#and frankly at this point i wanted to set them on fire because going through the bg tag and seein 10 posts about him for any post not even

[coffeeworldsasaki]

Uh when you're in a tag posts with blocked tag don't show up?

[andy-wm]

Back to WHO : the MV

This is a continuation of the earlier post that discusses the song WHO, by Jimin. That post was a first impression focused on the lyrics - while this one looks more closely at the MV.

(Remember this is my interpretation, not an official statement by Hybe)

The more times I watched the music video, the more I wanted to yell, because look...

IT'S REALLY STARING US IN THE FACE.

And again, kudos to Jimin's team because it's the most obvious thing in the world ever but only if you ALREADY KNOW what's going on.

Here's a summary:

The music video loosely represents Jimin's attraction/sexuality/love life as a timeline.

New colours - a new spectrum shall we say - filter into his life even though he's trying so hard to 'keep to the program'.

He searches high and low for a girl to love, but alas, nobody makes the fireworks happen for him. Then Billboard Boy crashes into his life, threatening to destroy everything. Jimin has to weather the storm and figure out where his place is because Billboard Boy is a major disruptor - a tornado in fact. In the end, the fireworks are popping and the chaos is happening, and Jimin has to just go with it and finds his place again. His colours have been getting brighter and louder as he goes along and in the end he's prepared to walk away from everything in order to be the spectrum he is.

<<I'm not saying it's literally a count of how many girls or boys or enbys he's kissed. I hope his kissed all of them and then some, frankly, but that's none of my business.>>

A few things to pay special attention to:

Burning cars > cars = masculinity. fire = hot. 1+1=2.

Dancers > people he's interacting with

Rough weather, as represented by the wind-whipped papers and eventually even cars being tossed about the set > His attraction to men (and dare I say it, culminating in a focus on one man in particular)

Colour flares, machine text, and marks on the tape (horizontal lines etc)

Are you ready? Let's go...

Jimin enters the scene looking like sex on legs (no surprises) and strolls casually onto the road. Immediately our view of hm is blocked by a pop-art style poster blowing across the screen. It's immediately followed by a car coming around the corner onto the road. The car is on fire. Jimin watches it pass by and follows it.

He follows the burning car.... and so it begins.

The narrative starts from before BTS even exists. Jimin encounters several female dancers who he has brief and sexy interludes with. In fact i don't think there's a single woman in this MV who he doesn't at least look at. He really does try everything (and everyone) in his efforts to find HER.

BUT WAIT.... rewind...

Let's go back to the poster... it depicts a street scene much like the one we see here, with the words:

WHO IS!! TORNADO OF LOVE

Note: those are exclamation points not question marks.

It's not a question. This is telling us UP FRONT IN BIG LETTERS that 'WHO' is tornado of love.

I could probably stop here and just say 'ok go watch it again' but it's too much fun to go through all the details.

So let's continue...

Jimin has a little more steamy choreo with the female dancers before the lyrics tell us he has so many people to see and places to go, and he leaves them and joins 6 other men in what looks like a work environment....

Hello we are BTS!

Yes you guessed it... like Yoongi did in Haegum, Jimin has his members represented here. (Fan chant going off in my head...) and more delicious choreography follows.

Notice that while Jimin was dancing with the girls, the only signs of rough weather were a few glittery specs floating through the air, barely noticable. Those bits of glitter multiply when he joins the 6 men, and instead of a sprinkling of glitter, it starts looking like a light snowfall.

That's all about to change....

The first moment of reckonning:

At the end of this section of choreo, as Jimin sings 'who is my heart waiting for' and moves into the next phase we have a barely visible flash of light across the screen and rainbow colours bleed into the footage (at 1.14).

This is also the moment the significant rough weather starts. I'd say this is where Jimin starts noticing how he feels, and the turmoil begins, because this is also where he makes eye contact with the camera (1.23).

He sees us watching.

Fuck. I had a moment here. There's a look on his face as he walks past the camera and stares right into it.

AUTO CALLIBRATION...

As another millisecond flash of light and rainbow colours seep into the footage, The machine text 'AUTO CALLIBRATION' appear on the screen and flash there for a couple of seconds.

CALLIBRATE: To standardise... by determinning the deviation from a standard so as to ascertain the proper correction factors (Meriam-Webster definition).

"Get a hold of yourself, Jimin. Reset (your behaviour and desires) to correspond with expectations"

Jimin makes a very determined bee-line for the nearest girl and dances with her, ignoring the burning car in the foreground.

This brings us to the next phase of the narrative, and the next location - the performance space in front of the OASIS cinema.

(Do you see the doors of the cinema - BTS referenced again).

As he dances with this girl, the camera zooms out and we see that a crowd has gathered outside the cinema, watching them, but the crowd does not seem friendly and the dance seems performative - the movements are exagerated and obvious. The girl has Jimin in a headlock at one point and then she pushes him away and leaves. All in all it's an unpleasant event.

At this point the BTS members return (Although now there's one missing) and they dance with and around a number of female dancers. flashes go off in the crowd as the choreo is performed.

As they dance the wind picks up quickly and papers and cans are blown about. Even when Jimin is obviously interacting with female dancers the weather continues to pick up. Dancing with the girls isn't helping.

The camera pulls back and we see the same car as before, still on fire.

This is the moment when the penny (or billboard) drops.

All the other dancers scatter, dissapearing in a matter of seconds as the billboard comes crashing down. The billboard blocks his path. Wherever he had been planning to go - or whatever course of action he had planned to take - this man on the billboard forces a new decision. Jimin has to rethink his plans.

Jimin turns and goes in the opposite direction to everyone else. (A similar scene occured in Like Crazy, Jimin going the other way, rejecting the norm, going against the tide).

The machine text flashes "REWIND ... REWIND" on the screen and we see Jimin heading back to where all this started... where the original car on fire was seen.

He's travelling his own path now, but as he walks, alone in what seems to be the wrong direction, we see the store lights brighter, reflecting off cars and filling the space around him.

He's going through the motions with the girls he passes but the interactions are brief and in one case he actually dodges the girl completetly.

He retraces his steps amidst the chaos, and the weather really goes nuts. Now there are cars being thrown through the air, streetlamps exploding. The storm is almost upon him.

As Jimin steps into that original street again, the one with the neon letters spelling BLISS, the machine text reads PLAY. It's almost ike he's having a redo, where he accepts who he is from the start and allows the chaos to happen. And the chaos DOES happen, because the tornado has arrived.

THE TORNADO OF LOVE.

There's a flash and the whole screen is flooded with colours, blanking out the footage.

Jimin can no longer dance in step with everyone else at this point. He's doubled over, belting those high notes at the climax of the song while the chaos rages in the background. Without the music to give his actions context, it almost looks like hes in agony.

Sparks fly, lights flash, even the film itself is affected...

He eventually gets it together and rejoins the choreography, picking up his life so to speak. But his callibration is forever changed. the colours that bled into his life are there for good now, and and as he walks away after the music stops, we see that those colours are not just for the performance, they exist outside of that.

A note about the light flares we see throughout the MV:

It was really hard to catch these, some of them were literal milliseconds. I had to slow the MV down to play at .25 original speed and even then they were fleeting - well hidden.

Only the one at the very end was really visible.

In this one, the word PAUSE appears, as the MV ends. I wonder if that relates to their military service?

The flares of light and colour, those rainbow flashes, aren't always easy to find. Youvhave to be prepared to seek them out.

We will find them if we look for them, but i think Jimin won't show his true colours until after the lights go down and the performance is over.

I respect his decision (if that's what that is) and i will continue to meet him here his stands. I'll support everything he does knowing what I know and I'll continue to search for and uncover the hidden messages he sends us.

[lizzychanstuffss]

Hi, I saw you were taking prompts! Could you write something where human Tav (or any non-darkvision race) and Astarion are exploring somewhere dark (maybe some ruins or a cave) and Tav's torch goes out. So they have to rely on Astarion to guide them the rest of the time?

My first question! Of course I am more than happy to fill your request! I’m still getting used to writing for Astarion’s voice so I apologize if he sounds a bit ooc.

Astarion x human!Tav GN

Set in act 2 since it's convenient for the request

Choosing to scout ahead with just two of you seemed like a good idea back at camp, but you both sorely underestimated how dark the shadow-cursed lands truly would be. Not to mention how creepy they would end up being as well. Neither you nor Astarion really expected it. Going from the sunny mountain pass to the beautiful bioluminescent Underdark, nothing could compare to this.

It was all shadows and nightmares and it was just awful, the torch you held was barely cutting through the darkness, although a particular pale elf was walking with no issue.

"How can you see through all this darkness so easily, Astarion?" raising an eyebrow as you squinted trying to get a good look at his features.

"Darkvision, my dear" he played it off so easily, of course. You let out a slightly annoyed sigh which he couldn't help but chuckle in response to before he teased back.

"Well Shadowheart did offer to come instead of you, darling"

"I am perfectly fi-"

whoosh

"Ah!" Astarion let out a startled yelp as the torch was put out by a surprise gust of wind. By this point in time you had been blessed by the pixie so the shadow curse getting you wasn't an issue, but you still couldn't see anything through this thick fog of shadow.

"Astarion?" defeated you called out to him holding your arms out as you tried to feel where the man was standing.

"I'm here, my dear" He hesitated at first before taking your hands in his. You couldn't help but smile a bit seeing him even be willing to touch you like this, but considering there was no good way to relight the torch he figured this to be the best option.

Looking around with ease he began walking, "Where are we going?" you asked slightly confused as you stumbled over your feet.

"Back to camp, of course, as much as I want to trust we won't be attacked in this darkness, I don't trust you to be of any use without darkvision" sighing a bit because frankly, he was right. Without a torch and without any way to relight it, you were fairly useless at the moment.

So continuing on you two walked, although you couldn't help but notice he was walking a bit slower than normal.

"You know you don't have to go so slow, I'll be fine if you speed up" you spoke, and then Astarion stopped and you were fairly certain he turned back to face you forgetting that you couldn't see him, only imagining how he got embarrassed as he forgot this little detail.

"I...I thought it would be better if I slowed down so you don't trip and fall on your face unless you would prefer I just let you fall and make a fool of yourself" That classic sass of his coming through but you simply rolled your eyes and gave him a smile.

"You're adorable when you get like this" The words rolled off your tongue you could swear the man froze in time, but only for a moment before composing himself.

"And you're adorable when you're trying to tease me~" you could almost make out a smirk on his face through what little shapes you could find painting his figure. Wordlessly he turned and continued his guidance, giving you time to try and think of something clever to say back. But if he was going to say things like that then maybe silence was the better option overall.

Eventually the two of you made it back to camp, the warmth and color filling both of your views "Ah finally not total darkness!" happily you took in the sight of the fire before turning to Astarion with your hand still in his.

"Do you want to sit in your tent or by the fire?" tilting your head as you gave him an option he seemed rather confused by the question.

"I suppose....my tent?" raising an eyebrow as he spoke unsure what your ploy was. While he was still getting used to this being a couple things you were trying your best to do little things that you thought he might enjoy.

"Alright, well then let's go" letting go of his hand as you began to walk before he grabbed it and walked with you back to his tent, getting a smile out of you. 

[thefloatingstone]

Not to be like "haha I'm better than you guys!!!" or elitist or anything because that very sincerely is NOT the point of this post.... but I never really understood people extremely love for Harry Potter.

I read them as they were coming out. Most of the time they came out soon enough that I was the same age as Harry. I liked them. They were cool. Goblet of Fire was my favourite and I was always happy to see what story the next book would bring but that's all it was. Interest to see the next story whenever it came out. Like a sitcom you enjoy but you didn't set your tv to record for you in case you missed it.

And then the word "Chosen one" was uttered and, just like that, I fucking lost all interest. Honestly there was "Chosen one" talk in the 4th book and already I was like

Honestly I think I liked Goblet of Fire the most because there was no friggen Quidditch. And there was less focus on the SCHOOL part of Harry Potter and more this weird Video game Quest setup which just appealed to me more.

In retrospect, I think that might be a big part of why I enjoyed it but never LOVED it like other people.

Like

"Oh boy my absolute biggest most favourite fantasy! THE BRITISH EDUCATION SYSTEM!!!!"

The fact that the books take place in a school seemed like a default to me because, well, most teenage focused cartoons and shows I watched had the main characters at school. Because they're teenagers. But the school wasn't why I enjoyed the books. The school was just a location. No I didn't want to go to Hogwarts. No I didn't want to get attached to a specific school house (although I feel it worth mentioning that when I was 13 I did the online house quiz thing on the official site and it said I was Hufflepuff so make of that what you will).

I really disliked whatever the one was that came after Goblet of Fire. So much so that it completely killed any and all enjoyment I had in the series. Which, considering I was only mildly entertained by them wasn't a massive loss or anything.

I know I read whichever book it was where Dumbledore died but I very genuinely cannot remember one single thing that happens in that book whatsoever. I read half of the Deathly Hallows after coming back from College and gave up because I wasn't enjoying any of it and I never picked the book up again.

I saw the first movie in theaters when I was 13 and I did not like it. It was visually very very dark and gloomy and just... extremely uninteresting to me. Idk how to explain it. The first book just felt so much more vibrant than what I was watching on screen.

I know I saw the 2nd movie although I have no memory of where or why. And I... THINK I saw the third one??? I think??? I'm actually not sure. But that's about where I just stopped and completely lost interest.

Because it wasn't very good.

They just weren't very good books.

They weren't TERRIBLE or anything like that but they were just so.... blah. The earlier ones 13 year old me enjoyed the one time I read each of them but I don't think 13 year old me had the best taste considering I also disliked the Princess Bride at this age.

But I was reading other books because I was a kid with ADHD in high school who desperately needed something stimulating to stop myself from going insane. And frankly, there were just far better books out there. Books I actually re-read. Books I borrowed from friends which ere just... so much better and more interesting.

So I just don't understand this insane appeal so many people have for it, even if they have severed that connection due to Jowling Kowling Rowling's bufoonery and showing herself to be a withered old crone with a shrivled heart and mind every time she opens her mouth.

I grew up with these books the same way as a lot of people. I was the exact age to go through the series' highest popularity and I just did not click with them despite reading them.

So seeing so many people my age or a little younger try and do their best to re-analyse and de-tangle what the books actually are and that... maybe.... just maybe.... they might not have been very good?? Maybe?? is very weird to me because I'm just like.

"Yeah they're overrated as hell and not that interesting."

It's a very weird thing to live through because it's like looking into a bizarro version of the world you remember living through... but not like THAT. I remember the Pokemon craze and yes, it was like that. I remember when anime started to become big and yes, it was like that. I remember DBZ airing and yes, it was like that.

But this insanity around Harry Potter while it was releasing?

Yeah I don't remember it being like that at all.

They were just mediocre books I read because I needed something to occupy my attention and eventually they got worse and worse and I just stopped reading them. That's all.

[romana-after-dark]

Roman's 1000 follower fundraiser game!

Hello friends!!!

I am so happy to see I have 1200 followers! Thank you so much everyone who got me here, old followers from when I first wrote The Wrong Way, to new followers with my Logan Howlett era, to everyone that know me from my main and followed me to dark fics! Words cannot express how much yall mean to me and how much the support I've gotten through the hard things means.

I want to do a celebration, but something that won't overwhelm me. I'm switching work stuff around, however, so I should have more time and be less exhausted and sad.

So I’m doing a fundraiser game!

The charity: I will be donating to my favorite charity, Smile Train. when I was 6, I saw an add for Smile Train and asked my mom if I could donate. My mom said we didn't have enough money to both donate, and do the yearly church fair, so I had to choose. Of course, I was 6 so I chose going to the fair. And I felt bad about that every since. So, my go to has always been Smile Train for charities ever since. When I was in middle school I saved every allowance for a year and did some extra chores to save enough for a whole surgery! Now, I'm not that ambitious this time bc I am in fact, poor. But I can set aside some for the needy. I considered doing Palestinian Children's Relief Fund, but I found out Smile Train actually partners with them so it works!

How it works: So, As y'all've probably noticed, I love music so much, that almost every title of a fic is either a song title or a song lyric. Sometimes I say it, sometimes I don't.

THROUGHOUT THE END OF NOVEMBER!

Look though my masterlist here or on my main, @romanarose. Find at least one fic titled after a song.

Send an ask with UP TO 5 Song title/fic title connections. No More. This is to allow everyone a chance, and to no overwhelm me.

One title = 100 words. You find 3 song titles? you get a 300 word blurb. find 5? 500! 500 is the limit.

If you send a fic title that has already been pointed out in an ask from another person, sorry, it'd not counted! (Unless I'm really feeling the writing). Send 4 titles but 2 have been used already? You get 200 words!

Send me what you want. it doesn't have to be dark! I'll make an exception. Characters I'll write for bellow!

For every fic title/ song reference, I will donate $1 to Smile Train! The more songs we can find, the more money they get (without overdoing my bank account. However Nov has extra friday which means more pay for me.) Questions you may have: "What if someone else said the fic title, but it was published and I didn't see it, or it's still sitting in your asks because you are always super fucking slow at doing these ROMAN" Yeah you're right I'm always slow at these. I guess you're SOL, buddy. If it's already sitting in my asks, I won't commit to adding it to your word count. BUT if my creative juices are flowing, I may have mercy

"What if all of my song titles I found have been used already?"

Well, frankly, I'll probably write you something still! I'm not mean.

"What if you didn't use a song title, but we find a song with it anyway?"

Well, that's up to my discretion. If it's a song I know that may have influenced the title subliminally I might count it! But if it wasn't in intentional thing, no guarantees. But Again, I'll be flexible.

"How are we supposed to know what goes on in your weird little old man head."

Uhhhhhhhhh bestie I dont even know what's happening in there!!!! Just have fun with it. See if you recognize songs or lines. It's okay

"What about chapters?"

Great Q, voice in my head! Since most fics I don't have chapter titles, I'll allow it! If I have a bonus chapter, or a chapter i just wanted to title and its a song, go ahead! Only exception is Rooms on Fire. Sorry, but i'm pretty clear those are intentionally all songs. It's too easy.

"$1 is per fic title is awful cheap."

Bestie my checkings over drafted today!!! I got it covered and figured out, this is just a little something I wanna do with LITTLE extra money but I still have debt I gotta work on it's tough out here!!!

Any more questions send them in! YOU HAVE UNTIL DECEMBER 1ST WHICH IS WHEN DEAD DOVE DECEMBER STARTS AGAIN!

Logan Howlett

any Triple Frontier boys sans Tom

Moon Boys

Wade Wilson

Kylo Ren

Scott Summers

Remy Lebeau (but not dark for him I can't see it. Will allow dark reader though!)

Tommy Miller

Javier Pena

Han Solo (no non con, maybe dub con)

Steve Murphy

And yes, I've said I'm done with Joel but I will allow for Joel this time because it's for charity and he pulls people in.

and although I've never written them, I'll write for the Bikeriders Cal, Benny, or Johnny but no non con. I'll play wit dub con, and dark reader

I will also write canon character x canon character, so if you want some Scogan or Johnny x Benny or FishBen, Im in! If a pairing is something I feel just doesn't lend itself to the scenario you give me, I might tweek it. Everything is up to my discretion!

I will also write crossovers!

And I will write any of my oc's and anything in universe. So fen, if you wanna read you and Lorenzo go crazy! If you want a blurb shipping Scott and Dolly in OGS, just ask!

Open to it all

This is my little celebration my rules and discretion, but I want this to be overall fun!!! Just a good ole time! Don't take it too seriously, and we'll raise money in the mean time!

[master-of-the-railway]

How was Edward infected in the Beasts of Sodor au? (Sorry, I'm gonna be annoying you with these)

NO NEED FOR APOLOGIES!!! I love getting asks from you, you're one of my favorite folks on ttteblr. Got a little narrative with this one and it's a bit long so I'm gonna put it under a cut

Good ol' Eddy, the reliable old steam engine, grandpa of Sodor as he's known. He was very nervous upon hearing about the transformations, less for himself and more for those around him. He had built a very close bond with Bill, Ben, Marion, even Timothy. They're family to him, and his driver even more so. He loves his fireman too yes, but his driver is practically his grandson because he played a fatherly role towards his driver's dad, who was once also Edward's driver. Of course, he didn't believe that his friends would ever willingly hurt anyone he cared about, and it wasn't that he doubted them either. He was afraid of what might happen when they couldn't control themselves. He had spoken with Gordon and received confirmation that the process did indeed hurt, how Thomas had gotten through it without screaming his smokebox off was beyond anyone, and poor old Edward shuddered at the thought of his other engine loved ones going through that same pain. It was bad enough that his loved ones in Tidmouth were going through it. "Nobody's died." James would try to reassure him, appearing at Edward's line with a shining coat of fur not long after he himself had been transformed, "We've gone a bit mad at times but...nobody's been badly hurt so far. Human or machine." And it helped, but only a little. Edward was still afraid, he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad would happen. And it wasn't the big engines that got him. It was a little one. It was Thomas.

Thomas and come to spend the night with Edward and Philip, having grown too tired to make the trek back up to Tidmouth and perfectly comfortable curling up outside of the shed in a little patch he made himself. Out of all of the engines at that point, Thomas had been the least prone to get aggressive and feral, he was usually just the curious kind of feral. Philip had finally fallen asleep himself and Edward slowly started to drift off when he heard some sort of rustling, and through his barely open eyes he could see Thomas getting up. He tried to talk to the tanker, but he got no reply save for a low grumble, which Edward tried to put off as simply Thomas being too tired to talk properly. It wasn't until Thomas inched closer and the growling became louder that Edward fully opened his eyes and realized that the little engine was...stalking him. Like a big cat. Like some kind of hungry beast. The growling was louder and accompanied by some nearly silent chuffing, but Edward's fire wasn't stoked, he couldn't go anywhere. It was frankly terrifying, he could tell Thomas wasn't in control, and he braced himself for hurt when Thomas lunged at him, he felt claws and a set of sharp teeth puncturing his funnel. He tried not to scream. Screaming would make it worse. He didn't want to further upset a feral engine; never mind the fact his fate was already sealed from the moment Thomas' claws sunk into his sides. Thomas wasn't deterred until his driver rushed out to the shed with a lamp, shouting and shooing his engine off of Edward.

Thomas flinched and leapt off at his driver's voice. And it almost seemed like he was prepared to pounce at the human instead, until Edward shouted his name. Called him down. Told him to stop. And Thomas listened. That was when he snapped out of it. By god was he in tears. He was inconsolable. Nothing that any of the humans or Edward said could ease his sorrow. He had hurt Edward, he had infected Edward, the engine who had eased him into life on Sodor and guided him until Gordon had come around to accept him. It was Thomas who had hurt the old steamer. Edward felt just as guilty, he didn't want to see the little engine cry. He didn't want him to suffer because of something he couldn't control. "Thomas, it's alright. Look at the bright side...we'll match again. Remember how excited you were when you were painted blue because you matched me and Gordon? ...Thomas, don't cry, look at me...we'll all match again, isn't that nice?"

[pineapplefulfillseveryneed]

Sparks tour 2023 part 5: Cirque Royal, Brussels (june 20, 2023)

This was the show I was probably the most excited about out of all of them because we had the best seats in the house: front row, right in the middle! It had been the one ticket sale where I'd been super lucky, and this was going to be my final show of the tour. And truly there could not have been a better way to end the tour! (Be prepared for the most excited writeup :)) The fun already started when on our way to Brussels we came across a piano at a train station. I played my best rendition of This Town on it (which frankly isn't very good at all) and there was a woman there who wanted me to play more - we had somehow managed to come across a Sparks fan out in the wild! Once we arrived at our bnb in Brussels there was a key in the door with an Air Jordan shoe key chain attached to it. (I don't know what it is with Brussels, the stars aligned to a degree that makes a person believe in a higher power.)

The venue was quite fancy and we got to our seats to find there was no banister! We were so close we could touch the stage while remaining seated. (Some people may dream of winning the lottery, this is winning the Sparks fan lottery.) Excitement & anxiety (positive) were through the roof and one of the songs played over the sound system made me feel like punching a hole in the wall XD Sarah shazamed a few songs and the one that got me the most was Fahrenheit 451: The Nightmare by Bernard Herrman (here's a link). The other song Sarah looked up was Salaambo's Aria. (I am very happy to have made a video of the hall before the show because it makes me feel all those feelings of being there again.) To our right was a young fan and to our left were two of our friends, the company could not have been better and we were going to have an extremely strong front row game!

Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer

Some lights in the hall went on and they lit up the front row, me and Sarah in our giddiness were joking to each other that the light was especially for us and we were giggling about it to then realise Mr. B was standing right in front of us hahaha woops XD (oh no.) We quickly made up for this by applauding and cheering. It really was very confusing as no one knew what time things were going to start this evening and unfortunately this meant there weren't an awful lot of people in the hall. It was shockingly empty when I looked around. Mr.B was in top form though! At the end of his set we gave him a two-person standing ovation :) I am still so happy that he was the opening act for the European shows!

Before Sparks came on the fire alarm went of for some reason, but luckily it didn't seem to mean anything.

Sparks!

Excitement was through the roof when they came on! However... something seemed to be wrong with Ron's setup which became clear just as Russell was entering the stage. Russell went back to the side of the stage and the entrance music played a second time. It was all pretty quickly fixed and then Russell walked to the edge of the stage. Right in front of us! Towering over us!! "So.. Brussels! May we start?" I will never forget the looks me and Sarah quickly exchanged when this happened, like IS THIS REAL? IS THAT WHAT THIS SHOW IS GOING TO BE LIKE? (Spoiler: it was. And Russell clearly had a good time doing this lmao. What the hell is our life!) We were overjoyed and Russell and Ron seemed very happy and then it kicked off!

We spent the entire show bouncing in our seats and having our arms in the air. Throughout the show there were quite a few smiles and so much happened that I can not even recall it all! At one point Russell smiled at me (!) and so I smiled back and did a happy wiggle, AND THEN HE WAS STILL LOOKING, so I tried to smile even wider and tilted my head to communicate something along the lines of "this is so much fun and I love being here with you guys and all these fans so much it's driving me nuts" and he GIGGLED (I can die happy, my dreams are fulfilled).

Obviously Russell spoke French for this show and my French isn't the best but he said really sweet things about how it's always really special in Brussels and that tonight would be no exception, "guarantie!" (Sorry to French speakers I don't know if I chose the right form of the word to spell it correctly.) I will have to upload a video of him saying this because it was 1) really sweet, and 2) I know some of you are Very Normal about Russell's French :) [Edit: here's the video!]

I was so happy to be at this show with Sarah and so so happy with our show neighbours! Some of my favourite moments are definitely very much down to the great company and so I am going to start mentioning all of those <3

Near the end of Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is both me and Sarah were punching the air to the beat and I noticed our moves mirrored each other exactly, we were completely in sync with each other and the song (in the moment it was very much a HOLY SHIT WE ARE DOING THIS, THIS IS THE BEST!) and we really pulled it off! Kept it up to the final note, ending the song perfectly with the both of us punching both our arms in the air! And it made Russell smile - I am still giddy about this. We did so well :D

It Doesn't Have To Be That Way was incredible. Me and Sarah both had gotten our phones out and were sitting there curled up in our seats with big eyes, I vividly remember looking over to Sarah next to me and being like, ...yeah ���

For Balls we had prearranged with our neighbours that we'd all get up, because holy shit we all love Balls so much and we needed them to know - that song deserves everything from the audience. It really was the best feeling in the world, to be standing there with the 5 of us at the front singing Balls right back in Russell's face. There's videos of Balls from Brussels and it is genuinely one of the very best moments of my life, it's everything. I love Balls so much. (Most people talking about Balls in Brussels will only mention the fact that Russell had a fall, and he did, but he was a real champ and got up real quick, made an attempt to throw the speaker that tripped him (good man adfjhdf), and bounced and sang on even harder.)

With Escalator it was clear Russell knew how much we loved his dance because he was dancing A LOT, and he added some really great moves for she's going up as I'm going down. Obviously we were doing the same dances in our seat with the biggest smiles on our faces, I just love Escalator so much! It didn't go unnoticed and I love that so much!

During When Do I Get To Sing 'My Way' 4 of us did that "in heaven or hell" signing with our arms in sync with Russell and Russell smiled because of it, real sweet fucking moment - I am not over it.

And that concludes my favourite moments that had everything to do with my show neighbours, I love you all so much! (Oh yeah forgot to mention there was a lot of giggling to my left and it just made me so happy, every time Sarah would shout "WOO!" giggles broke out on my left and it was really sweet. Also my neighbour on my left had a fan and she actually fanned my face at times, like... Sparks friends, next level :))

Okay on to some other highlights. A really big one was during Music That You Can Dance To and by now everyone knows how I feel about this song, BUT RUSSELL HAD A PROP! He skipped to the back of the stage where he has that little table thingy and he HAD A MINI ELECTRIC FAN AND STOOD THERE HOLDING IT TO HIS FACE FOR A SECOND XD (I love this guy. He was very much smiling about this.) Then he put it down, said something along the lines of "okay back to it!" and went back to skipping and dancing around. (I have not found any footage of Music That You Can Dance To though and so if anyone has that, LET ME KNOW.)

We definitely got a "YEAH" from Ron during Shopping Mall Of Love. During We Go Dancing Russell went to Ron's side of the stage (where he had had the fall during Balls) and signed at the spot on the floor after he sang "sometimes I get injured man, it's harder than it looks". Way to incorporate this into the performance XD He signed at that speaker on the floor once more during The Number One Song In Heaven. Honestly, iconic.

It also really needs saying that Belgian audiences are generally really, REALLY, good. There were so many arms in the air throughout the entire hall for When Do I Get To Sing 'My Way', The Number One Song In Heaven and This Town. They all take off so beautifully. There was an applause between songs that made Russell hide his face and he went to stand with Ron, Sarah was drumming on the stage, it was just incredible. It only stopped because Ron started playing the next song. I loved punching the beat into the air for The Number Song In Heaven right in front of Russell and he seemed really encouraging of it too, it was just amazing :D It was probably my favourite experience of hearing This Town live as well because Russell came to dance and jump really close to us for so many of the important moments in the song! (Our timing was really good, I am so proud of us!)

Gee, That Was Fun hit me really hard as this was the last one. I don't know if it was a conscious decision or not but from here on to the end of the show Russell addressed the audience in English instead of French (I am grateful though because it meant fully understanding what he was saying): "We've always enjoyed coming to Brussels to play and tonight was far and away the best show and the best audience we've ever had in Brussels so thank you" 🥹 We probably got a little wave before they exited the stage but unfortunately my memory is hazy.. :')

During My Baby's Taking Me Home I finally spotted the plastic figurine on the stage that had been on Stevie's drums in Utrecht! It was lined up with the band and stood on the floor on its own with its arms in the air, the tiny thing looked like a rock star with the backlight and smoke and I was absolutely delighted by this XD (I love this band.)

The band intro was sweet as hell and Ron was smiling so much, also he looked extremely cool - he sat with one leg up while applauding the rest of the band. Russell said really sweet things about the band members, but seemingly scrambled for words for a second in his introduction of Evan Weiss which led to a pause in him saying something along the lines of "he's just an amazing ....person!" and (unfortunately I didn't see this) but apparently Stevie laughed at this and looked at Russell who then gestured like an "I dunno" at Stevie and they both laughed. When introducing Ron as his big brother Russell held his hand above Ron's head as he stood up and this was pretty great :) (I have a video of the band introduction so I'll upload this - it doesn't include the exchange between Stevie and Russell unfortunately.)

They let us applaud for a while before introducing All That. Russell said "When there's evenings like this that are really emotional for us, and we hope really emotional for you as well, this song is even ... takes on more resonance and it becomes even something more ... it becomes sadder to us. So in any case, it's called "All That"." (We audibly went "awww" - sorry Russell if you heard that :'))

And there it was. The last song of this show and the last song of this tour for me. I don't recall the photo moment all that well but I do remember us having a little panic as we didn't have a game plan and were right behind Russell. But we figured it out :) We made it in! (I love this photo so much and I've smiled about it so many times!)

There were waves and smiles and quite a few people in the front row got a handshake from Russell - us included (I smiled at him and said thank you :D). They stood there in front of us smiling for quite a bit, and our friend on our right had a small poster to ask Ron for his tie. (I couldn't read the poster so in this moment I was laughing to myself thinking about Ron making sure Russell couldn't see that sign that said "Ron you're sexy take your shirt off" on the 2022 tour XD) Ron actually replied though?! He smiled and said "next time". These guys... I love them so much. 🥹 There really could not have been a better show to end this tour on. I still think about it very regularly and can't help but smile about everything.

(My footage of this show can be found on youtube.)

~

After the show we stood around talking with more of our friends who had also sat in the front row but on the other side, smiling about it all. Someone we didn't know came up to our group to also excitedly yell about it all and asked us with a big smile if we had also seen "those kids in the front row". HOLY SHIT? 🥹

We said goodbye to our friends and went to see Mr.B to say goodbye and thank him again, because it all ended now. He was in conversation with someone and Sarah found a setlist on the floor in front of his merch table and for some reason we asked him if we could have it (you heard it here first, Mr.B is apparently the deity of setlists and will decide on if you can keep something you find on the floor lmao). He witnessed our deciding on who got to keep it which I hope amused him hahaha (thank you Sarah for letting me have it - it still makes me smile). The guy who was talking to Mr.B was a guy from the UK and he had apparently sat behind us, he said he had really enjoyed how much fun we were having and that we were probably the biggest Sparks fans he'd ever come across as "we didn't miss a single beat". 🥹 (I will cry.) I proceeded to have a possibly cringy conversation with Mr.B but everyone was laughing so I probably did alright hahaha. He told us he was hoping to tour Europe at one point and that he hoped to see us again. I hope so too! :)

Leaving the venue we bumped into all our friends again outside who hadn't made it very far past the door of the venue. They sang Bon Voyage at us as we left 🥹💕

[genericpuff]

in reference to the have you read LO poll by god have I tried but god. God...

A vicious cycle. I go okay I really do need to plow through more of it if I'm gonna hang around the ULO reddit, and then I step on the comically placed rake. I can't do a complete skip thing bc I'll be too disorientated on where I'm at in the plot but my brain only tolerates it up until she declares she's missing her dick appointment and like, girl. Please. You committed mass murder (if not genocide) and this is a slap on the wrist considering, let alone that your moms got the worse end of the deal.

Why it's that specific moment idk but the bottom just drops out for me and it's soooo fucking stupid because like, she couldn't have just... bitched about being stuck with hard labor? That's the bitchy shit I'd sort of expect from a privileged nepo baby and even barring the twue wuv story going on it's her actual biggest issue going on right then. What she's presently living out. But yeah no, horny, we gotta establish that she's horny. Okay.

Sorry about the borderline vent over it there's just enough really interesting thoughts mixed up in the pile of flaming garbage to make one go rabid if they stew on it, and you clearly get that given the rewrite. Have a good day.

omg i've had that exact sort of thing happen with me before too tho, not in quite the exact same sense of like, "wanting to take part in a community but struggling to get through the source material it's based on", but there are like, so many webtoons and manga and stories I've tried to read - after being urged to by pals and people who read them - that I've dropped after multiple attempts of trying to read them. And they're not necessarily dumpster fires like LO (though some of them definitely aren't great) it's more like I'm sitting there wondering "when's this gonna get good? when's this gonna be worth all the hype?" Tower of God is the biggest one that comes to mind, I have tried to read that webtoon on SEVERAL occasions and I just can't justify trudging through all those early episodes for it to maybe "get good". And that's not even me saying it's bad, it's just not interesting to me in the slightest. No hate to anyone who likes ToG, I think I've also sorta drifted away from shonen over the years so that's definitely not helping, but I just can't be bothered to try and read that webtoon anymore, I've given it so many attempts and I'm doing lmao Kudos to the creator though because it's a LOT of work to make a webtoon of that length and they should be proud of that.

Back on the topic of LO though, yeah, I was following the comic when that episode was still brand new and it really made us all go 🤨 because of how out-of-pocket it was. And then like an episode (or two?) later she bullied a former classmate of hers from 10 years ago at his job. That was the precedent for Persephone's character that was set for the third season of LO and it's just gotten worse as it's gone on.

Either way, if I'm being honest, you're really not missing much by skipping over the majority of S3 (like, if you made it to the dick appointment episode before giving up then you're already pretty close to the current point in the story). Like I'm not gonna lie, you could easily skip up to the midseason cutoff point because everything leading up to that is just a bunch of nothing. Hades and Persephone get married and it's the most underwhelming scene ever despite it being the moment people had been waiting years for, also they 'adopt' Dionysus but he's barely in the comic except for when Rachel remembers he's a character so you could also get by on minimal details. Oh yeah, and it turns out Demeter had a kid during the 10 year time skip who we see in like two episodes and then proceeds to get fridged forever.

So yeah, as much as I'd recommend people read LO as a sort of "entry ticket" into the crit community surrounding it, S3 is a lot of nothing and you would frankly not miss out on a thing if you skimmed it or skipped the middle portion of it entirely lmao

[mrwolfhare]

Kind of a Drawtober thing

<- Previous

26. Bounty

“Now what are you, little guy?”

“Someone who doesn’t like being spoken to like that.”

“Sorry little guy, what should I call you?”

“Rocket.”

“Okay, what are you, Rocket?”

“What?”

“I need to know what species you are before I’m allowed to serve you anything. My boss don’t want me killing our clientele, so I need to know what’s poisonous to you first.”

“Oh, I’m not looking for anything to eat. Or drink.”

“Fair enough. What’s a shivering little Rocket doing in a bar this early then?”

“I heard from an inmate... I mean from a friend, that this is where I need to go for bounty hunting?”

“What luck, you heard correct. Yes, welcome to Tracker’s Den. I’m not Tracker though, that’s my mom’s boyfriend, he lets me work here to earn some cash on the side.”

“Okay? Look, I just need to know how this bounty hunting thing works. Could you go through it for me?”

“Sure thing, Rocket. But before we get into the nitty and the gritty of hunting down people, I just need to know if you’re maybe cold, because you keep shivering, and stop me if I’m assuming anything about your species, but most mammalian people on Contraxia usually wear something to stay warm.”

“Why you askin', you got something for me to wear?”

“Funny you would ask, I might have something. Lots of people get stupid drunk here and forget their stuff here, and never comes back to pick it up again. Here, have a look through the box.”

“Okay, thanks. There, happy now?”

“Good choice, the stripes compliment your tail stripes, plus you look like a little wizard.”

“Yeah, fine, now about the bounty hunting thing.”

“Certainly, so, people come in here, they sign the register, and then pick a bounty to hunt.”

“Wait, you gotta register?”

“Not to worry, it’s all private, you can even use a pseudonym, it’s just to make sure two people don’t go after the same bounty.”

“Huh, okay, how do you get paid then?”

“You just contact the client that put up the bounty. Payment happens on delivery.”

“Yeah about that, is it like actual payment stuff in hand, or do I need an account at a bank?”

“That depends on the client. Most just do the account payments.”

“And what if I don’t have one of those?”

“No worries, you can just sign up for a account.”

“Yeah, I tried doing that at the Contraxia Bank, but I got.. removed.”

“Oh, yeah, Contraxia Nexus people aren’t that great. Laid off a lot of people to replace them with reprogrammed pleasure bots. Personally I don’t see the attraction of pleasure bots, but I think that’s a species thing. Or it’s a personal thing. Frankly I’m just hoping to maybe find someone special.”

“Can we get back on point?”

“Oh, right, so I got an account with the bank of A'askavaria, apparently nobody has ever even robbed them. They got a nice referral system going on, so I can just refer you, and then they set up an account for you, how’s that sound?”

“Great, thanks, how do we do it?”

“I’ll go grab my com-pad and start setting it up for you, you can go ahead and start looking through the bounty board. Do you have a com-pad?”

“Not anymore, mine got confiscated.”

“You know I think we got an old spare one around here. I shouldn’t really be giving out free stuff like this, my boss will end up firing me, but I really don’t care that much about this job. You know I’m not even from Contraxia, moved here when Asgard made sure there was peace on our planet, but I’m from a sort of a warrior type of people, you know.”

“Uh-huh, I sign here?”

“Yeah, and then the next page. So now I was thinking about this kind of itch my people get when we want to fight, and my mom’s got her own fight club around here, maybe I should go and find a place that’s got a lot of fighting. Where you from anyway?”

“No-where. I just submit then?”

“Yeah, just make sure you fill in the necessary places. I think I heard of that place. Big head, right?”

“What? No, I mean, I came here from Sakaar.”

“Oh right, I met people from there, none of them seemed happy.”

“Yeah, probably because they’re ruled by a dictator asshat that’s an absolute idiot. Okay, everything is submitted.”

“Great, there’s all the info you need to get paid. Now when you say dictator… those tend to cause rebellions, don’t they?”

“Probably, I don’t know.”

“I think I need to quit and head over to Sakaar.”

“That’s great, so I just select a bounty on that board there?”

“Yup, but you can also just log on to the Hunter Network on your com-pad. I wonder if I should make revolution pamphlets.”

______

Years later over at New Asgard on Earth, after Rocket, Bannerhulk and Thor left to undo the Thanos snap...

"Hey, Miek, I was sort of playing the game, and my attention was mostly on it, but there was like a small furry guy in here, right?"

*clicklick*

"Right right, I was actually afraid I was imagining him when I noticed him, and was too worried to say something, but I think I know that guy. Although when I last saw him, he was a wizard."

*clicklick*

"Nah man, I don't touch the stuff anymore, makes me too paranoid."

[sunshine-zenith]

Aight so, I’m a blood donation phlebotomist and whenever I see fictional blood drives in media, I have Thoughts. Here are a few quick thoughts on the blood drive in F&C’s episode “The Star”

We don’t actually see the blood drive, which actually saves my sanity a little bit. The charity ball seems to take place on one of the top floors, and let me tell ya, hauling our equipment through elevators kinda sucks — there’s a lot of it, it’s heavy, and we typically only have 45min-1hr to set up, and elevators really cut into that. Gary and Marshall had to run up/down a set of stairs to get to the elevator, too, so unless the blood drive was in an off screen office or like someone’s room (since Marshall, Gary, and Hana all change pretty quick off screen, meaning rooms gotta be close by), it’s kinda impossible to have a blood drive in this specific scenery. I’m hoping the actual blood drive was in a lobby or something, because otherwise I’d lose like seventeen years from my life just imagining the set up.

I’m kinda hoping the blood drive was in the afternoon, before the charity ball, since this seems to be taking place in the evening. It’s not fun having to drop blood off at the lab at three in the morning

The posters? Fire, love them. Collection staff (the ones who set up, break down, do the mini-physicals, and of course the phlebotomies themselves) typically aren’t sent with posters because we are not given enough time, space in the trucks, or frankly money to deal with that, but it’s not unheard of for the people in our organizations who actually set the drives up to go out themselves and add a little pizzazz. Alternatively (and more likely), Hana just commissioned a bunch of posters with blood puns for this event

Everyone is dressed up and thats lowkey stressful. They’re just asking to get blood on their nice suits and dresses

The fact that there’s a bunch of food at the charity event? Love that. Seeing that would save me from worrying about our donors (entirely too many will jump off the bed, say I’m fine, bypass the canteen area, and pass out in parking lot. Jfc just take the fucking cookie and sit for a sec dude, dropping a pint of blood is not a total non-event, c’mon). I’m guess this is a closed blood drive (meaning only people from this event can donate), and most of the people attending seem to be in the food business, so there’s a social obligation to have at least some for the sake of networking, so win-win

That said, if you’re hosting a blood drive as part of an event, this event has/is centered around food, and you don’t give the phlebotomists any, you’re a dick and there’s a good chance that if you make this a regular blood drive, it’ll be constantly understaffed because of angry call outs. We talk, y’all, and we remember

Also one this I’m horrified by? The alcohol — listen, at least one person at every blood drive makes a cheap date joke. We don’t follow you home, we can’t stop you from making the choices you mark when you’re out of our care. TBH I did this myself once, donated blood then had alcohol later, and I was alright, just super tired super quick (and I frankly have zero interest in doing this again). Everybody is different, every body is different. Some people are fine

Some people end up super sick and dizzy after like one drink because, again, dropping a pint of blood is not a non-event. Just make smart choices, y’all

Imma say having alcohol at a big important charity event right after donating blood isn’t a smart choice. Because networking and business and you’ll be quickly shitfaced at best. Is that the risk you wanna take?

That mascot tho. (Brilliant Ricardio cameo). We have a masco, I think most blood banks do, but we typically don’t haul it around with us. A big charity event though? Yeah, it makes sense that someone would bring it. I personally would rather throw it out the window than wear it myself, but it’s still fun to see

I haven’t seen anyone mention this on social media, but I want to point out the amazing timing of this episode in regards to blood donation qualifications.

CW for references to sexual activity and the now lifted MSM blood donor ban

In August of 2023, this year and like a month before this episode came out, the FDA finally officially lifted the MSM blood ban (earlier this year the mad cow disease ban was also lifted, too). Gotta acknowledge this: Now we we have to ask about specific sexual behaviors (anal sex with a new partner), which can result in a three month deferral. Super fun to ask conservative grandmas in churches btw. I’m queer, a lot of my coworkers are queer, you have no idea how much this means to us, let alone the population affected by this ban. I’m kinda surprised there wasn’t any nod to the MSM ban at all, though — Gary and Marshall are a MLM couple, after all, and even if they aren’t sexual active yet, it’s still something that hung over a lot of MLM individuals. I know the blood drive was a super clever nod to the whole “in another universe he’s a vampire” thing, but still, characters curse on the reg, there’s blood and gore, and there’s a focus on adult specific issues like rent and starting a business — you’d think there’d be an ambitiously worded nod to this specific MLM issue or something. It can take over a year to get an animate episode ready to air — when F&C started production, the ban was still very much a thing. Maybe the creators were aware of the ADVANCE study on removing the MSM ban that would’ve been going on at the time, and were being optimistic about how long it would take, or maybe there was a line that was cut when the ban was lifted. Or maybe the creators just wanted the Vampire->AU Blood Drive gag and hoped no one would think about it

[roseofdarkness0]

Just snippets and random incorrect quotes that been stuck in my head and I had to take them out Sooooooo enjoy? I will have small snippet explain au as a context clue bc I'm not that evil yet.

Edit: Forgot to link it earlier but Poly Ship Au incorrect quotes Au

Married au: Gov and Cali are secretly married and no one knows but them.

~•~

Cali: I want a divorce

Gov: And I want those meetings to not derail into chaos but here we are

Utah: the only one who heard them and questioning his life rn

~•~

Cali: Have you seen our marriage certificate I nee-WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!

Gov: currently setting the certificate on fire GOOD LUCK RETURNING ME WITHOUT A RECEIPT

Cali: YOU SETTING THE LAWN ON FIRE YOU IDIOT

Utah, who just wanted to go out to his car:

Utah: shuffles back inside

~•~

Gov: casually taking four stairs at a time

Cali: falling behind, taking two stairs at a time Fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fu-

~•~

after their old rings either get lost or damaged

Cali: I made this wedding band for you.

Gov: You know, I’m not really a jewelry person.

Cali: You don’t have to wear it...

Gov: No, I’m gonna wear it forever. Back off.

~•~

Cali: If you don't stop talking, I'm going to jump out of that window.

Gov: ...We're on the ground floor.

Cali: I know but I want a dramatic exit.

Utah, who just wanted to finish the meeting with gov and go to his wife:

~•~

Cali: Don’t worry, I know exactly what I’m doing. Everything is going to be fine!

Gov: How can you still say that?

Cali: Because sometimes, when things get tough, denial is all we have.

~•~

After Penn and Virginia accidentally find the two making out in gov office

Cali: Are you mad?

Gov: No.

Cali: So sharpening your knives at 3 in the morning is just a hobby?

~•~

Cali: You saved me! Why?

Gov: People would think I murdered you if I didn't.

~•~

Gov: holds a gun out to Cali

Cali: I-I don't believe in guns.

Gov: Well, trust me, they're very real. Now take it.

~•~

Gov: Who hurt you?

Cali: snorting What, do you want a list?

Gov: ...Yes, actually.

~•~

Second a meeting with all the states finishes

Cali: I’m going to hell.

Gov: Probably.

Cali: I'll pick you up?

Gov: nodding Carpool.

States: ????????

Utah: I fReAkinG KnEw IT

~•~

Nevada blinked and watched with increasingly worried expression as Utah muttered to himself, staring at the wall in his office that was covered with scribbled on pages, some photos and a lot of red string.

"Utah??? You good there?"

"Whole week!"

"...w-whole week what?" Nevada flinched as dishevelled and frankly crazy looking Utah turned towards him, pinning him to the spot with just his crazied gaze alone.

"I had to suffer through two of them setting lawns on fire, flirting right in front of me instead of finishing the meetings and Gov mysteriously coming back covered in red substance back to the statehouse in the middle of the night. Heck!!!! WE ALL HEARD THEM FLIRT AN HOUR AGO IN THE MEETING ROOM!" Utah turned back to his conspiracy wall, shaking with what seemed to be explosive cocktail of tiredness and anger "AND YET EVERYONE DISMISSED IT?!"

"W-well to be fair it's hard to imagine-"

"PENNSYLVANIA AND VIRGINIA WERE COMPLAINING ABOUT THEM MAKING OUT JUST FEW DAYS AGO"

"They could have been joking?"

"WHY THE F U C K WOULD THEY JOKE ABOUT THAT?!" Utah look ready to commit murder and Nevada didn't really want to give him ideas on who to murder considering there was only two of them in the room right now.

"Right, you may be right but look at it that way, you are sleep deprived and twitchy enough your wife would replace you wit-" he stopped the joke seeing Utah eyelids twitch violently"-nevermind, point is how about I drive you back to your houses you can relax and nap there instead of being stuck here going a bit cray cray?"

Utah seemed to be considering Nevada offer for a bit before stiffly nodding. Without another word he shoved most of his stuff into his bag and approached Nevada jerkily nodding at him to lead the way.

Cheering oh the inside for the small victory. Nevada confidently strolled out of Utah office just to stop in his track and blink rapidly at

"California? What the fuck are you wearing?"

"Hm? Oh this old thing? I thought the red dress may go well with those shoes and because it's a dinner I matched it with that fancy-"

"Not what I meant-but good pairing, I would have went with different eyeliner but it does work for you-I meant more like why?"

"Oh that's easy, diner with husband"

Nevada didn't need to turn around to be able to know that Utah looks 5 seconds away from either murder or complete break down.

"Uh huh like husband as in friend and their husband or?"

".. I mean like my husband, I haven't spent half my salary on making our rings for nothing you know?"

Nevada blinked as he finally spotted the wedding ring adoring California finger. Before he could question California or himself further there was loud honk coming from outside.

"That must be Gov! I see you two tomorrow!" California winked and went off downstairs, not one to miss the drama Nevada dragged poor Utah after him with one hand whilst in the other he brandished his phone just in time to film Florida do a spit take at Texas face who didn't even acknowledge the scalding coffee as he seemed to have several personal revelations about himself at once.

Louisiana was halfway through drinking to avoid responsibility but choked on his daiquiri when the door opened to reveal handsomely dressed Gov who just looked unimpressed by the chaos happening in front of him. He looked ready to reprimand them but was successfully distracted by California planting a kiss on his cheek which seemed to set of another round of chocked noises, wheezes and rapid slams to the back.

"Cmon we have reservation to get to and I'm not wasting the hours I spend putting the outfit together" Cali tugged on Gov tie to get him back outside.

"If we miss it I will pull few strings-"

"Nope, no string pulling cmon off we go, bye guys!" with a quick wink and a wave California managed to drag Gov outside and towards the car.

"...."

". . ."

Louisiana coughs again, clearing his throat and wincing at the daiquiri he had wasted, patting Florida when he came over and buried his flaming red face into Louisiana shoulder.

Utah just looked very smug and vindicated. Without another word he went to his car to finally get back to his home.

[wtchnghrs]

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ━ ☆ ❱ WICKED GAMES is BONNIE's sixth release and third FULL ALBUM. Still reeling from the success of THE GOOD WITCH, BONNIE decided to wait and release this album later. Finally, on 12 APRIL 2024, the highly anticipated album was released. The title track SOOEASY got BONNIE 9 wins, but it was the b-side THE BOY IS MINE that really broke the charts worldwide. BONNIE is known for telling stories out of order, and this album is no exception. It could be about a love gone awry or a couple overcoming their problems and powering through.

☆. TRACKLIST !

01. INTRO : ILLSN II ── setting the tone for the album, this intro establishes the theme of people not being able to let go of each other. no matter how hard they try, they have been captivated and there is nothing they can do about it.

02. NBDY KNOWS ── in this second song, BONNIE talks about pursuing someone while everyone else is none the wiser. when asked if the song was about a real secret relationship she was in and she just laughed. the rnb sound made it a fan favourite song.

03. TRUE STORY ── although she has not said so explicitly, many speculate that this song is about her and her former company / ceo and it wouldn’t be the first time she’d sung about it. from the perspective of a now ended relationship, she sings about not caring about being treated like a villain for another person because she knows the truth of what they were like when they were together.

04. BAD BOY ── the song may be about the singer falling in love with a nonchalant boy who is kind of rude, but BONNIE clarified on live with a laugh: “i only like people who are nice to me”. it is a fun and catchy song that she promoted alongside the title track for two weeks and it managed to bring home 3 music show wins.

05. SOOEASY ── this album’s title track marks the first collaboration between BONNIE and ZION.T. the song follows BONNIE as she talks to her potential lover about how easy it would be for her to have them if she wanted.

06. LOVE WAR (FEAT. YEONJUN OF TXT) ── when the tracklist was announced and fans saw that YEONJUN was featured on a song, the internet lost its mind. the song tells the story of a love gone sour where it seems like all the two partners do is fight and argue, despite being happy once.

07. THE BOY IS MINE ── in this fun, dance pop track, BONNIE sings a rather sexy song stating her claim on a boy. the track interpolates the iconic BRANDY and MONICA song of the same name. surprising fans by speaking so frankly about a man, and just being an overall great song, it went viral almost instantly.

08. BLACK PEARL ── hidden behind a relaxing city pop beat that just makes you want to dance lies lyrics sad enough to make you cry. in it, BONNIE questions why her lover even likes her when she believes she’s ugly and too hurt for them, to the point where she begs them to just leave her alone.

09. EUNOIA ── following a somber song about not feeling deserving of love, EUNOIA is about two people who are just perfect for each other. they are the best for each other and when they are together. this is another example of how BONNIE chooses to tell stories not in chronological order. where does this bright, bubbly love song fit in the grand scheme of the album?

10. BLUE FLAME ── using blue fire as a metaphor, this song is about knowing something is dangerous or bad but choosing to do it anyway because it is so enticing. fans theorise that BONNIE could be talking about “the relationship”.

11. SOS ── once again telling this love story completely out of order, BONNIE sings about how she knows falling for this person is a bad idea but she just can’t help it and needs to be saved. when talking about it, she said: “it’s really just me being dramatic about — hm — i guess a crush. crushes are the worst! and they ruin my life!”

12. GENIE ── it is a very bright and fun song, produced by kpop legends B.E.P, however, because of its placement on the album, there is something disconcerting about it. BONNIE sings about being her lover’s “genie”, that whatever they desire, they can find it within her. but because she already expressed the insecurities she feels within a relationship, her willingness to be this person’s “dream girl” just seems sad.

☆. ERA HIGHLIGHTS !

── 𖤐 ⋆ㅤㅤㅤthe album was a roaring success on all accounts. from the moment promotions ended for THE GOOD WITCH to its actual release, the public had been anticipating this album for months and she did not disappoint. at the time of its release, it sold 890,00 copies and made it onto the BILLBOARD 200 chart. THE BOY IS MINE made it onto the HOT 100 and peaked at 27

── 𖤐 ⋆ㅤㅤㅤ YEONJUN joined BONNIE in performing LOVE WAR on INKIGAYO 240414 which was a surprise for the fans as he was not present for her pre-recording. when he walked out onto the stage, the crowd went insane, BONNIE had to hold back a smile. it was a fun moment for both of them and the fans loved it. the chemistry between the two of them had them trending online for weeks

── 𖤐 ⋆ㅤㅤㅤas they do with every release the other has, P1HARMONY had a listening party live when the album dropped. they reacted to and loved every song, obviously, making jokes here and there that only friends can make but it was when THE BOY IS MINE that stood out. for reasons fans chalked up to older brothers teasing their younger sister, as the song played, the members could not stop giggling and nudging each other, but especially JIUNG

── 𖤐 ⋆ㅤㅤㅤspeaking of TBIM, the speculations on who the song could be about were rampant. they were simultaneously invasive yet ridiculous. while majority of BONNIE’s fanbase is respectful and tries not to engage with rumours, a few fans were convinced this was confirmation that she had a boyfriend. every moment she ever shared with a guy was overanalysed to the moon and back

── 𖤐 ⋆ㅤㅤㅤBONNIE went on LEE MUJIN SERVICE for the first time and stunned not only him, but the whole band with her musical knowledge. she brought her violin and played THE LAST ROSS OF SUMMER, a notoriously hard song

── 𖤐 ⋆ㅤㅤㅤshe performed at COACHELLA week 2, bringing in a whole barrage of new fans. pictures of her just walking around the venue with friends were going viral prior to her actual performance and by the time she actually got on stage? locals didn’t stand a chance.

[crystalelemental]

I have begun FF8, and am about 2 hours in. All I have done is beaten Ifrit, and immediately began what I do best: optimizing.

I have a problem.

So okay. All I remember about this game is that it has level scaling, where enemies (maybe just bosses) scale to your level (or Squall's specifically? Unclear). You overcome this not through leveling, but by Junctioning your magic spells to stats in order to ascend to higher levels of power. As part of that, converting enemies to cards via the Card command is essential, as it negates EXP gain but keeps the AP for upgrading your summons.

So I looked at my summons, and went okay, I need to upgrade several things on Quetzalcoatl right now. Like the ability to turn things into Cards, and the ability to upgrade basic spells to mid-level spells, as well as all three summons' abilities to convert items into Fire, Ice, and Lightning/Wind spells. The end result is that now I'm grinding out basic skills and refining to T2 spells like Fira, which takes forever because you need like 500 basic spells but can only hold 100 at a time, so you draw from enemies until you hit cap then refine them, then do it again, until you have 100 of all of them.

I'm going to be honest, the remaster's 3x speed is a godsend on this. I am perhaps being overly focused on immediate optimization. There's no requirement for me to do this, after all, and those spells will undoubtedly become available later on. I also don't intend to avoid all levels by converting literally everything to cards. I'll probably do it for bosses, but mostly because those are the really good cards. We'll see if I keep it up, though. I'd like to avoid Triple Triad forever if possible.

The main issue this situation raises is one of creating a blockade to player progress. Yes, I do like having the option to overpower myself in a game. However, when the main blockade to that is one of time, it becomes frustrating, because I know I can do this and frankly, I'd want to anyway. But having only time block you if obnoxious, because now the exchange is one of real life hours.

To give an adjacent example: Atelier. I've been shilling this a lot lately, but the Atelier games, in many situations, allow you to overpower yourself in mid-game, with equipment that can carry you through the end just fine if you know how to rotate your materials and combine traits. In the Arland games, this track to becoming overpowered does take time, but mostly it takes tracking your materials and traits, and cycling them into creations that eventually land on forging materials for conversion. It's an active, cerebral process. The Dusk trilogy is a bit different, mostly requiring you to have arcane knowledge of where the good items and traits can be dug up, which is a bit frustrating but can be circumvented with persistent exploration over time. You're not meant to immediately know how to do this stuff, after all.

But then there's the Mysterious trilogy, which removed the time limit mechanics and allows free exploration, where the early overpowering set in Atelier Sophie requires...running around a zone collecting a shitzillion materials, until you reach search level 5, when you can start to find the good stuff. It's effectively the same outcome: around this point in the game you can overpower yourself if you know how. But one of these focuses on the main ingredient being innovation, one focuses on foreknowledge, and one focuses on your time. Guess which one I like the least.

There's a quote that I've heard a lot, but couldn't attribute it to whoever said it first, that goes something like "Given the option, players will optimize the fun out of the game." The general takeaway being, you have to avoid letting players optimize by constantly resetting or aiming for a perfect outcome right away. You have to incentivize playing through your failures. Because absent a real reason to...no one is going to. And I think this kind of optimizing falls in a similar category. Unless there's an internal incentive not to...I'm probably gonna do it. Especially because you don't know when it might be necessary.

That Sophie example? Yeah, shortly after that point, depending on how you progress, you run into really strong enemies that will beat your shit in without better equipment. Doing this process is tedious, but it does turn the tables from really hard, to completely manageable, in little time. FF8 is similar. The long, visceral memory I have is that this is the only Final Fantasy game I couldn't beat the first time. I didn't know enemies scaled to your level and hit 99, and I didn't consider the card game relevant, not knowing about card conversion to items conversion to spells. When you don't know it won't punish you later, the sensation is "I can put in the time now to overpower myself and have a smooth ride, or I can be forced to put in the time later while tearing my hair out." If you know that's a transition that's coming? You're probably not going to replay that game very much.

Fortunately for 8, I don't know it's going to happen, I could've just sucked at video games as a kid (I did, still do). But it feels like it will, and the speed setting at least makes this a tolerable amount of time. I can't say much about the game, but I'm having a lot of thoughts about this so now it's everyone's problem.

[prongsfootandco]

Natural Twenty

Written for day 15 of @prongsfoot-microfic

On AO3

_

Remus sighed from behind his screen as James and Sirius bickered about their characters. Peter had his tongue stuck out and was scribbling on his parchment, pausing only to flick through his manual. The four of them were sitting around the table in the common room, with an audience of curious Gryffindors surrounding them, which wasn’t entirely unusual. What was unusual was the lack of wands, spells and textbooks, replaced with parchments with tables on, and at least four sets of dice, though James suspected that Remus had a few more behind his screen. 

“I’m just saying, what’s the point in playing a wizard? I can already do magic. I want one of those muggle weapons!”

Remus sighed again, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You can’t have a gun.”

“I’m going to be a rogue - half-elf. Duel-wielding magic daggers!”

“Magic… daggers?” Remus asked, clearly exasperated with the group already.

“Yup!”

“What if I played a bard? A gnome bard?” Peter muttered but was quickly ignored. “I could–”

“–He’s going to be all cool and mysterious.”

“So’s mine! I think I’ll spend a lot of time staring out of windows and thinking about how I can take revenge on the people who slaughtered my family,” James agreed. “With a gun! Ooh, an evil gun.”

“How can a gun be evil?” groaned Remus. 

Obviously, their friend had no imagination, or perhaps he wasn’t expecting James and Sirius to get so into it, which was, quite frankly, his fault. Neither James nor Sirius ever did anything half-measure. James just shrugged. It was up to the dungeon master to help them make their characters work with the rules. 

After a few minutes of mumbling, during which he looked through his manual, Remus cast a silencing charm so he could speak to just James. “What if it could sort of possess you? Feeding off your need for vengeance.”

“Oh, I like that!” James agreed. 

“Okay, I’ll figure it out. Leave it with me…” he paused and shook his head, smiling fondly. “Guns.”

As the silencing charm ended, Sirius was mid-speech, gesturing wildly as he talked about his rogue’s horrible elven father who had only wanted to keep his bloodline free of human blood. 

He was beautiful when he got like this, all wild and free - fire burning behind his eyes. It was so unlike the boy James met on the platform, still and contained, fear radiating from him as he glanced back at his parents. This was who Sirius was meant to be, a force of nature, as blinding and bright as his namesake. 

James’ character was all but forgotten as he listened to Sirius talk, resting his chin on his hands and smiling dopily at his boyfriend. Sirius kept saying how handsome his half-elf would be, but James couldn’t fathom anyone who could be more handsome than the wizard in front of him. 

Sirius had obviously rolled a nat twenty when seducing James because he was completely smitten, and he always would be. 

[shivunin]

Post-Trespasser Emmaera

I wanted to make a quick post about Emma's prosthetic since the topic (re: that poll) is going around at the moment.

I based her prosthetic on the ones Götz von Berlichingen wore in the early 1500s. Götz was a knight/mercenary who lost his right arm at the elbow in 1504 when "enemy cannon fire jolted von Berlichingen’s blade against himself" (Source). He commissioned his prosthesis from a local blacksmith, and the prosthesis in question had hinged fingers which were capable of locking in place in blocks of two. von Berlichingen used his iron hand to wield a sword (rather successfully) and eventually commissioned a second prosthesis which was capable of grasping smaller objects (including a quill; he wrote a whole autobiography which wasn't published until 1731, well after his death).

But more to the point here: Götz von Berlichingen's arm was an incredible example of engineering even at its time. The design of its second iteration (pictured below) was driven entirely by his experiences with the first. He wanted the second version to have leather straps to hold it more firmly in place and fingers that were capable of more exact articulation as well as wrist joints that could pivot.

When I decided to write Emma post-Trespasser, I did a lot of research on what it was like to live with one hand, but von Berlichingen's story was the one that stuck with me the most. I spent a lot of time looking at these schematics and trying to figure out how Dagna could make something like this in the Dragon Age universe.

Because the off-hand motion in the game's animation is usually one that's supporting the staff, not specifically twisting it, I thought it made the most sense to conceptualize something along the same lines as the second iteration above. A mage would need something capable of pivoting/angling with the movement of the staff, and that's pretty easily achieved with hinges, as seen above, and (though ball bearings weren't invented until 1794) ball bearings could allow the hand to pivot 360 degrees (something you, uh, maybe wouldn't want if your hand is locked onto the staff). The fingers, elbow, and wrist are lockable using pins in the joints and a buttons on the back of the hand release each respective set of joints.

I like the idea of them having to go through several iterations of prostheses to find out what actually works for the Inquisitor (Dagna is a genius, but this isn't necessarily the sort of project she's worked on before) with consistent input from the person using it, just as von Berlichingen was able to adjust the second iteration of his own prosthesis to better fit his needs as a fighter. It is something she has to actually train with to use effectively, of course, just like using any new tool in combat.

Now---she does have a more ostensibly fantasy version that has hinged fingers which grasp when she manipulates the lyrium in them with magic. She doesn't use this version often because, frankly, the lockable fingers of her regular prosthesis can do anything she would really need them for and having to expend constant concentration to use the other prosthesis isn't really worth it to her (though she appreciated the thought).

The first one is for combat and when she is in her workroom (it's easier to grind herbs if she's holding the mortar still) and she uses it almost exclusively if she's going to be wearing a prosthetic at all. Usually, due to damage her residual limb has taken from the combat prosthesis, she just hangs out without any prosthesis. In her home, the chairs are modified with a mouthpiece so her hound can pull the chairs away from the table for her, and there are a lot of other ways the house has been set up as she needs. She has various other tools she can use to, for example, hold paper steady while she writes. But when she needs it---and since she went through her vigilante period, she has used the prosthesis to fight---she does have the arm Dagna made her.

Anyways---I obviously think von Berlichingen is fascinating (I haven't even touched on him kidnapping nobles or that his hand is part of his hometown's crest), so I recommend reading more about him in general. Sources: NIH, Atlas Obscura (which is the easier read), image source 2, and the Wikipedia article if you want the summary.

[martianbugsbunny]

To Convince You That I Love You (A Kalluzeb Fic): Chapter 1

Yeehaw my fellow Spectres I just realized I had this short chapter fic lying around in my drafts like a romance novel heroine on a fainting couch so behold! Another soul escapes the drafts folder!!!! Basically the point is that Kallus is driving himself above and beyond because he's helplessly in love with Zeb and would do anything to prove it, but that reckless behavior gets him severely wounded and there are a few misconceptions and introspective moments before things eventually get sorted out with a happy ending!...unfortunately for you, you don't get the happy ending until I post that chapter, but the angst is tasty too. Frankly I'm not sure that summary did it justice, it's rather a delightful fic.

Read on and enjoy!

Kallus vaulted over a railing without even bothering to estimate how far below the next platform was. As he fell, he realized it was probably a longer distance than he should’ve jumped. He’d be lucky if he didn’t break an ankle.

He landed on the front parts of his feet; landing on his heels was more likely to cause an injury. He may have started his Rebel career as an intel man, sifting through the information others gathered and judging whether it was true or a lie based on his Imperial knowledge, but he had for a long time before that been a soldier in the Empire’s ranks. A foot soldier, and then an ISB agent, trained to maximize use of himself to hunt down threats to the Empire with the most efficiency possible. That meant knowing how to prevent himself, if at all possible, from being injured.

Even with all that tactical knowledge, Kallus felt a sharp pain shoot up his leg from his ankle, all the way up into his hip. He didn’t collapse, and he could still stand, which meant he hadn’t broken his femur (or any other bones, most likely) so he continued to chase after the Imperial agent he and the Spectres had been sent to apprehend. She was low enough level that a rescue squadron wouldn’t be sent after her, but high enough in the ISB that she might have some valuable information. Rebel command wanted her captured, and Kallus wasn’t about to let them down.

He had only been running for half a minute when he heard heavy footsteps, heavier even than his, behind him. Despite the limp in his gait and the fact that his vision was slightly blurred from the pain, Kallus smiled. He would know those footsteps in the dark, in the light, with the noise of a thousand other people walking all around him.

“You alright?” Zeb asked. He was barely even breathing heavily; no matter how much time Kallus spent training and exercising and in the field, Zeb was just built with more stamina than he was.

“Fine.” Kallus evened out his stride, although that caused him more pain. The limp was something Zeb spotted easily, given how closely the weakness in that leg was linked to their…friendship. He knew if he continued to keep his weight off it, Zeb would eventually insist that he sit this part of the mission out, and he just couldn’t do that.

A squad of stormtroopers came up behind them. The second they opened fire, Zeb came to a total stop and turned around to fire back. “Go! I’ll catch up with you!” he commanded. Kallus was too intent on his purpose to argue, so he did as Zeb said and kept on the agent’s tail.

There she was! She was moments away from boarding a shuttle. Kallus increased his speed, despite the fact that it was becoming harder to breathe by the moment.

Overhead, there was a distant sound that Kallus knew he recognized, but that he didn’t pay any attention to. He was so close. He couldn’t let anything distract him.

The second he set foot on the boarding ramp, the Imperial fighters above him opened fire, and the shuttle exploded.