarmiglione twice, Barbariccia had a quest of voidsent being absolutely terrified of her arrival, with these two we only have "I have a plan Cagnazzo, come with me")

All of the Twelve are friends :) No conflict, no chaos, just happy people being absolutely unnuanced nice and non-controversial :)

Instead of actually learning about the gods we get to meet a weird cultist as a nod to 1.x whose conflict felt like we already did that thrice (at least i hope that was a reference, bc if it wasn't then why???) and we got a crumb of Krile development. Which is good and I love her. (I hope the 6.5 raid reveals her new outfit, If she isn't our company for the last raid I will be upset.)

I guess there's a lack of superfluous-ness in this patch that's usually there. Like in Lapis Manalis, one of the group (I think Y'shtola) goes to the village to search for lore/information/whatever. Usually the game would let you do that. "While Vrtra is sad, let's check out this village." And then you get to go around and the writers spoon feed us the lore we crave so much. It's superfluous in a good way.

Like imagine we go to a new place, we need to find something out, Y'shtola is with you when talking with a local. That local tells you "And as everybody knows Light Aether is black!" Cut to Y'shtola doing /ponder. "Interesting. Thank you for your time." The conversation ends and Y'shtola pulls you to the side and explains to you what exactly you were supposed to get in that situation. Actually, Light Aether is white, so why do they think otherwise? Here are some hypotheses based on the lore we know that either are correct or will explicitly be ruled out later on.

Of course we could also come to all those conclusions ourselves - and in another questline game you would be expected to do that work for yourself. And in my opinion both of these approaches are perfectly fine - But since ffxiv generally does it one way it needs to be done on purpose if you suddenly do it differently. Especially if you suddenly stop doing it from one patch to the other in the main story.

But this time Y'shtola comes back and tells you: "No, I looked and there's nothing here worth mentioning." Get a barrel and carry some fuel. You don't get to learn more about Galatea the Puppetmaster or Drusilla's home or some weird new piece of Reaper lore. Go and reread the three notes in the Dungeon if you want that. We have stuff to do so go ahead and waste play time with this engaging filler quest.

The gods say "Yes, what people tell, feel and think about us affects us and our being." And then nothing happens. No examples given, even though several are kind of right there and it's a lot weirder that they don't adress them. Not even something basic like "Althyk and Nymeia are siblings, some people think they had children together, but that's actually not true." And of course nothing like "For example, Nophica and Halone were actually good friends, but the stories of the people literally created hatred between them and turned them into rivals, even though nothing actually happened between them."

I am bitter they erased their feud. Justice for Nophica.

Anyways, that's a lot of words to say "It was fine." To me it's at most a worrisome precedent, but I doubt this will continue? Again, the general outline is fine, it's just filling the gaps between it that didn't work out great. They probably just took it easy on this patch or something, who knows what happened behind the scenes. Maybe XVI needed help with something, maybe somebody quit, we'll never know.

And even if this continued, the music and the art design continues to amaze me and they'll have to do a lot of things wrong to make me consider dropping this game anytime soon lol

[mickeys-malarkey]

Pt. 3/3: My BATDR Timeline & Plot Twist Theories!

First, I think both BATIM and BATDR take place sometime between 1978 and 1991. I already suspected BATDR was happening in the ‘80s based on the fact that card readers – which have featured in many of the environment screenshots we've seen – were invented in 1979...

…and Audrey's clothes and hairstyle look very 1980s.

Then they released the images of Audrey's office, where her chair and desk lamps also look very 1980s, and the wallpaper and flooring looks pretty 1970s…

…and @inkdemonapologist pointed out that the type of bankruptcy we see documents for in Joey's apartment didn't exist until 1978…

…and I remembered that Joey's apartment also had a newspaper whose headline took place in the future— Princess Diana's 30th birthday which, as TetraBitGaming on YouTube pointed out, would be in 1991 since Princess Diana was born in 1961. She should be two years old if BATIM were really taking place in 1963!

Maybe, at the time, they didn't mean for these two to be clues, since they seem to have rolled the date backwards a bit from the newspaper one; but at this point it feels pretty clear when BATDR takes place, to me. And I'm even more certain than I already was, after finding out that this image from the JDS website…

…is titled “museum” (good work yoinking it, @halfusek /gen 👍🏻), that we know the ink dimension's new home: Nathan Arch Sr.'s private Joey Drew Studios museum that he mentioned he was curating in TIOL (meaning it's existed since around 1972).

“Over the years, I have collected every single piece of the studio memorabilia I could find to restore it to its former glory, to create, in a sense, a private museum that gleamed with the true vision of Joey Drew…” ~ Nathan Arch, The Illusion of Living, pg. 2

Also, besides the fact the museum image has clearly aged, here's some more evidence that at least a few years have probably passed since Bendy was purchased: it generally takes a fair bit more time (years!!) to make movies/documentaries, as Archgate Pictures seems to have made about Joey, than it does to make shorts.

As for BATIM, I think that time has been moving as normal outside of the loop, we were just seeing a repeat of that significant day in 1963; Henry and Joey have been trapped in the ink dimension for somewhere between twenty and thirty years, and the bankruptcy paperwork and Princess Diana newspaper were pieces of the real world leaking into the memory. This explains how there seems to be evidence of Audrey in BATIM and how BATDR is still supposedly neither sequel nor prequel to BATIM despite all the evidence that it takes place long after 1963! They're happening at the same time!! I wonder if Audrey is the daughter of the little girl we hear at the end of BATIM? So, Henry's (great-)granddaughter or Joey's (great-)great-niece?

Now, onto my big theory: the plot twist.

If they handle it right, it would be really, really cool if “break the cycle” really doesn't just mean “end the time loop” but also “break the cycle of abuse/trauma” and a lot of the huge cast of not-so-innocent characters wind up with the potential to get redemption arcs. I have an idea of exactly how they might be planning on even providing the opportunity for Joey.

Victor McKnight commented this on his Artistic Hallowing music video and pinned it:

Those last two sentences. “Make sure you're watching every second! You don't want to miss any vital information. 😉” Does that not sound to anyone else like he's got insider information? Now, I want y'all to watch these music videos that either Victor himself or his brother Noah were suspiciously involved in all of (and one of which is supposedly a BATDS song but for some reason involves Audrey) and tell me if you notice any patterns.

This one seems to be a duet between Sammy and the Ink Demon, both singing to Audrey. Sammy mostly sings in the default sepiatone, asking us things like “Can you see me? Can you feel me?” (that feels so… sad… and desperate…) and telling us things like “make sense of the consequence we witnessed on that day” (Excuse me, you're telling me that there was a consequence for something on a specific, significant day that we witnessed?? 👀) The demon, on the other hand, mostly sings when the grayscale effect is on, and seems to just be playing a stereotypical villain roll until you notice “be forced to believe what I see” (why would we even give a crap about what you're seeing /srs? How the actual heck would we see what you're seeing /gen? You don't even have eyeballs, bro /j) and “be damned in this evil received” (how do you receive evil that damns you? Maybe by being abused and becoming an abuser in response?).

Two apparently-separate characters singing with the same voice but very different tones and outlooks on the situation, still both singing to Audrey, in this one. One mostly sings in the default sepiatone, again, at first seeming more hopeful, helpful, and friendly until you start noticing ominous comments like “you've made mistakes, accept the change. You will be punished too” (*incoherent noises* 🚨🚨) and “welcome to my dream . . . you still think you are safe in my dream.” The other mostly sings when the grayscale effect is on, again, and seems much more aggressive and seductive until you start noticing comments like “take up your weapons, just leave my friends be” (why is this stereotypically evil-seeming character both telling us to take up weapons, not just letting us have them, and asking us to leave his friends alone with them?).

More hints that the demon who will rise and presumably is most important to the story is linked to grayscale, in this one.

And, in this one, Sammy's asking if the grayscale-linked demon is the one who will set him free (as he claims to be in the first two videos).

Across all four of these first videos, there seems to be an overall “things change when we switch from the default sepiatone to grayscale” and “grayscale is dangerous and seems hopeless but it's important and linked to truth and freedom” theme…

…You're telling me that Sammy and his followers' past (BATIM?) selves were worshipping an imposter demon…? And the truth will be revealed in BATDR…?

Hum, hum, hum… fascinating. I'd noticed the sepiatone vs. grayscale split and imposter vs. true savior thing long before I read the books; for the longest time, I thought it meant we would be dealing with a Henry-Bendy and a Joey-Bendy, as I've been seeing people theorizing. But then I read TIOL, and discovered what I think is evidence that this info is indeed canon and was not left on the cutting room floor while BATDR was in development limbo.

Nathan makes a very strange note on Joey's story about the Sparkle Unicorn speakeasy…

“…I remember this night well. Though I remember it being at the Bee Room, gold and black, not silver as the main design aesthetic. Doesn't really make much of a difference though, I suppose.” ~ Nathan Arch, The Illusion of Living, pg. 44 (emphasis added)

Nathan remembers that night in sepiatone, Joey remembers it in grayscale.

Now, I've seen all kinds of theories all over about how Wilson actually “banished/killed the ink demon…” “Wilson took advantage of some sort of blip in Bendy's existence that happened when Joey died,” “Wilson got rid of him by purifying him and turning him into Dapper Bendy,” “Wilson got rid of him by fusing him with either Henry or Joey,” “Wilson got rid of him by trapping him in Henry's loop,” “he didn't, Wilson's just another liar manipulating everyone,” etc…

What if we're looking at this from the wrong angle? What if the point is that, whatever happened, neither of the BATDR Bendys is the original soulless monster we see in BATIM and the books? What if, whether they share a body or are separate, there are two human souls involved here? What if one of those souls is the “new evil” in the ink dimension, not Wilson, who may have been meddling in ink dimension affairs since 1963?

Going back to the time frame I propose BATDR is happening in… Joey was born in 1901, which means that if Nathan was 18 or 19 when Joey was just turning 16, then he was born in 1899 or 1898. So, in 1978, Nathan would've been 79 or 80, and in 1991 he would've been 92 or 93. Especially considering the clues that point towards Nathan having been a smoker, it wouldn't surprise me if he's straight-up already dead in BATDR. Mayhaps for 211 days? During Loop 414…? Could this be why the BATIM loop is different, with Henry apparently not remembering anything that previous versions of himself could? The now-previous owner of their prison has died of old age and/or lung cancer? And could that be why the JDS museum has fallen into bankruptcy? Has Nathan Jr. taken over and isn't as ruthless a businessman as his father?

Itsjustjord on YouTube pointed this out in his trailer reaction, which when he said it set my Clue Radar off so that I went to the trailer again to get a closer look. And… well… *clears throat*

…Do y'all see this weird effect over Dapper Bendy? Compared to every other character we see in the trailer as well as the environment around him, does it not look as if we're seeing him, specifically, through some sort of cartoony filter? Maybe it'll only be in circumstances like this (far away in weird lighting) that the edges of the illusion will fray in-game, based on the other teaser image we have of him, but it definitely looks off to me.

Especially with what I now suspect Allison and Susie's situations were in relation to Nathan, I think that the ink creatures’ perfection vs. imperfection has nothing to do with how pure/good vs. impure/evil their hearts are as we've been lead to believe/is the conventional surface-level reading, but instead how intact vs. broken their hearts are. I think that the more horrific the ink being's appearance, the more the soul inside was abused while it was alive. Allison isn't a perfect Alice because she's a better person, it's because she obeyed Nathan and wasn't made to suffer as severely as Susie, who Nathan chose to be his next Isabel. So, why is one new Bendy (apparently created after Joey lost everything, I suspect even being made to watch his Shoulder Angel's murder before being murdered himself) so much scarier than the original (created before Joey lost everything) and the other so goshdarn perfect, proportions and all?

Maybe the banning of everything related to Sammy's demon cult and Henry under Wilson's rule has to do with his decades-old mission to keep the Creators from joining forces, as well as everyone including himself feeling like they're finally free from The Great Puppet Master?

I love Dapper Bendy's design as much as everyone else!! He's positively adorable, and it would also be a nice outcome if the baby boy is exactly what he seems and just a precious lil friend to love forever; but I theorize that Dapper Bendy is the perfectly sane, untraumatized, and truly evil one, that (assuming we actually get choices in BATDR, unlike in BATIM) his route, no matter how things seem in the moment, is the wrong one, that he's Nathan. And I think Freaky Teeth Bendy (that's been my nickname for him since we first saw him and I'm sticking to it lolol) is the damaged as heck but able to be saved one, that his route is the correct one, that he's Joey. I also think that we won't get to see either demon for what they really are – won't be able to get the True, Broken Cycle, “Joey's Redeemed & Nathan Faces Justice” Ending – unless we somehow unlock Grayscale Mode like we could in BATIM and gain the ability to see Joey's truth. Until then, we'll be seeing the demons the way Nathan wants us to see them. Through Nathan's tainted, gaslighting, sepiatone filter.

If I'm right, the fact that they did choose these color palettes is so perfectly poetic~! Sepiatone is what happens when black-and-white images have been chemically altered for preservation purposes; Nathan's altered our perception of himself, Joey, and all the events surrounding them, and his version of events is much more resilient. Meanwhile, Joey's would be more pure and unaltered but easily destroyed— including by himself, with his Illusion of Living coping mechanism… The only thing that could make it more perfect is if not only do we get to see Henry in BATDR, but when we do he's an angelic toon… *Vibrates with excitement*

Please, please, please, JDS, let me be right about where you're going with this!! Cause this would genuinely be so freaking cool…!! 🙏🏻 I hope that we eventually get to “rejoice with our founders,” as Artistic Hallowing says, when they're reunited.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk, rofl. Congratulations on making it through the ramblings of a hyped AuDHD fangirl (though, I guess we already knew you were capable, if you've read TIOL. I could do a whole nother rant on evidence that Joey's basically confirmed canonically ADHD(+?), my freaking gosh). 😝

Read the Rest of the Original Analysis/Theory: Part One • Part Two • Unexpected Part Four

BATDR Analysis/Post-Playthrough Theory Revision: Part One • Part Two • Part Three • Part Four

[miniimapp]

A-Z Fluff (Aaron T Edition)

Gen ;; Fluff - Alphabet Headcanons

Warnings ;; no

Proofread + Edited ;; also no

Auth. Note ;; WELCOME TO DAY 20 OF THE 4*TOWN CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN !! ONE MORE SLEEP !!

Due to the missed days I will be posting a bunch tomorrow,, consider that my gift to you all lmao

Enjoy !! <3

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A = Activities (What kind of things do you do?)

Your first together can range from T wanting to climb a mountain and settling for a hike to staying in and playing video games. It'll have to be something engaging though or T may just zone out real hard lmao

B = Baby (Do they want a family? Why/Why not?)

T loves the idea of a big family,, like an impossibly large family and he definitely wants to try adoption or fostering of some kind

C = Cuddle (How do they cuddle?)

Like a koala to a tree,, somehow all limbs become involved and he will cling to you and not let go until he feels like it

D = Dates (What are dates with them like?)

Most likely chaotic,, you know if its running smoothly there was interference from the boy's or you planned the date lmao

The chaos is charming though..

E = Everything (You are my ____ (e.g. my life, my world)

You are his soul mate,, you perfectly complement him

F = Feelings (When did they know they were in love?)

There isn't a time T can pinpoint where he realised he was in love with you,, he just knew.. T likes to say he didn't fall in love but instead took your hand and you walked into love together

G = Gentle (Are they gentle? If so, how?)

Ish.. there's energy in everything T does,, even his calm is like an energetic calm if that makes sense and so is his gentle.. energetically gentle or smthn idk

H = Hands (How do they like to hold hands?)

T likes to squeeze you hand and rub his thumb over the back of it. He'll squeeze it every now and then almost as if to reassure himself you didn't disappear

I = Injury (How would they react if you got hurt?)

Massive freak out,, lots of flapping,, tons of frantic, nervous energy.. he will require another member, prolly Jesse, to help him out

J = Jealousy (Do they get jealous?)

Eh,, not really.. T gets huffy if he feels like you're not giving him enough attention and may start acting p obnoxious in an attempt to get it but he's never really jealous of the people or your relation to them

K = Kiss (How do they kiss? Who initiated the first kiss?)

With his whole being :DD

Your first kiss was definitely initiated by you,, like he was trying but accidentally got himself caught up in a ramble so you took the reigns and made your move

L = Love (Who says I love you first?)

You again,, similar situation actually.. he's rambling on, trying his best to just spite out the words but somehow gets himself into a speech about your eyes and you just blurt it for him

M = Memory (What's their favourite memory together?)

His favourite memory is playing uno with you and the boys.. you had no idea what you were getting yourself into and T had so much fun causing chaos

Yall went round the group TWICE with plus 2's before they all ended up on poor Z,, my guy drew 24 fucking cards in one go..

N = Nickel (Do they spoil? Do they buy the person they love everything?)

Tbh T isn't really a material girlie,, his mind is more on spending time than giving gifts gifts he might not really think to get you anything unless you directly ask for it

Exceptions are made for your birthday and Christmas, maybe valentines day and any other gift giving holiday you tell him that you celebrate (again you have to let the guy know lmao) and he will be begging Jesse for help even though he knows you better

O = Orange (What colour reminds them of their other half?)

Not really applicable tbh,, no colour really make shim think of you.. at best maybe red but only because of roses and valentines and all that lmao

P = Pet names (What pet names do they use?)

T despises non-ironic pet names they make him feel icky,, catch him calling you the most out of pocket shit for jokes and only jokes

"How are you today, my little napkin corner?"

Q = Questions (What are the questions they’re always asking?)

"How are you?"

"Is ____ technically a sandwich?"

R = Rainy Day (What do they like to do on a rainy day?)

Play video games or watch a movie with you and maybe the boys if they're around,, he loves big groups

S = Sad (How do they cheer themselves/others up?)

For someone,, else he'll crack jokes to try and ease the tensions and take their mind of whatever they're experiencing..

For himself,, T wants to be alone in a quite place to sort out his thoughts and feelings so he doesn't lash out at anyone or anything (he never would but he's scared one day he might)

T = Talking (What do they like to talk about?)

Anything and everything,, the sky is literally the limit and he will start a debate about what counts as the sky and where it ends if you ever say that phrase

U = Unencumbered (What helps them relax?)

Hear me out,, putting popping candy in his mouth, closing his eyes and just experiencing it.. he lives the tingly feeling and it somehow helps him relax

W = Wedding (When, how, where do they propose?)

For some reason I get the feeling I've done this before.. oh wait..

Find the fully-written T proposal here

X = Xylophone (What's their song?)

Grace Kelly - MIKA,, no explanation necessary

Y = Yearning (How well do they cope when they’re separated from their S/O?)

T does fine,, he saves all his clingy energy for facetime calls with his partner.. man he loves those lmao

Z = Zebra (If they wanted a pet, what would they get?)

A reptile of some sort,, maybe a gecko or a lizard

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Hope you enjoyed !! <3

[mercurytrinemoon]

Some thoughts on pairings of queens and kings of the same tarot suit

(now it takes a while for me to get to my point but bear with me)

I was doing some spying on my ex friend that got engaged in 2020 during Venus retrograde in Gemini, because I do often think about how she's doing but also my asrology-absorbed brain wants to know how her engagement is doing with that rx Venus glooming over (especially that she's one of the few real-life friends of mine that I have an exact birth time of).

Now, I first drew 3 cards from a classic card deck and asked my mom to interpret that (because I can't read those) and she said cards are blatantly pointing out to a wedding but... with a friend figure, not a romantic figure. So I grabbed my tarot deck to further investigate.

So I was shuffling the cards and what popped up was 4 of wands sandwitched between the queen of pentacles and the king of pentacles. Now that's nice, I love when that happens. A coincidence? I think NOT.

And I was pondering on court card pairings and how I once saw someone having a full on rant on how some pairings suck (wands in particular, which I found a bit annoying). I think often they'll just show people's astrological correspondence, especially if two people match in their Sun sign's element... Or if two people come up as the same suit, that's what they have in common and this is where they match.

Now my ex friend is an Aries Sun with a ton of airy influence. But she came up as the queen of pentacles. I said to my mom "look how she's squeezing and caressing her little pentacle": she was always someone who had a lack mentality, even when she was earning money as a teen or early 20-something while not having to pay for rent or bills cause she was living with her parents (meaning all that money she could spent on whatever she wanted, yet still she was walking around saying how poor she is).

So how I actually associate each suit (aka finally getting to the point)

The guy came up as the king of pentacles. No idea what sign he is, technically I don't even know he exists... but that aside. There's a possibility he works at a bank but I say this just because I know someone who saw a similar-looking man at a bank. But I digress. What's important here is that with classic cards he came up as a friend, a provider, someone who takes care of the other person/is a helping hand. This helped me a ton in understanding the king of pentacles in that equasion: he is a provider and all that stuff but what the earth suit is about is simplicity, the day-to-day life. If a person or a couple comes up as pentacle court card(s), they're simple people (and earth signs are usually simple, grounded people as well). They're in a relationship probably because it's convenient. And let's be honest, most couples are like that, not a lot of people even believe in a true soulmate-level love and romantic fairy tales, most just settle for what they have and stick to it because it's good enough... kind of like if it ain't broke, don't fix it, meaning they don't search for the perfect one; they don't question the relationship they're in.

I'm not saying all pentacle couples are together out of convenience, but there is an element of commiting just because that's what you feel like is expected from you. It's about giving stability and working on maintaining that. I guess this can also be a couple where both people are focused on earning money... or who do business together but I feel like that could be a bit of a wands territory, since you're creating something (and wands are about a spark and creation).

The more emotionally-driven pair would be the cups suit. Now I never had a couple straight up coming up as a cups courts but what I've seen a few times was the queen of cups representing someone who guards the other person in a spiritual/emotional way. Kinda like the unseen force that is protecting the other; possibly someone who is connected to the other in the 5D, who's your guardian angel so to speak or simply someone who cares deeply for you and their energy is always present with you. The king of cups I had come up as a person developing mature feelings (paired with ace of cups to be clear). So, obviously because the water element is about emotions, a cup couple will be more emotionally tied together, for good or bad. They just feel each other and are connected through intuition. It's about providing the emotional support but that stems from the deep connection, not because of society's pressure or a sense of duty like the pentacles suit.

The sword couple can be a tricky one cause swords people are known to be more cold and calculated. But as air there can also be a bit of a social tone to them and that can be fun sometimes. I'm saying this just because I had that couple come up in questions regarding how two people are seen in public. So this can be sociable and witty. Like two intellectuals who get into a friendly banter or a heated debate. Or two activists focused on their ideas. There's a mental chemistry there connecting a pair of the queen and king of swords. It's like two friends who end up in a romantic relationship type of situation. The downfall is, there may be an emotional distance.

Now my favorite (obviously) is the wands couple. Mainly because I often come up as the queen of wands (again, probably because I have a lot of Sagittarius and fire in my chart) and, as I always say, the king of wands is the king of my heart, even if some would think it's nonsense to think a wands couple is a good couple because fire burns out quickly. But you can keep the fire glowing, and if you do... there's some magical stuff going on. I see it as the fun couple, similarly to swords they can be a sociable pair, full of creative ideas but also full of passion for each other, which the air suit lacks. They're bold in expressing that as well. Talking about astrological correspondences, I always say fire signs can be as emotional as water signs because they feel everything deep in their bones. Fire signs can be just as emotionally devoted. Constantly evolving and adapting to the other person is what keeps the passion alive and fire people like movement, that's their fuel. So if two people are on the same page, coming up as the queen and king of wands, with the passion they have for one another, you bet that won't be boring. It's the willingness to do things together, to experience things together, not just building a stable home and fitting the norm. Also it's just literally hot. You can say what you want but I'm sure you're gonna admit at least that.

Also, something worth pointing out, in the RW deck the wands suit is the only one where, if you're lucky enough, you can have queen of wands and king of wands directly looking at each other (if the queen is on the left from the king). I think that might be significant.

I'm looking at each suit through the lense of astrology so you could as well apply that to couples who share the same element in their charts but that doesn't have to be the case with everyone (my Aries ex friend being an example). Also obviously I'm talking about the healthy manifestation of each suit. If you use reversals or look at the surrounding cards to get the feel of where and in what way each energy is directed, you can determine if two people really get along. Pentacles can be too stuck in their ways or materialistic, cups can be overly emotional and dramatic, swords can be harsh, cold or argumentative and wands can be too temperamental and shallow.

[twoidiotwriters1]

Copycat: Cryptomnesia —(Marvel Fem!Oc)

A/N: These last few weeks have been so weird I need a break 😠 -Danny

Words: 1,548

Phase Five Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: ‘Bad Girls’ -by M.I.A

ii: The Gorgons

The group of men kept asking for drinks and throwing clouds of smoke around, they were the standard type of scum they'd dealt with numerous times before. Both women thought it was a waste of bullets, but they were paid for this.

"Anthony," one of the men leaned closer to the young one beside him, a cut-clean guy. "Tell me about your boss."

"They want to offer you their models, in exchange for half of your profit."

"We'll need to check some of the specimens, to make sure of their quality," the guy placed his cigar on the corner of his lips.

Anthony smiled. "When can we do it?"

"Bring them here," the man pulled out a card from his vest. "Let us know how many and what type he's sending."

"And this is your office?" The young man asked. "Where you film?"

"Yeah."

"And you keep them here?"

The older man raised a brow in annoyance. "It's none of your business, is it?"

"My boss wouldn't want his girls to be driven around the city, they could be seen, or you know... one of them could run away."

"Tell your boss we're not idiots," he said as a waitress approached to hand him the bill.

"You're no geniuses either."

When the man looked up he saw a gun pointed at his face, as his eyes moved he saw a blonde woman in her mid-twenties. "Stay still," Yelena said. "Don't make this harder."

He turned away only to find the young man also pointing a gun at him. The other men at the table drew out their own guns, the people closest noticed and quickly started to leave the place.

"You're surrounded!" The old man spat. "If you don't stand down my boys will kill you!"

The young man tilted his head. "I think you should put the guns away before we kill them."

"We're going to make this easy for your tiny brain," Yelena continued. "Take us to the girls, or we'll kill you."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the guy scoffed.

"No?" Yelena pouted. "You're going to have a pretty confusing death, then."

Anthony vanished from the booth in a cloud of smoke. He reappeared behind the old man's guards and hit one in the back of the head while tasing the other, the third got punched in the face by Yelena, and the fourth pointed his gun at Anthony but the young man teleported again and landed on top of the table, kicking a bottle directly at the last guy's face, crystal and vodka flew everywhere.

Yelena pulled the old man to his feet and dragged him out of his seat while the last conscious guard dropped to the floor.

"Would you mind helping me with this sack of shit?"

The young man loosened his tie, Anthony shifted, and in his place Cat appeared, looking at the old man with disgust. "Did we shoot you in the knees?"

The man stammered a reply. "N-No."

"Then get the hell up!"

He walked ahead of them, Cat pushed him to make him go faster.

"Y-you're the gorgons..."

Cat and Yelena groaned. "You don't hear that kind of nickname for men, do you?" Yelena poked his back with the gun. "They're Deadpool, or the winter soldier... I even like Thunderbolts over this dumb name..."

"Could be worse," Cat reminded her. "Remember that time they called me 'Lady Loki'?"

Yelena laughed. "It was real funny when you shot them in the dick."

"You don't wanna be shot in the dick, right, Mr. whats-your-face?"

"It's—"

"I don't care," Cat scowled. "You could be Mr. Human Trafficker for all that matters. You're gonna take us to the girls, and then we'll decide whether you live or not."

"You'll die, most likely," Yelena admitted.

The agents had built a well-known reputation, most people knew them as "Gorgons", the Thunderbolts was the name of their whole team.

Yelena drove while Cat sat in the back seat with the gun pointing at the man's head.

"Whatever your boss is paying you, I can double it!"

"They always think we do it for the money," Yelena sighed.

"I do," Cat shrugged. "But it's also fun to watch this. Look at you, covered in tears..."

"Whatever you want, I'll give it to you!"

Cat hit his face, cutting his cheekbone.

"We want the girls!" Yelena said in annoyance. "Tape his mouth, if he keeps talking I'll kill him too soon."

The minute the door went down, the men quickly charged toward them, but Cat and Yelena acted at the speed of light.

Cat pulled out two guns from her belt and shot at every moving figure she saw. Yelena pulled out her baton and turned it on, the electricity making it buzz loudly. She jumped at a guy and hit him sideways on the ribs, another man tried to shoot her and Cat threw an empty gun at his head.

"Let's go back to the classics! Who wants to fist-fight?"

"This guy," Yelena kicked a man in her direction.

The mutant landed a hard blow to the man's face, causing him to get dizzy, then she stabbed him on the side of the neck and threw him to the ground.

"Cheater!" Yelena called her out.

Cat scoffed. "On your left!"

Yelena moved and Cat threw a knife, piercing a guy's forehead. The blonde tossed her baton at Cat and then unstuck the blade from the man's head. Cat stopped another one from shooting by twisting his wrist and pressing Yelena's taser to the prominent vein in his throat. She pushed him away with a kick and looked around.

The women swapped weapons, Cat pushed her hair away from her eyes.

"Are these it?"

She paid attention: the agent could hear women crying and whispering, but no guns clicking.

"We're good to go."

They were supposed to call the police once they were done, but they couldn't be seen, so before doing so, Cat and Yelena went back to the car and opened the trunk.

"What are we gonna do with the extra weight?" Cat stared at the man curled up in the small space.

Yelena pulled out her phone and called someone. "Is De Fontaine there with you?"

Cat listened to the phone call.

"What do you want?"

"The job is done, and we're sending pictures..."

"Mouse, send tonight's mission to De Fontaine," she said, pressing her earpiece.

"Done."

She gave Yelena a thumbs up and the blonde continued.

"You got them?"

"Yes. Why are you calling?"

"We got Mr. Human trafficker here, and he's alive."

Cat could hear movement at the other side of the line, they were giving the full report to someone."Kill him."

The widow looked at Cat. "You heard?"

"Yes."

"Wanna do the honors?"

The mutant wasn't wearing the nanotech mask nor her suit, just a regular handkerchief over her nose and mouth and an all-black bulletproof set of clothes made by a designer specialized in "hero" attire, the smell of gunpowder and blood was already grossing her out. "Not really."

"Okay. Teleport him inside and wait for me."

Yelena entered the building and closed the door behind her, working for the governments of the world was exactly as she'd imagined. Heartless and bloody. Cat didn't enjoy killing any more than she used to when she was younger, but at least now she was getting paid, and it was all people who had it coming.

Cat waited a whole hour until the young woman walked out, cleaning her hands. "You okay?"

"Just tired," the mutant climbed inside the car, but she took a glance at Yelena before deciding to leave her mask on. "I've been sleeping in motel rooms for a month."

"I've been sleeping in them my whole life," Yelena turned on the engine.

Cat was getting rid of the blood under her claws with a knife. "You slept in the red room for a while, I bet that was comfy..."

"Did Vision make you breakfast every morning?"

"Did you mop the floors with your own tears?"

"Stark probably bribed every teacher at your school so you could pass."

Cat's gaze was absent. "Maybe he did... I don't remember failing a single class."

"If you were good why did you quit?"

"My friends blipped. I might've been a good student but that doesn't mean I enjoyed it," she shrugged.

"Weird how before the blip I would've met you as a tiny baby instead of being the same age."

"We're not the same age."

"It counts as having the same age once you pass your twenties."

Cat frowned. "I've heard that before."

"Because it's true."

Her head pounded as if scolding her for trying to use her brain for something other than killing.

"Whatever," Cat heaved a sigh. "I'll be taking a break after this."

Yelena made a sound of discontent. "I don't think they'll let you go."

Cat groaned. "The only thing special about me is that I can disguise myself better, they can do without for a while."

Yelena smirked. "You didn't sleep with your boyfriend before coming here, right?"

"That's not it."

"You know, a good thing about having no uterus is that your hormones don't misbehave. Unlike you, you're always horny."

"I'm not."

"You get sexually frustrated."

"This isn't about my needs, okay?" Cat snapped. "I feel like I'm just playing hide and seek with the criminals of the planet. I feel used. I want a break."

Yelena raised her eyebrows in mild surprise. "I'm just saying... I don't want you to get your hopes up."

"As if you actually cared."

"I think you deserve to enjoy your free time. Unfortunately, we don't have free time."

"Thank you, barbie."

"Don't ever call me that."

Cat chuckled, Yelena's lips twitched a little but they stopped before they could form a smile.

Next Chapter—>

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