#and 3/4 of the people in the basement just have this vibe with each other that you dont get at all

[todayisafridaynight]

i feel like the hello kitty doesnt do xanax post whenever i check the minedai tag on ao3 what is the obsession with piss im in agony

why did you just read my mind jesus fucking christ get out of my head youre so right tho this is so accurate and i feel this every day of my life and i feel insane and like im the one perceiving them weirdly so thank you anon for letting me know that im normal

[cosmerelists]

Attending a Party Thrown by Each Radiant Order

As requested by anon. :)

You've been invited to a party! Actually, ten parties. But the twist is that each party is thrown and attended only by a single Radiant order and also we're in some kind of quasi-modern AU. What would each party be like?

[Previously: Radiant Orders play boardgames, have sleepovers, and go to musicals]

1. The Lightweaver Party

The invitation is a glossy, stylized illustration of a hand holding a wine glass--a true work of art. You later find out that every invitation is unique; no two are the same. The invitation leads you to a large ballroom-esque hall. "What is your name tonight?" asks a masked figure at the door. "Uh...Fred?" you say. You had not planned this. "Welcome...Fred," they say and let you in. It is shadowy inside, perhaps because all of the light comes from fairy lights and electric candles. Everyone is masked--including you, as per the invitation. People glide about, talking and laughing in low voices. It's not unwelcoming exactly, but certainly...surreal.

2. The Windrunner Party

The invitation is a couple of dudes saying, "Hey, there's a thing. Wanna come?" when you run into them at the bar. "The thing" appears to be some kind of picnic at a local park: you were told it was a potluck, so you did bring a macaroni salad, but the focus seems to be the large pot of stew that one of the men is making. There's a lot of eating and laughter and sunshine, and frankly a lot of hot people in uniform. You have a good time. Even if the Captain is just a little bit glowery the whole time.

3. The Edgedancer Party

A roller skating rink! You haven't been to a roller skating rink in sooo long! You're honestly psyched. As you do your best to skate around, others glide smoothly past you, looking like they were born skating. When you take a break to eat a mediocre but nostalgic corndog, a couple of them sit with you and you get to chatting. You're just at a skating rink, eating a mediocre corndog, but somehow...you've never felt so heard. When you go back to skating, you're skating with maybe a tear in your eye.

4. The Stoneward Party

It's just a party at someone's house, where everyone brings a case of beer or a bottle of wine or a snack food, and everyone drinks out of red solo cups. But you know what the vibe is? Convivial. Like, people are waving you over to join their conversations and asking about your hobbies and at one point? Someone suggests a party game? And everyone plays? Like, it WAS a pretty competitive game of charades, but everyone seemed to be having fun the whole time.

5. The Truthwatcher Party

Their party was at a local bar and on trivia night. The party was immediately pretty boisterous--someone brings up politics, like, immediately, and then everyone is happily shouting their thoughts back and forth across the table. But when trivia time hits, the mood turns serious.

6. The Dustbringer Party

It's in the basement of a warehouse that you're pretty sure is due for demolition. Certainly, it does NOT feel particularly structurally sound and there IS a lot of, like, concrete dust and debris everywhere. But once you get downstairs--well, this is not just a party. This is a rager. There is music and alcohol and drugs if you want 'em, and people are shouting and dancing and generally having a good time. "When you're like us, you GOTTA let loose every once in a while or you go INSANE!" someone says to you at one point. "It's about release?" you say and everyone in a five-foot radius groans at the pun.

7. The Willshaper party

It's drugs. Lots of drugs. Some of them are illegal, some of them aren't, but the people here would definitely scoff if you tried to make that distinction.

8. The Elsecaller Party

Well, it certainly is a very correct party. You receive an RSVP, and it's clear that you are meant to respond. In writing. Which you do. The RSVP lets you know that the party is semiformal, and that the dinner course will begin at precisely 7pm, so you do not even try to do the whole "fashionably late" thing. You are there by 6:55. Good thing, too, because everyone else is already there. "Everyone" being Jasnah and one small, inky man. Have you ever had dinner with your dissertation advisor who is also your mom somehow? Well, then you know how this party went. You were SWEATING the whole time.

9. The Skybreaker Party

When they checked your ID at the entrance to the small event hall they had rented, you laughed and asked if they wanted to make sure you were over 21. Their expression in reply told you that this was not a joke. Inside, there is a cash bar, and some hors d'oeuvre being handed around on plates. The people inside are mostly talking about their recent accomplishments in a way that makes you feel that they are all very stressed and trying to prove something. "It's a test," says a bald man who appeared very suddenly next to you. "A test of what?" you ask, suddenly very afraid. But he is gone.

10. The Bondsmith Party

You're at a party, and it's just you and two other people. The two other people? Married. You feel like you're crashing a date. They're being very nice and you are being included in every conversation but you're also literally the third at a party with only two other people who are married. You can't help but think this would be WAY less awkward if there were just ONE more Bondsmith. But who knows if THAT will ever happen!

[ratherembarrassing]

2025: week 6 and 7

previously, on ratherembarrassing, our heroine was fleeing the mothercountry for the new world...

around the world in thirteen days: so all up, i made my way through every timezone in 13 days. i... don't recommend it, i don't think. it's possible that it was less good because, uh, i didn't sleep for 2 weeks, but who the fuck can say. in any event, onward to the ununited states!

newark!: the calmest airport in the entire country?! the cute little monorail to the train station?!?! the complete lack of signage about the two different train operators and the requirement to get a completely different ticket for each????? i will never fly anywhere else ever again if i can help it.

wet dream tomato: that congestion tax really is working because the streets of midtown were quiet at midday. the vibe was really off until hours before i departed when i saw what looked to be an eight year-old smoking. a shout out to myself for dropping a pin in the three theatres i was seeing shows in on maps and booking a hotel in the middle of the triangle, because that was, actually, sweet as fuck.

theatah!: oh, mary! (lyceum theatre, broadway). as previously said, laughed so hard i nearly peed my pants in a new york theater. as not previously said, i also sucked every bit of myself up and stage door'd in the rain and told betty gilpin, through the power of close proximity, that i love and adore her. go see this.

and then i bought a coat: this truly was an endeavour. the half abandoned basement of a macy's in brooklyn could well have been where i met my end, but i lived to see another h&m and the sweetest sales girl in the world found me the last remaining coat in all of the eastern seaboard. getting this home became a whole thing.

bagel bagel bagel!: so many bagels, the most enchanting of which was one filled with birthday cake flavoured cream cheese from a BTS (the band???) themed bagel store. new york, you are so weird and i love you so much. honestly, because of the weather i was really committed to just not leaving a 4 block radius if i didn't have to (alas, brooklyn) and just wringing the weirdest shit out of those four blocks was incredibly fun. i've been visiting new york for eighteen years and lived there for long enough to pay rent three times, and i've never spent so much time in times square, but i had a fun snowy time.

also, tho: you get mobile signal with data on the subway now?!?!?!?!

theatah!: sunset blvd (st james theatre, broadway). i actually have an entire post in me about this so i'm going to just say that you are free to picture me in the world's largest puffer coat, snoopy style, attempting to melt into the floor as nicole scherzinger said she liked my good luck babe hat as it quietly midnight snowed all around us. byeeeee. (go see this, oh my god go see this!)

theatah!: death becomes her (lunt-fontanne theatre, broadway). i did not know destiny's child's michelle williams was in this until she appeared and i very rudely said out loud, oh my god that's destiny's child's michelle williams. regardless, i was three for three with bangers on this trip. go see this.

go west! life is not peaceful there: absolutely nobody appreciated the moment we were all standing on line for an aggressive pat down by the tsa at jfk when wind beneath my wings started playing over the pa system. i was not amongst my people at all, so i had to leave. on the way, i visited texas for a grand total of 5 minutes. please picture me running off my plane, dashing 3 gates down the terminal, hugging @xactodreams, and running onto the next plane.

a brief interlude: once again they let me drive on the wrong side of the road. they probably shouldn't. why are the traffic lights only on the other side of the intersection. hertz does this thing now where you can just wander around the lot and take whatever car you want, which was more stressful than anticipated.

conclave conclave: this is, actually, the entry for @tgifemslash, my beloved little gay con that you too could attend if you want to do things like, uh, sit in a circle for an hour raving madly about the various wonders of 2024 movie of the year conclave. at this point in our story i had slept very little and was about to commence 3 nights of approximately zero sleep before 4am.

taco taco taco!: i admittedly have historically not been a fan of most mexican food, entirely because it's just not good in australia. in the hands of @wanderson20 mine eyes have been opened to the glory.

traditional shoutouts: clark street diner (my favourite place on earth). the grove (why do i always end up here) (i had to buy a suitcase). erhewon or however the fuck it's spelled (i joined a cult). the nice woman at the qantas desk (thank you for not charing me to check my second suitcase (see grove, the)). panda express (lax's international terminal's only good quality).

oh also: kbox karaoke in a deserted strip mall at 9pm on a sunday in an otherwise entirely empty karaoke place is, actually, it. were there other patrons for a brief window of time, howling on the other side of the wall, or was that the ghosts of patrons never.

SHE GETS THE JOB DONE: swerved 20 minutes out of my way and paid homage at the chappell roan billboard. shout out to the other person there doing the same thing. then i had to go home :(

and then a hero comes along: entire row of seats to myself, love of my life. it's such a rare treat these days to commandeer three tiny, shitty pillows and three gross blankets, strap yourself awkwardly to a bench slightly too short for even your shortass body, and drug yourself into unconsciousness for 11 hours. amen.

and then nothing good ever happened again the end au contraire.

cannibal club!: the yellowjackets is BACK, BABY! the severance/yellowjackets double feature is the only reason to get up in the morning, tbh.

a little brunch: little molli's (abbotsford). the smoked pork neck french dip is to die for, but the blood orange cream soda is to live for.

if anything else happened, i will never remember it, good night.

[galpalkirk]

I made a post a while ago about how ttpd is the perfect loustat album. Long story short it then evolved into this playlist.

Notes on each song choice under the cut (because I'm insane and they're long):

1. Guilty as Sin? - POV Louis Ep 1x1 In throes of increasing wonder... it's all about desire and religious guilt.

2. But Daddy I Love Him - POV Louis Ep 1x1 "He ain't white, he french." Ep 1x2 "He had a way about him" He was chaos, he was revelry. Ep 1x4 I'm having his baby! The obvious forever iconic baby trapping.

Crazier - POV Louis (not on the list because of vibes but still an honorable mention) Ep 1x1 You lift my feet off the ground, you spin me around. Levitating vampire sex. Ep 1x2 You showed me something that I couldn't see, opened my eyes and you made me believe. Lestat trying to free Louis from the trappings of his life and Louis literally seeing the world differently as a vampire.

3. I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) - POV Louis Everything about them. Ep 1x2 Louis starting to see that he cannot stomach the way Lestat enjoys killing. Lestat humiliating and killing the opera singer simply because he was a bad singer. Ep 1x3 The jokes that he told across the bar were revolting and far too loud. "What is wrong with that man?!" and then add Louis actually trying to fix Lestat by having him only kill evil people.

4. False God - POV Louis and Lestat We were crazy to think, crazy to think that this could work. But we might just get away with it, religion's in your lips, even if it's a false god. I know heaven's a thing, I go there when I touch you. Honey, hell is when I fight with you. I can't talk to you when you're like this, staring out the window like I'm not your favorite town. You can't talk to me when I'm like this, daring you to leave me just so I can try to scare you. Self-explanatory.

5. Renegade - POV Lestat Ep 1x1 I tapped on your window on your darkest night, the shape of you was jagged and weak. There was nowhere for me to stay, but I stayed anyway. Louis running away from Lestat to the church to try to exorcise him from his mind and heart. Trying to keep him out rather than let him in. Ep 1x2 After the phantoms of your former self. Are you really gonna talk about timing in times like these? And let all your damage damage me? And carry your baggage up my street? And make me your future history? Louis trying to continue his life as it was before he was turned but finding it difficult in a multitude of ways. "I almost ate my nephew, Lestat!" You've come a long way, open the blinds, let me see your face. You wouldn't be the first renegade to need somebody. "You are a challenge every sunset, Saint Louis. And I'd have it no other way." Ep 1x3 You fire off missiles 'cause you hate yourself, but do you know you're demolishing me? "This is not a life!" "That's because you TOOK my life!" Louis leaving Lestat because he hates his own vampire nature. Ep 1x5 Is it insensitive for me to say "Get your shit together so I can love you?" Louis' depression after Claudia leaves. Is it really your anxiety that stops you from giving me everything? Or do just not want to? "Say 'Lestat, I am never going to love you.'" Louis never telling Lestat "I love you" during their 30 years together.

6. Bejeweled - POV Lestat Ep 1x3 and onward. Don't put me in the basement when I want the penthouse of your heart. Lestat starting and continuing his affair with Antoinette whenever he feels neglected or rejected by Louis.

7. High Infidelity - POV Lestat I just think the cheating blondes Lestat and Taylor have a lot in common. Ep 1x5 Put on your records Read your books and regret me. Lestat being ignored by Louis who is only staying inside and reading his books since Claudia left. Ep 1x5 (with additional 2x7 context) You know there's many different ways that you can kill the one you love? The slowest way is never loving them enough. "If every word coming out of his mouth is vitriol or disinterest for seven years... you don't want to. You still hope that he'll emerge out of his melancholy. That he'll love you like you love him." But in the meantime you cheat. I bent the truth too far tonight, I was dancing around, dancing around it. Lestat keeping up his affair with Antoinette after he had promised to end it. You said I was freeloading. Not related to the show but in the original novel Louis keeps saying how Lestat was exploiting him for his money.

8. My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys - POV Lestat Ep 1x5 The Fight™️ Oh, here we go again. The voices in his head called the rain to end our days of wild. The "Claudia has left" depression spanning for several years. Lestat hoping he'll "emerge out of his melancholy" but also just being sick of it because he wants to bejeweled. But first, pull the string and I'll tell you that he runs because he loves me. "I have waited, Louis. I have patiently waited in vain for you to love me, as I love you." Ep 2x7 (still The Fight™️) He saw forever so he smashed it up. Hehe, Slam Reid his face into the coffin.

9. The Great War - POV Louis and Lestat Ep 1x5 The Fight™️ 2: Electric Boogaloo I drew curtains closed, drank my poison all alone. Louis ignoring Lestat and going deeper into his depression. And maybe it was egos swinging, maybe it was her. "A thousand nights of sulking, and the first sight of her, you are just gonna up and leave me?!" Ep 2x7 (still The Fight™️) Your finger on my hairpin triggers. "A word of context for our jury. The single worst thing that a vampire can feel is loneliness." Soldier down on that icy ground looked up at me with honor and truth. Broken and blue. So I called off the troops. That was the night I nearly lost you. Louis leaving Lestat after being dropped from the sky. "I did it to hurt him. And it did hurt him. And afterwards he was a broken thing. I know, I saw, because I am the one who broke him!" Ep 1x6 We can plant a memory garden. Say a solemn prayer, place a poppy in my hair. There's no morning glory, it was war, it wasn't fair. And we will never go back to that bloodshed. The aftermath of The Fight™️. "We leave the damage so we never forget the damage."

10. imgonnagetyouback - POV Louis Ep 1x6 Whether I'm gonna curse you out or take you back to my house. I haven't decided yet, but I'm gonna get you back. Louis swimming the Mississippi to yell at and fuck Lestat after he sends him the "Come to me" record. And then taking him back. And then plotting his death to get him back.

Rest of the songs will be in a reblog because apparently you CAN reach character limit on a tumblr post...

[arcadekitten]

Hi! I've been seeing people ask some lore based and future game based questions wanted to ask some myself cause I LOVE the lore of all your games and how so many tie into each other, if any aren't too spoilery I'd love to know some of these! (SPOILERS FOR A FEW GAMES AHEAD 🥹)

1. For MNE are either Allie or Enide planned on returning in future games?

2. What terms are Enide and Reginald on? Based on the vibes of Enides note it seemed like she was in love with Reginald but he obviously doesn't feel the same, and it seems like with Enide's actions she'd be willing to go pretty far (like her actions in MNE) to get with Reginald based on the note.

3. So I know you've said Rune in Crowscare and Blackout Hospital are the same, I saw the pictures in his office but I just wanted to confirm are they still his kids in Blackout Hospital?

4. Is the creature in the basement in INMIMB be revealed or show up again? Or have they maybe been revealed without us realizing maybe?

Thank you so much in advance for listening I have a silly amount of theories on your characters universe so thought I'd ask some questions! >:D

I think so! ---

I think Enide is very pushy in trying to get Reginald to give her a chance, but she also isn't going to force anything when she realizes he really just isn't interested in her. I feel like the wording "in love" is a little intense though! She just has a crush on him right now. She sees Reginald as a friend but Reginald sees her as more of an acquaintance ---

They are the same character but not exactly the same timeline. Ryo is still Rune's son and always will be wherever they appear! Rune doesn't really consider Ingram a son but does see him as a sort of extended family and cares about him very much ---

I don't think so, INMIMB was purposely designed to be a very interpretive game and I don't want to take away from that! I know some people like to share my old concept art about what the monsters would have looked like, but that is NOT CANON and only remains as part of the bones of what was once a different story.

Thanks so much for enjoying the games, it really does mean so much to me! ♡

[upat4amwiththemoon]

Unwanted animal | part 7

Summary: Because that unwanted animal wants nothing more than to get out.

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x female!reader

Warnings: angst, mention of blood, death

Word count: 2135

a/n: last part of the series :)

Tags: @thought-of-you-and-me @rafecameronswhore @sayah13 @strangegardentaco @natashamaximoff69 @waltermis

masterlists | guidelines

All parts: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7

The morning starts off with Y/N and Natasha waking up next to each other, cuddling for a bit, and then deciding to go train together. As they’re both used to waking up early, the routine was born very quickly.

The Avengers tower is fairly empty right now as the mission that was supposed to last for one day only, has lasted for a week so far, however, this isn’t unusual when it comes to their missions, sometimes they happen to prolong. The team has been communicating with the couple every day, so they aren’t worried.

Y/N runs on the treadmill while Natasha lifts weights. She doesn’t mind not being able to join the mission anymore, she has enjoyed her time alone with Natasha. Besides, they haven’t completely alone the whole time. Carol Danvers and Peter Parker visited them once, no one had remembered to let them know the others wouldn’t be home. But the four of them had a great time together, and Y/N got to get to know the two Avengers, who don’t really spend time at the tower, better.

Her mind is in peace today. It has been the whole day. She feels assured, like nothing could go wrong.

“Are you getting tired?” Natasha teases, noticing Y/N is only jogging rather than full on running as she usually does.

Grinning, she shakes her head, “just getting started.”

“What do you want to do today?” Natasha sets down the two weights she was lifting. “I’m pretty sure the team shouldn’t be away for long anymore, they called yesterday evening and said they were wrapping up.”

“‘Kay,” Y/N mumbles, she wasn’t in the room when they called, “maybe we should just stay inside and have a lazy day?”

The two have been spending a lot of time outside these past days. Natasha insisted on showing Y/N different things, like the zoo, an aquarium, beaches, even a skatepark at the middle pf the night even though neither of them have any desire to skate, for the vibes is what Natasha had heard Peter say. And it was great.

“Sure. I’ll hit the showers, wanna join?” She has a smirk on her face that Y/N can see through the full body mirrors in front of her. “It would be very relaxing for you.”

With a roll of her eyes, Y/N stops the treadmill and hops off of it. “Show the way.” They laugh as Natasha grabs her hand and starts pulling her towards the big showers conjoined to the training room. They spend almost two hours there, in each other embrace.

When Natasha’s hair finally fully dries, she starts making her way towards the basement, where Tony has made a movie room. It’s been there for a while, but Natasha and Y/N only found it a few days ago. It still surprises Natasha how much money Tony has used on to tower over the years, but again, she shouldn’t be. He loves to use money.

There’s some pep to Natasha’s step as she descends the mountain of stairs that the tower has. She could use the elevator, but she’s feeling good, and the view from the stairs is prettier. The walls of the stairwell are fully windowed in a way they can see outside, but the people can’t see inside. Sometimes the amount of money Tony has is useful. The rest pf them don’t have to use any money on supplies or rent, if they decide to reside at the tower, though most of them would prefer if they were given a salary for the work they do.

Natasha has a smile on her face, her body is relaxed, she’s happier than ever. Her mind goes to the day they found Y/N. They received a signal from the base an hour before they arrived there, most likely send by someone inside on accident during the moving hassle. They were lucky to arrive there early enough to bring Y/N with them, even though everything else was already gone. But finding her wasn’t just good for Natasha personally, she has also helped them go forward on their mission to stop HYDRA, and they learned about the organization’s progress of copying the original Super Soldier serum. Which luckily for them, doesn’t seem to be at a critical phase yet.

She stops walking for a moment, looking down at the busy street under her. They’re all living their lives, just like Natasha is, finally. She may not have been able to fully wipe away the red from her ledger yet, but that’s okay. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. And Y/N has helped her realize that. Her hand goes up to the necklace she’s wearing. She hasn’t taken it off since she got it. It brings her warmth and security. Every time she touches it, her worried fade away, almost like it has magical powers.

Grinning, she continues walking on. After two more sets of stairs, Natasha open the door into the basement. It’s slightly cooler there, but both of them enjoy it more, especially if they end up not watching the movie that intently.

She walks through the corridor. The movie room is at the very end of it. It’s darker there than in the rest of the building. Her pulse is low and breathing steady. Only good things are going through her mind. It’s perfect.

There’s a full floor carpet in the hallway, so her steps doesn’t echo. It’s soft under her feet. She takes a step forward. And another. And anot-

A gun clicks behind her.

Natasha stops moving, every fibre or her body tensing up at the sound. She starts breathing through her mouth. Her thoughts are starting to twirl around her head, every single one getting darker and darker than the other. Is Y/N okay? Is she already dead? She curses herself inside her head for not noticing someone break into the compound, nor sneak up behind her. She’s supposed to be better than this. She’s a protector, that means she has to be vigilant at all times, ready to protect.

Slowly, she raises both of her hands in the air. She doesn’t have any weapons on her, but she wants to do everything in her power to de-escalate the situation. She can’t end up dying, not when she finally haw something to live for.

She starts turning around, her face hard to mask any emotion, just like she was taught to, but all the lessons she has received through the years go down the drain once she’s fully turned around, staring at the shooter in the eyes. Her breath hitches in her throat, her eyes fully wide now. “What are you doing?” Natasha whispers, not being able to muster up a louder voice. It’s weak. She is being weak.

“It’s nothing personal, Natasha.” She mumbles.

“This feels personal.”

The gun is in a tight grip. Natasha knows she can’t just take it, this is someone who has had the same training as her after all. She presses her teeth together, so tight it’s starting to form a headache and nausea in the back of her throat. This whole situation is making her nauseous. Her eyes are narrowed and brows furrowed as she stares her down. Usually she is the calm and collected one, but now, she can’t keep her emotions at bay. She can’t wrap her mind around a single thought.

The pitiful smile on her face makes Natasha squeeze her hands into fists, but she keeps them up. This isn’t the time for sudden movements.

Letting out a breathy laugh, Y/N tilts her head. “I understand how you’re feeling.” Her voice is quiet and level. It’s not monotone or cold like Natasha would expect in a situation like this, it’s almost warm. Which makes her feel even worse.

Natasha tries to calm herself down. It’s not happening. Her body isn’t listening. It raises her panic level. Her chest is going up and down in a quick manner. It’s visible. Her feelings are visible to the person in front of her. They always have been. She can read her like an open book, she thought it was mutual. But now, she doesn’t know what to think.

“I would apologize, but I don’t think that matters anymore.”

“Why are you doing this?” Natasha keeps staring at those eyes she has stared into so many times before.

They still look the same. Soft and bright with life. Like she’s the happiest girl in the world. But these can’t possibly be the same eyes she has gazed into with such great love. Because those eyes helped Natasha accept her past and break her hard exterior, bringing out the softness. She’s too soft now. She has to get it together, but she can’t.

“It’s just a mission.” Y/N states. “Nothing more.”

“This all has been just a mission to you?” Her voice wavers with emotion. She tries to swallow it all down, but it’s too late now, the gate is already open.

“Yes.” The word comes out so easily. There’s no hesitation behind her eyes. There’s no remorse in her voice. “Madam B sends her regards.” Y/N tightens her finger on the trigger with a smile. She isn’t shaking like Natasha is. Her feet are planted evenly on the floor, she is confident, she is ready.

Natasha’s eyes widen. No. “I killed her.”

“Did you?” She pouts. It’s mocking.

Her breathing is starting to get faster and faster as her mind wanders through the time they have been together. All the memories they’ve made. They share a bed. They’ve been naked with each other, both emotionally and physically. That’s Natasha’s other half. And she’s pointing a gun at her. She’s the enemy. But she can’t actually bring herself to think of Y/N as an enemy. She loves her with all her heart.

This can’t be happening.

Y/N swallows. She moves the gun. It’s pointing straight at Natasha’s head. She can’t move. She freezes. Gradually Natasha’s face turns into plain fear and sorrow. She’s pleading with her eyes for Y/N to stop. She’s trying to show that all those feelings between them are real, they have to be.

This isn’t real. Natasha wishes herself to wake up next to Y/N. She’d sit up and wake her girlfriend, and sigh in relief, because she’d see the love in her eyes. Those eyes she’s looking at right now. “Please.” Is the only thing that leaves her mouth. It’s quiet and broken. “I love you. You love me.” Suddenly the word feels heavy in her mouth, like something foreign.

She laughs. It makes Natasha’s heart ache. “Are you actually that delusional? That someone could love someone like you, like us.” Y/N smiles with her teeth as she watches the look on Natasha’s face. It’s broken beyond repair. “I’m sorry you couldn’t finish cleaning the red from your ledger, even though we both know that would’ve never happened. There’s too much of it to wipe away.” She whispers the last sentence, taunting Natasha.

Suddenly Natasha gets a spurge of energy to move. She goes to knock out the gun from her hand, but Y/N has trained with her too much, she knows her thought process, she knows how she fights. So, Y/N presses Natasha against the wall, her arm pressing onto her neck, choking her, and the gun still pointed at her head. Natasha starts gasping. Y/N looks like nothing even happened.

“You won’t kill me.” Y/N whispers. “You aren’t able to, because you’re weak. And that’s why I’m the best.” She kisses Natasha’s cheek, holding her lips there long enough to taste the salt from her tears. “I’ll see you in hell, yeah? Save me a seat next to you.” Keeping her eyes on Natasha’s, she pulls the trigger.

She doesn’t flinch when blood splatters to her face, or when the body drops to the ground with a thud, or when she stares at the lifeless form in front of her.

Y/N lowers her gun, putting it back to the holster tied to her pants. Kneeling next to the body, she closes the eyes and mouths a silent I love you. She rips away the necklace and steps away from the body before the blood rushing out reaches her shoes.

When she makes her way forward, she doesn’t look back, she doesn’t even think about Natasha anymore. The mission is done and she’s ready for the next one. Y/N gets out through the door in the basement, it brings her into an alley with no security cameras.

A small smirk appears on her face as she disappears into the crowd of the busy New York city.

[rothjuje]

I forgot how insanely busy life is up here. January, February, and March are dead months. No one wants to do anything, the skies are grey, it’s too cold to play outside for long. April people start to come alive again, and May is an onslaught of events. There was an entire week where every day I was double-booked, I’m still recovering.

That’s probably the biggest culture shock to me. People think I’m antisocial and weird for not wanting to run from thing to thing to thing all the time. The amount of events and things to do here that everyone else is doing that I’m expected to do is crazy. The people pleaser in me is very quickly learning how to say no. I honestly don’t know how people have the energy to keep up. I think there is a collective burnout up here. People trying to do all the things all the time. I *mourned* when it was time for winter to take over. No one else did, and now I finally get why. Winter is a break from the madness here. And, honestly, I kind of miss it.

There have been so many things rattling around my brain this month that I’ve wanted to process on here, but I’ve been running around all day long and then dealing with 15 chickens in my basement and then promptly passing out from exhaustion.

I love life in New England, it’s a delicious adventure that makes my soul feel alive, but the FOMO is real. It’s a vibe up here. It’s such the culture that today instead of chilling with the kids at home, I took them to some crazy park, and this was without any social pressure, I just felt guilty/weird about relaxing at home because it feels like a sin here.

May 21st of last year was when we first saw this house in person. I remember looking at this house online and getting a weird vibe. I told Justin a few days before our house hunting trip that “there’s a house at the top of our budget in Georgetown but I think we could get it because it’s very dated for the price.” And that is exactly what happened. I am (so) relieved everything happened the way it did. I love Groton but it is so far from the beach and everything else. Plus we’ve made a few good friends in Georgetown and I’m not sure it would have happened so easily in Groton. And the size of our town is perfect, the surrounding towns are a bit too small (no real town center or restaurants) but Georgetown has its own school district, CVS, and several restaurants including Best Bagel which also has the best coffee (we have a DD too but their coffee is no bueno). I don’t think I could go back to living in a bigger town after this, Danvers feels like the city to me and I get panicky whenever I have to go to the Target there, real first world problems over here haha.

The chickens got so big so fast. We ended up with 4 roosters we had to rehome and it broke my heart. We were down to 11 but then I rescued a buff Orpington that was injured from a feed store. I named her Honey and she is the sweetest, smartest bird. I’m obsessed with my 12 ladies (well, 11 ladies and 1 gentleman that I am going to keep), I could watch them all day. They have such an interesting social structure, I had them in 3 separate brooders and all the birds from one brooder would stay together during group time with a very clear pecking order. It was like having 3 separate flocks of birds even though they all hung out for an hour every night. The girls from two brooders were moved to the coop this weekend and the girls are still in two separate groups of 4, they barely interact with each other. I was absolutely desperate to get them out of my basement but of course now that they are outside I am rather sad about it. I’m going to love on my 4 inside still and try not to get any bad ideas like ordering Polish hatching eggs off EBay…

[total-cards]

Horror fans rise up! The cult classic movie The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is coming to our consoles in the form of a survival PVP reminiscent of Dead By Daylight! If that wasn't enough to sell you on the game, then we've got 5 epic reasons why you should invest in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre!

Welcome to the Family!

What sets The Texas Chain Saw Massacre apart from it's competition is the amount of players in the lobby. Unlike Dead By Daylight, which features 1 killer and 4 survivors, you'll be up against 3 killers! That's right, Bubba has backup! There are 5 killers to choose from: Leatherface, the Cook, the Hitchhiker, Johnny and Sissy. Each comes with their own set of abilities, as well as a selection of attributes. Their victims follow suit, with 6 different survivors to choose from and a variety of abilities to improve your survivability - this game really has a leg up on other popular titles.

Crossplay? Cross-yay!

Are all your friends on PlayStation, but you have an Xbox? Don't worry, because The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has crossplay! So no matter whether you're PC, PS5 or Xbox Series X | S, you can play with anyone at any time! As long as you're playing on a next generation console or a PC you will be able to experience all the scares together. Keep in mind though, PS4 and Xbox One users cannot play crossplay, and can only match with players on the same console.

Getting Horror Right!

With classic horror characters such as Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers having the pretty supernatural ability to disappear into thin air, the creators over at GUN Interactive and Sumo Digital wanted to make the players feel like they were immersed in the horror. To quote Ronnie Hobbs, the Creative Director over at GUN, "You don’t you see him, you know, he’s there, he’s not gonna disappear on you." Leatherface has the ability to be stealthy, and jump out on people when they're least suspecting - but he is grounded in reality, and you will see and hear him coming when that chainsaw revs up. We feel this is important to get the true vibe that the Texas Chain Saw Massacre presented to viewers back in 1974, and this upcoming game truly captures that vision.

Fight back, or use the shadows?

Forget flashlights and sabotaging hooks, in Texas the survivor is given tools of the horror trade to give them a higher chance of survival. Because who wouldn't pick up any weapon they could get their hands on when being pursued by a murderous family? Utilise objects to hold off the Slaughter Family, or protect your fellow survivors to give them the chance to slip away to safety, using bone shards from the macabre basement. But be careful, this game still features many mechanics that will let Leatherface and Co. know you're nearby. Sound traps, poison powder and a skilled hunter tracking your footprints are just some of the tricks that are up the family's sleeves, so be cautious where you walk...

The Idyllic Texas Countryside!

Take in the beauty of rural Texas as you're running for your life from a chainsaw wielding maniac. This game is truly stunning, with ambient lighting in the darker parts of the house casting shadows across the fearful survivors as they hide from the killers. But something that's quite the change from your classic horror games is the fact that Texas is set during the day. It's clear that so much thought has been put into the construction of this world, the detail is incredible and the way that the environment interacts with itself has a hyper-realism you'd expect in Triple A games from the likes of Naughty Dog or Rockstar. If you're someone who appreciates the true beauty of video games, this is one to add to your collection.

Are you ready to pick up that Chainsaw and chase down your friends? Then be sure to pre-order The Texas Chain Saw Massacre now on our site for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Xbox One/Series X!

[elitheaceofalltrades]

The Almost Gone - Game Review

Note: This review contains spoilers

I got this game in the HumbleBundle Amazing Adventures Bundle. Before this, I'd never heard of it so I went in mostly blind and with not much thoughts or opinions outside of "the art look cute" and "the concept seems cool". So let's get into the review.

The Almost Gone was a pretty short game, it took me approx. 3 hours to play in it's entirety(3 hours exact according to steam). The Game consisted of 5 Acts/Chapters and once you completed a stage, you could not go back.

The Good:

The art was absolutely gorgeous. I loved the art style, the colour palette, everything. The artists can definitely give themselves a pat on the back

The music was another highlight. I'll be honest, I'm a bit of a coward so "eeire instrumental" isn't my usual jam but the music was genuinely beautiful and really helped set the overall vibe of the game

The puzzles were engaging and difficult enough to make you think but not so difficult as to make you throw up your hands and give up. I was slightly worried that 5 chapters of a point and click game might get boring but the puzzle weren't repetitive at all and nothing felt too easy or too hard

I also have to give kudos to the creators for the handling of sensitive topics. Despite dealing with some heavy stuff, nothing was ever graphic so more sensitive games shouldn't have a problem. The most graphic thing was the police car in a tree (shown below), everything else was just inferred.

The Bad:

The ending left a lot of questions unanswered. As we go through the game we piece together the life of the MC, Emily, and her family. While it's expected for there to be some confusion initalliy with these kind of game, you generally assume that by the end you'll have a cohesive idea of what happened. That was not the case in the almost gone. Chapter 1 - 4 gives us the following information:

Chapter 1 set "a moment after" - We start off in Emily's home and we learn about her relationship with her parents and their terrible relationship with each other. It's a bit of a cliche, her parents work too much, they fight all the time, the mother is diagnosed with depression and mixes her meds with alcohol and also filed for divorce and full custody.

Chapter 2 set "an hour after" - We move outside and into the neighbourhood where we learn bits and pieces about the neighbours as well as discover that there was some sort of accident (it's where the cop car in the tree is set). We do not know exactly what happened, we just see the aftermath of it.

Chapter 3 set "30 years before" - We learn backstory about Emily's paternal grandparents. Her grandfather was an architect whose design collapsed, killing 8 people, which led to lawsuits and hatemail. He was also abusive and locked her grandmother and father in the basement. We also learn that her dad was lowkey kind of a psychopath, since we find animal bones in his childhood closet and it was implied that he killed them. One of the clues we discover also happen to be a skeleton key that unlocks all the doors in the grandparent's apartment but also has the pun of actually being made from a bird skeleton, again it's inferred by her father.

Chapter 4 set "one year after" - We learn about Emily's mother and her time at a mental hospital and the horrors endured there by her and the other patients. It is also implied that her mother died at this hospital though nothing graphic is depicted. There is no body or anything, we just enter the morgue to see one of the plaques has her mother's room number on it.

Now all of this was well and good and interesting, however the problem comes with chapter 5. I was expecting chapter 5 to be a conclusion which tied together the story in a neat little bow instead it ended up being more of an epilogue where Emily reaches a tree house her father built for her, lays down in bed and says she wants to sleep and then it cuts to credits. It was great to uncover the mystery of who is emily and what happened to her but instead of getting that "aha" moment where it all comes together you're left with your little notepad of disjointed information. I inferred from the sleep as well as the strikethrough in almost that Emily has now passed on and we were in some weird in between state. However I have seen some others question is we were playing while Emily was in a coma and it ended with her waking up. I disagree since "things ending with a character going to sleep" has always been a metaphor for death but to each his own. So while I can be satisfied that in knowing that Emily died, I spent 3 hours playing a game and I cannot tell you know. We know there was an accident that ended with one police car in a tree, another car on fire and death in the neighbourhood but what exactly caused the accident? why the police were in the area to begin with? what happened? We get no answers what so ever. We also have no idea what happened to her father. There are some videos, threads and posts out there that try to piece together a cohesive narrative of what exactly happened but from the game itself we have no clear answer. I think that in trying to not be too graphic about certain things that the creators ended up being too vague on details and that's why we're left with a lot of questions.

In conclusion? I gave The Almost Gone 3 out of 5 stars. The game was beautiful and interesting but the payoff did not match it's potential and in trying to not be too graphic, the creators ended up being too vague on important parts of the story.

Final Rating:⭐⭐⭐

~Eli

Ace of All Trades, Pro at None😆

Buy me a coffee

[castlebyersafterdark]

let's just hc byler + byclair instead then

so... are mike and lucas sharing will politely or does it get frisky? are mike and lucas getting into each other or are they strictly there for will? and lastly who spends more time watching which two together??

hmmmmmmm

(i am enjoying the latest byclair resurgence cos one of my fav little details from s3-s4 was people tagging any lucas and will s3 posts with the tag 'byclair heart soared' which is sooo adorable

These are both older and I put them off because I kind of like the concept in general, but I don't have many ideas myself for a Mike-Will-Lucas situation (even if they are the characters for my three favorite actors from the show). My multi-shipping is specific and situational.

I love the friendships between them all? Lucas and Mike are so interesting because they have conflicts about the how but the why is usually the same. Like they stand for the same things and both try to be leaders but the methods may clash. That's a fun friendship. And they are next door neighbors - underutilized concept. And Will and Lucas have a really sweet friendship. Never forget that Lucas was just as determined as Mike to find Will in season 1 and never forget that Lucas also biked through the rain to apologize in season 3. I firmly, firmly believe that if Will was in Hawkins in season 4 - Will would have found a way to delay the Hellfire campaign and if not, he'd have absolutely gone to Lucas's basketball game anyway.

I do HC Lucas as totally straight but for imagination or fanfic-y purposes, pretend that's not the case. Ideas for fics I will probably never write but hmmm brainstorming:

Mike and Lucas who are going through it with love after Max dumps Lucas again and avoid him and El and Mike not back together when she and Will move away. Mike depressed. Lucas confused. Sneaking out to hang out because they're neighbors. Long talks in Mike's basement. Maybe they experiment a little 👀 Why not? Mike opened up to Lucas and Lucas was confused but stayed a confidant. He got curious too. They fool around a bunch but ultimately Lucas is straight and Mike is... still confused. Of course he is.

The Party having a party. Drunken confessions, Will admits having a crush on Lucas when they were younger. Jealous Mike, proud and flattered Lucas. Drinks flowing. Will dares Mike and Lucas to kiss - he is very drunk and very gay and wants to see. They kiss and Will is so into watching it. But he wants to join in. He kisses Lucas, then they all have a fun night, it's a whole drunken thing.

Something something Mike and Will talk and talk and decided they DO want to have a threesome and are not into finding a stranger, because the vibe of the moment is specific. Somehow they land on Lucas. Mike and Lucas don't really want to indulge each other much - this is mostly for Will. It's all about worshiping and taking Will apart because he's expressed a secret desire to take two guys at one time. Will, Will, Will 😏😏 Hell yeah he would. So. That's what happens here.

I'm not very into poly relationships but I can entertain the fun idea of a Party polycule where Mike, Will, Lucas, and Max all live in NYC. Mike and Will date and are together, serious relationship. But sometimes Will and Lucas fool around and go out. Lucas is dating Max in the same way Mike and Will are dating each other. Sometimes it's Will with both Mike and Lucas on his arm (this is my husband and this is my boyfriend kinda vibes heehee). Sometimes it's Mike/Will/Lucas on rare special occasion. Max is not "involved" with Mike or Will because they're both gay but they're all a little freaky and Max might observe sometimes, especially Lucas with Will. Party polycule!

[sanchoyo]

anyway. youtuber OC AU

-mira would have a sakura-hime/magical girl manga/anime focused analysis and theory channel. all of her videos are like 3-4 hours long and involve corkboards. she posts on a very strict regular schedule. she WILL argue in the comments too. until masayume is made the comment moderator and she is RUTHLESS with blocking comments that even dare suggest her girl is wrong, lmao. masayume is well known as her mod and will usually leave very long comments of her own on mira's videos (she is also one of the first ppl to view each of them) that will get voted to the top (and theres always people replying like 'how are you so fast and also on ALL of her videos??' and other people being like 'lol hii mod masayume thanks for your hard work <3!!' she doesnt have a huge following, it's kind of niche, but there is a Small dedicated fanbase.

-persimmon's channel has an ungodly amount of subscribers, like well over 5 mil. she does GRWM/makeup stuff and storytimes + vlogs. shes got a very chill vibe while talking abt the most insane stories u can imagine. and then sometimes she'll upload a wildcard video like 'i made a wardrobe app then programmed my mirror to it so I can play dressup IRL before getting dressed' and people are like. are you an engineer too, what?? and she'll just drop the github code for the thing with easy instructions like nbd. all of her titles are lowercase and theres never clickbait even if they can sound like it 'the time i worked at a shady cafe with a dark secret in the basement'...

-aqua would have the vibe of very early poppy content. like kind of ominous artsy stuff that isnt very long or its just her filming tiny snippets of things she thinks are cool and posting with no description. she had no following until some rando found it, got confused, and posted to reddit, where a bunch of theories about it got started. people are convinced its some kind of ARG and are trying to solve it. theres nothing to solve, but aqua thinks its really cute and will make references to the ARG/fake hints because it seems like people are having fun?? shes not actually TRYING to be weird or mysterious about anything?? occasionally she'll cameo in persimmon's videos and people are like 'crossover of the century?? how do they know each other???'

-sapote would be someone who had a lot of controversies/problematic content in the past but since has mellowed out and just does random podcast guest appearances and has her own now that she posts to youtube only. she will have the most random guests on from both the mews and aliens side and talk about basically anything. a lot of people dont like her still but no one can really deny her content is very entertaining (trashy reality tv kind of funny) and she's gone viral several times. when people find out her and persimmon (who has a mostly positive rep) are related they lose their minds and persi ends up having to block all comments abt sapote on her videos. she's the type you'd think 'wow i used to watch them all the time as a kid, wonder what theyre doing now..' then when you check you're floored at how much she's calmed down!!

-queen has a science channel where she explains really difficult concepts in accessible ways, usually in bite-sized videos to make them even more digestible. arilla would keep her on a good schedule for posting (I do not think she would have a decent schedule on her own, he would basically be her channel manager) her videos would have a verrrry high production value. she would be a youtube darling whose praised for being unproblematic and helpful, until the internet goes CRAZY at some big scandal she does. if youre wondering what the scandal is you'll have to watch a like, 5 hour explanation video because its so convoluted and several other youtubers of other genres are involved?? she goes awol for like a month to lay low them comes back with a ukulele apology. it is very passive aggressive and never directly addresses what shes apologizing for, either

-cara would not be a youtuber. she's a tumblrina.

[danpuff-ao3]

Hello! i dont know if your asks were open for asks like these so feel free to ignore it i was just drawn to your blog ^^! I was wondering what house would i be sorted into based on my big 3, sun in scorpio, rising in aquarius and moon in cancer <3

Oh hello! Feel free to send in whatever, and on the off chance I'm not comfortable or unable to help I'll let you know. :) This, though, seems fun! So let's see...

I'll begin with these fun facts:

The 4 Houses line up with the 4 elements. Gryffindor is fire, Hufflepuff is earth, Ravenclaw is air, and Slytherin is water.

Generally, in astrology, you see fire + air working well together, and earth + water working well together. Air feeds fire, water nourishes earth. That's a quick shortcut for getting an idea of how the signs get along. And it's interesting to me that Ravenclaw (air) and Gryffindor (fire) are both towers, while Huflfepuff (earth) and Slytherin (water) are both down below (in basement and dungeons respectively.)

So air you think...well...air. And the sky maybe. Flying. Link fire to the sun and the stars. Air and fire tend to be more outward/extroverted type signs. Whereas earth and water tend to be more reserved, and inward-focused. Earth, under the ground. Water, and how the Slytherin common room has a view beneath the lake. I could probably write a whole essay linking why each element works for each house, but that brief overview is probably good enough for now.

Let's talk about you.

Knowing what we know of the houses + elements, we can link Sun - Scorpio - Slytherin, Moon - Aquarius - Ravenclaw, and Rising - Cancer - Slytherin. But nothing is so simple, right? Ideally, I'd have more of your chart to work with. What if, say, all the other planets were in Libra? That would tip the scales in Ravenclaw's favor. But what if they're all in Sagittarius? Well, that would give us a lot of signs pointing to Gryffindor.

But let's dive deeper into the information we do have.

Cancer rising, very simplistically, means you give off Cancer vibes. Hard outer shell, soft innards. A creature of comfort, reserved, sensitive, protective of the self, and one's own. Cancer could belong to Hufflepuff just as well, for the sense of loyalty and the ties to the home. The nurturing energy of Cancer might give Hufflepuff vibes. But I still see it as more Slytherin energy, and Slytherin's value of fraternity. Especially with how skeptical others are of Slytherin, and their bad reputation; mama bear would come out full force then, yeah?

Slytherin is resourceful; again, link that to the home and nurturing and caring for one's space and people. Self-preservation is another Slytherin trait, which again, very Cancer.

Hufflepuff is patient and kind. We can link that to Cancer's sensitive, compassionate nature. And Hufflepuff's work ethic can be seen in Cancer's determination to care for what matters to them. But I still see the Cancer energy being more defensive in nature, and get more of a Slytherin vibe, though a case could be made for Hufflepuff.

Moon in Aquarius. With Cancer rising, Cancer is ruled by the moon, which makes the moon your chart ruler. So the lunar energy here is a little more prominent, and your moon placement a bit more vibrant.

Aquarius is the humanitarian. It is very focused on others, and the betterment of society. Promoting the welfare of others. We can see this in Hufflepuff's sense of fairness and justice, but also Gryffindor's sense of chivalry and righteousness.

Aquarius is also a bit of an oddball. Mad scientist vibes. They value individuality, independence, progressiveness, etc. Aquarius is rebellious. We can link that to Gryffindor's boldness and nerve. Bravely standing tall in one's radish earrings, by chance? But there's also a sense of creativity there, yeah? That's quite Ravenclaw.

What really tips Aquarius into the Ravenclaw territory is, again, that mad scientist mindset. Experimentation, progressiveness, knowledge. Aquarius is very intellectual. Seeking new insights, and invention. They go against the grain and march to the beat of their own drum, but it's all about spreading awareness and trying new things and learning from those trials and errors.

Finally, the sun...the sun is our core selves, our ego, our inner light. For you, that's Scorpio. I do love a good Scorpio. While Cancer has more defensive nature, Scorpio has a more offensive nature. They're not sitting around defending the home base. Scorpio is a predator. A sneaky, conniving, clever predator.

Scorpio is intense, blunt, suspicious. It can be obsessive and passionate. It's a water sign; water is emotion. But that level of feeling leaves one vulnerable, and scared. Water signs can be withdrawn and reserved for this. Scorpio is curious, and intuitive. Very perceptive. There is a fascination with what is dark and hidden. What is taboo, and strange.

This lends an air of mystery, I think. Scorpio doesn't want to show too much, but it's hard to fully contain all of that really heavy, intense energy. They can be so magnetic. And they're wicked smart. Manipulative, even. Ambitious.

Where Cancer is protective, Scorpio is more possessive. But both can tie into that sense of fraternity, and self-preservation. They are determined, ready to go the mile; Scorpio is stubborn.

Of all the signs, Scorpio really is the biggest baddest Slytherin energy. They are so aware of everything; they seek out all information they can, either to keep in their back pocket on a rainy day, or to use to their advantage.

This all sounds a bit much, I know, but we have to look at where Scorpio is coming from. It cares so much, arguably too much; they're driven by fear and stubbornness; they play the game maybe to win, or maybe just to get a head start on keeping their heads above water.

We can maybe point Scorpio's stubborn tenacity to Hufflepuff. And it's cleverness and curiosity to Ravenclaw.

Without knowing more, better be....

SLYTHERIN!

But the Hat might tinker with the idea of Ravenclaw a bit.

Again, this is all speculation. Knowing the sign placement of the other inner planets would help. Having the full chart would be better, if only to see the angles at play and if that changes the impact of a given planet. There's a lot to astrology so I always need to warn people to take what I say with a grain of salt. You know yourself better than I do! And all of us humans are complicated creatures :)

Thanks for the ask, this was fun to look at and think about!

[liketheinferno2]

Can I have an explanation on the P8 scene if you're comfortable with it? I genuinely don't know how people are getting rape vibes from this and I feel like I'm losing my mind a little bit?

You've read me wrong, I'm the one seeing it. The reveal over abyssos is that Lahabrea found out his wife was doing [intentionally ambiguously very bad mad science thing] to their son and that altercation ended with her death. They do not explain what she specifically is doing because I don't believe it actually matters, the point they want to hammer into your head by repeating these words is that she wanted to use and discard Erich's 1. body, 2. mind 3. heart and 4. soul.

(When Hephaistos is speaking, you can understand it to be Athena's intentions instead of Lahabrea's because he's both of them, and/or a part of Lahabrea that let Athena's desires supersede any of his own.)

By the time Erich hands himself over he's briefly hysterically infatuated with a character that at this point you think is just his long murdered mother but it's not like that, and is in fact more implied that she's "warped" him into that kind of idolizing dependence on purpose.

The other reveal is that she was also using and discarding Lahabrea's body mind heart and soul of course, both emotionally and uhhh reproductively. And that... soul bonding scene that was so weird and charged and intimate is something she plainly tricks him into doing. She initiates it on the promise of revealing something important to him, expecting him to go for it because he loved her (also warped into existence just like Erich's love) (have I mentioned they're basically the same design? He looks nothing like his mother for a reason) and what she actually tries to do is convince him she's right and let her keep hurting Erich along with the rest of her experiments.

She's not even surprised when he immediately refuses this and freaks out afterwards and cuts out the whole half of his soul that is capable of vulnerability because she had a contingency plan for that. And also Erich is tied up and unconscious and 12 years old in the room with them in her horrible secret basement. Eugh.

Ye Olde Metaphor Incest is in no way a new thing for this series or the specific writer I believe did Pandaemonium, but also I feel like... With XIV in particular, when some physical act is either left vague or just has completely unreal fantasy sci fi trappings to it, you're left to judge what it equates to by how characters talk about or AROUND it, and the levels of intensity that they respond to each other's actions. Here the focus is very strongly on body-related evil done to a child and the characters react to it with intensity such as "this is has immediately made me decide to kill my beloved wife if I cannot make her stop right now."

The other part is that I don't think Erich's character entirely makes sense at this point without that, for lack of better justification Ishikawa's characters are often painfully and specifically "real" in a way only someone who has known that type of person would be able to identify... That's influenced my perception a bit but I don't know. This was all very clear to me first go even without it.

[beepboop358]

Anti-Byler Argument Refuttals

Although I discussed all of this in my Byler Proof master slides post, I wanted to do a separate post specifically just refutting the most common anti-byler arguments.

1. "Mike and El's relationship is too developed" and "They have been through too much together to break up now!"

This is probably the thing I hear the most when people argue that Byler will never happen. The weirdest part of this argument is that people assume that they will never drift apart, and that they will never ever break up, as if we didn't just see them drift apart, break up, and not officially get back together in S3? Yes, they have both been through a significant amount of trauma, but their relationship is not as developed as people think it is, they barely even know each other really. They spent a week together in S1, then El was gone for a year. Mike and El don't reunite until the very end of S2, probably a few days after halloween. If we work out the timeline between Halloween of 1984 and July 4th of 1985 in S3, that's 246 days, so it's actually less than a full year they have spent together, getting to know each other.

The “development” people argue that Mike and El have just doesn't stand up. Mike and El do not have intimate conversations, their conversations are incredibly awkward, and they just kiss frequently in the beginning of S3 before they break up. That's not development. Hopper even refers to their constant kissing as "not normal and not healthy." Mike couldn't tell El he loves her to her face, which is a parallel to the failed relationship of Stancy where Nancy couldn't tell Steve she loved him, and we later find out it's because she doesn't, which all happens during the blank makes you crazy scene that is extremely similar to Robin's coming out scene. And yes, Mike and El have endured a lot of trauma together, but so has the rest of the group and people don't seem to use this argument the same way with the other couples, or between the friendships. History doesn't determine the future if there's no feelings involved, things can always change. This is idea of staying in a relationship where there is no real love but there is history/benefits is hinted at in S3 when Mike dresses almost identically to both of his parents.

2. "Look at how much Mike cares for El! They're in love!"

No, they're not, and how they treat each other proves that they're not. I firmly believe neither Mike nor El is seriously, romantically in love with each other.

If Mike was really deeply, romantically in love with El, why did he treat her like he did in S3? If he really cares about her that much, why did he wait for Lucas to guide him at all times in matters regarding his relationship with El, instead of just taking initiative, but he does take initiative with Will? Why can't her apologize to her? Why wasn't Mike more upset about El dumping him? Why couldn't he tell El he loves her to her face? Why did he consistently lie to her throughout the whole show? Why did he stop calling her in S2? Why did he give up and say she was dead, but never gave up on Will? Why did he scream in her face in S1? And no - it isn't because he's just shy or awkward. Mike doesn't act like he is truly in love with El because he isn't. He is projecting his feelings for Will onto El, and he is deeply in denial about his sexuality due to his internalized homophobia and hasn't fully processed how he feels about Will throughout the series (up until the ending of S3). And why does Mike have such an odd reaction to El saying she loves him if he does love her? If he loves her that should be exactly what he wants to hear, so why does he look so confused and scared? And why doesn't he just say it back right then?

El isn't seriously, romantically in love with Mike. They meet in S1, and he immediately takes her in, saving her life. He looks out for her, and actually cares if she is okay, and no one has ever done that for her before. El was abused her whole childhood until Mike lets her live in his basement. He was the first person to treat her like a human being, and show her compassion, which she has never experienced before. It makes total sense that she would cling to their relationship like a security blanket. Mike is an emotional attachment for El. He makes her feel safe, because of how he saved her life previously. El has very limited knowledge of love, life, friendship, relationships, and social behaviors since she was locked in a lab for over a decade of her life, she was never truly exposed to these concepts like the other kids in the party were. Everything El thinks she knows about love she learns from watching soap opera's alone in Hopper's cabin. Of course her perception of what romantic love is, is warped. If El was seriously romantically in love with Mike, why was their break-up no big deal to her? Why was she smiling, laughing and looking at pictures of boys with Max right after she supposedly dumped the love of her life? Why did she not seem even the slightest bit upset about it the entire season?

If they're both seriously in love, then why are their interactions so awkward to watch and why does it feel so unnatural and forced? Why don’t Mileven’s interactions feel romantic? The official released scripts on 8flix describe several Mileven scenes as "awkward". It's no coincidence that detail was included in the script.

3. "But they already have Robin"

I mean this comment basically means that sense the show already has one confirmed lgbtq+ character, there can't possibly be any others. What?! There isn't a "one gay character limit per TV show". This comment really bothers me because it reeks of homophobia. If you don't ship Byler that's fine, but refusing to even explore the possibility there could be more than one lgtbq+ character in a TV show just because one already exists? Yeah no. Queer people existed in the 80's, definitely more than just one, so capping out the amount of queer characters in the show is just icky.

Also, Robin was not originally written to be a gay character. It was decided during the filming process that Robin should be a lesbian, because Maya Hawke and Joe Keery were not getting romantic vibes between their characters. Just because the show introduced a new gay character in S3, it does not mean the queercoding of Will and Mike is erased to make room for Robin, and keep Mileven together. Making Robin a lesbian, does not cancel out Mike and Will being gay/liking each other, and the show's future plans for byler.

4. "Mike's not gay."

Does this seem straight to you?

Giving your girlfriend a drawing of your male best friend, that was drawn by him, but telling her it's your drawing so she'll hang it up on the wall you coincidentally face while you make out with her, to remind you of him.

Taking your girlfriends hands off of you while you're making out with her, and keeping your hands folded in your lap away from her.

Only being able to apologize to said male best friend and being more emotionally invested in that relationship than your relationship with your girlfriend.

Mike is the only other person besides Will pictured in close up shots with rainbow and fruit imagery.

Even the die-hard Mileven fans have to admit that's more than a little coincidental, and if we know anything about the Duffer brothers, it's that they love incorporating intricate details in their show to reveal things about the characters/plot.

If you want more examples, some images, or just a more in-depth analysis of byler throughout the series, I suggest you check out my Byler Proof master slides :)

[theenbynightingale]

Rating Total Drama ships that showed up when playing with the generator! (Pt. 17)

Did you miss me? No? TOO BAD!

Alejandro and Duncan (or AleDuncan): So after Gwen got eliminated in World Tour and that god awful story line ended, Duncan was shifted to being the new archrival (who wasn’t Heather) to Alejandro and they had some pretty fun interactions. Like Aleheather, it was a case of knowing both were very manipulative and them trying to one up each other while still having a slight twinge of respect. Not as good as Aleheather, but still interesting. Rating: 7.5/10

Bridgette and Noah (or Broah): Remember in World Tour when Noah started hugging on Bridgette? Most people don’t because they’re afraid to head canon Noah as bi/pan/other for some reason. Anyway, what were we talking about? Oh, yeah. This is dumb. Their only interaction I can remember was her writing him off as a creep. Rating: 3/10

Brick and Rock (or Brock): Love that name but the ship? I guess, opposites attract. One’s a basement dweller and the other is large and charge. Would it work? Who’s to say? But I’d rather Rock get with Brick than with Taylor. Rating: 6/10

Dave and MacArthur (or DaveArthur): Not a fan. Like at all. MacArthur is somehow much less toxic than Dave was and I get the feeling that Mr. Clean over here would be kind of grossed out by her. But she’d put him in his place and maybe give him some perspective so. Rating: 4/10

Gwen and MacArthur (or GwenArthur): Not a fan of this one also. But Gwen slowly tries to open herself up to people once she actually gets to know people so, even if she didn’t like MacArthur at first, they’d either start to form a dynamic or become enemies. Knowing them, there’s no in between. Rating: 5/10

Gwen and Owen (or Gwoen): No but they have an underrated friendship. They’re a lot of fun together and it’s not surprising they ended up as the first pair of finalists. Also, I know Owen has mentioned being attracted to Gwen but like... Who wouldn’t be? Rating: 4.5/10

Jay and Beth (or Jeth): This could seem too obvious but I also feel like they’d bond with each other pretty easily. Maybe not a main ship but one that would develop in the background. It’d be cute without taking up too much screen time. Rating: 6.5/10

Jo and Stephanie (or Jophanie): This is interesting because I don’t know whether they’d vibe with each other or become mortal enemies. Or both, it’s entirely possible. Oh, shit... ENEMIES TO LOVERS! Ok, this got extra points for that. Rating; 7/10

Leshawna and Noah (or Lenoah): She’d purposely snap him in half without even trying. And you know what? That shit probably had it coming. Rating: 3/10

Rodney and Anne Maria (or Rodanne): Again, I find it hard to ship almost anyone with Rodney since he has that weird “I’m attracted to this girl so I’m convinced we’re dating now” thing going on. I can see him getting attracted to Anne Maria (can ya blame him) but I’d rather ship him with professional help. Rating: 4/10

Rodney and Courtney (or RodCourt, cuz there’s no other way to combine their names): Again, it’s easy to see him becoming a Courtney simp (again, can ya blame him) but rather then being a one-off joke, she would definitely use it to her advantage. It’d be interesting to see at that level but absolutely shouldn’t go further than that. Rating: 4/10

Ryan and Sanders (or Ryders): Easy to see them together but they could also be a little too vanilla together. Putting the two straight men together could be a bit of a boring story. Besides, I’m Team Sanders/MacArthur. Rating: 5.5/10

Ryan and DJ (or RyJ): Another one that would be easy to see happening but probably more interesting. We all know DJ’s not afraid to let his gentle side out and I think he could definitely help Ryan with that. Just these two gentle giants. That’s nice. Rating: 8/10

Stephanie and Duncan (or Stephuncan): This would make him appreciate Courtney so much more. He’d be begging on his knees (shout out to Victoria Justice) for her to take him back. I like Stephanie and I think she’s funny but she’s also scary as fuck. Rating: 3/10

Sugar and Sierra (or Sugerra): No because I just hate Sugar and I’ve only recently warmed up to Sierra but the idea of her watching those weird commercials Kid Sugar was in at a young age and falling in love is pretty funny on paper. As a one off gag. And nothing more. SERIOUSLY THESE TWO WOULD BE REALLY FUCKING DISTURBING TOGETHER- Rating: 3/10

[sammy8d257]

Please, explain the third act of the game to someone who only knows inscryption through your blog

(maybe that'll help with the ava au!)

HMM! Good idea!

God knows ACT 3 is incomprehensible if you just look at my blog alskglsjs

Spoilers for ACT 3 under the Read More!

Okay so ACT 3 is similar in style to ACT 1. It's a 3D environment in first person perspective, only this time, its P03 who's in charge. As such, everything is stylized like its game! The big game mechanic changes are the use of Energy Cards rather than Beast cards, the introduction of 5 lanes instead of 4 lanes, and that this game mode is no longer a roguelike but more like Dark Souls where if you die, you drop your robobucks and get sent back to your last checkpoint. Theres also the inclusion of Mox Gems but that's later in the game.

(I just took these images from google but they give the general vibe of this section)

The basic gist of it is that at the end of ACT 2, P03 hijacks the game and using bits of the OLD_DATA (a messed up and evil thing buried beneath the code of the game) it takes over in the same way as Leshy did. Now P03 is in charge and it has a job for you. You need to play its game and complete "The Great Transcendence"! What is the "Great Transcendence"? Oh, you'll see.

Just like in ACT 2, there are 4 areas of the game board to visit. Each one is themed after one of the 4 Scrybes and each has a themed Uberbot as that section's miniboss. If you've seen drawings of a bot named G0lly, that's where she comes from!

Just like in ACT 1, in ACT 3 after the battery of the holographic board dies, it will allow you to stand up from the table and move around its factory for the rest of the game. You can solve puzzles and find secrets and stuff. Eventually, one of the cameras is mysteriously broken and P03 sends you to go fix it.

As it turns out, instead of turning its fellow Scrybes into cards, P03 just locks them in the basement of its facility. Which I find incredibly funny because it's only locked by a "Are You A Robot" Captcha. The 3 Scrybes are pissed. They warn you that P03 is going to far with its "Great Transcendence" and that it must be stopped. They task you to keep the bot distracted while they escape and put an end to P03's rule.

And you do. You play through the rest of P03's game and when you head back to the start to begin the "Great Transcendence", P03 reveals that it was all a ruse to use your computer to upload Inscryption to the Steam store. That way millions of people will be able to play the game and P03 would be in charge of most of them.

It begins the "Great Transcendence" and well...

The Scrybes fulfill on their promise to stop P03 and Leshy and Magnificus urge you to use the "New Game" option to reset the game. Grimora on the other hand has a different plan. Using the file access folder (from the Uberbot Archivist fight) she gives you to option to delete the game. And you do.

Which leads us into The Epilogue. Which I'm not gonna explain in this post because this is already getting kinda long.

This is the bare bones basic plot of ACT 3 but I hope it was helpful! Theres a lot more nuance and details in this ACT but for sake of time, thats about all is needed for now.

For my Animation vs Inscryption needs, I think writing this out has definitely helped! I think I have a much clearer picture on how ACT 3 with the Stick Figures would go!

Thank you for this ask Anon!