#another friend has all his data already (<- no clue if he started writing yet)

[lixenn]

Waiting on my supervisor because we need to discuss further steps for experiments.

I was working on my method section for my thesis and I should probably continue but my brain is so fucking done with life right now. It's a miracle that I have actually written anything never mind two paragraphs.

But otherwise I don't really have much to do right now. I could read papers but I'm honestly not that desperate yet. I'm too tired for creative writing at the moment but I could draw if it weren't for my office buddy (who probably wouldn't judge me because a nice dude but I would feel awkward as hell).

Let me sleep.

[chuckbass-love]

20,39,42 with Andy Barber?

Hey, lovely anon. First of all i hope you’re doing well and second of all, i thoroughly enjoyed writing this and i hope y’all have a lot of fun reading it. It’s been a hot minute since i last wrote for Andy.

Disclaimer: My work is not to be posted anywhere else other than MY Tumblr, Wattpad and Ao3 without my permission. However, reblogs are welcome.

Pairing: Andy Barber x Fem!Reader

Prompts Used: 

20) “You’d better be quiet or everyone’s going to know what a naughty little slut you are”

39) “I’m so sick of your voice. Why don’t you come over here and put your mouth to better use?”

42) “I guess i’ll just get off all by myself”

Warnings: Smut. Sexual intercourse, vaginal sex, spanking, daddy kink, love making (kinda), arguing, swearing, angst and a sprinkle of fluff for good measure. That’s right, used all 3. 18+ you know the drill.

Word Count: 6,796

GIF NOT MINE!!! Credit to @cassercole go check them out💕

Do You Feel What I Feel?

After a long and interesting weekend, you’re a lot less eager to get back behind your desk to work for Andy Barber than you usually are. One reason in particular being that you’ve been dating other people behind his back. See the thing with you and Andy is that you’ve known him for 2 whole years, worked for him for 1 year and been fucking him since the evening of your very first day. He got you the job to work with him after you got laid off.

You met him after he showed up for one of your seminars at college and he gave a presentation on what it’s like to be a lawyer and you just clicked. But it was strictly platonic...until you showed up on that first day dressed in a knee length skirt, a semi sheer polka dot blouse with stockings and heels. He was shocked to say the least. You looked entirely different and he’d never seen you this way before. It turned him on and he let you know it. 

As you were packing your things away and bidding him goodbye for the day, he called you back into his office and instructed you to lock the door behind you before he began to inform you of the effect you had on him. Starting slowly by telling you how he was taken aback by your ability to think on your feet, use your initiative and then just like that, it all came out and he couldn’t control his hunger much longer. 

He kissed you so hard that night that the breath was knocked from your lungs but you loved it, you yearned for more of that feeling and he fucked you so good that you made it a regular thing, without even realising it was becoming one until it was too late. You’d just show up at each others places without a warning and before you knew it, he was fucking you into the mattress and making you cum with a cry of his name.

Now back to the present... you like Andy, in fact if you’re being truthful with yourself, you’ve fallen so madly in love with him that you know it’s time to quit him. He’s like a drug, an addiction and you need to stop going back for more. Hence why you decided that enough was enough. 

You met a guy online, his name is Ashley and he was more than keen to take you out so you happily obliged and sure you had a nice time but there’s just one issue lying in your way. Andy is unsuspecting of your little date and it’s been eating away at you since said date walked you back to your apartment. You know that you need to tell him but you fear that it’ll cost you your job, he did hire you to help you out after all.

Before you can wallow more in your choice to keep things from him, he calls you into his office and you haven’t even gotten any work done yet, you only sat down 5 minutes ago.

What could he possibly want so early on?

“Yes, Mr Barber?” you ask flirtatiously, making him glare up at you before gesturing for you to take a seat opposite him. Which you do.

“So today i’m gonna need you to file this paper work into the data base for me” he starts, lifting up a pile taller than the length of your forearm and now you’re annoyed for real this time. He knows full well that you’re still finishing off the stack from Friday and yet here he is presenting more work for you to do “get it done by the end of the day” he finishes, flashing you another stone cold glare as he looks back down at the paper on his desk, not even bothering to acknowledge your presence for a second longer.

Until you speak up “Andy, you know i’m still finishing off Frid....”

“That’s Mr Barber to you and you can leave now” his rude and snappy interruption makes you scoff as you shake your head at the tone in his voice, he’s not in any mood today to help you out or make exceptions. So you do as you’re told, hauling the heavy pile into your arms and lugging it back to your desk outside. Once it’s on your desk, you walk back to shut his door before he asks, making sure to slam it harder than needed to make it known that you’re angry with him.

He doesn’t seem to notice or care though.

Now to get started on all of this work that’ll probably mean you staying later tonight, just brilliant. Guess your second date with Ashley will have to be rescheduled.

------------------------

You finish off half of the pile by the time it gets to 1:30pm and you’re due a lunch break round about now so seeing as though Andy hasn’t left his office all day, you decide to pop out for some food with one of the other assistants, Stacey. Thank God you don’t have to face him since you have absolutely no clue what could have possibly rattled his cage this morning to make him snap at you like that. The two of you have always had this ongoing joke of you calling him Mr Barber and he usually allows you to call him by his first name until today when that alone was enough to anger him.

It’s obvious that you’ll have to put off telling him about your date until he’s in a better place to receive the news. You’re hoping that since he’s always been opposed to commitment that he’ll take it well but the halt in your fooling around might annoy him a little. It’s not your problem though, he always knew you were planning to eventually settle down.

Upon your return to your desk you find Andy sat in your chair, looking through your work “where the hell have you been?” he mutters as he avoids your eyes “you know what, don’t even bother making excuses, my office, NOW” you jump out of fear as he raises his voice slightly at you for the first time in the whole 2 years you’ve known him. Your anxious body shuffles into his office, scared of what’s about to happen.

“Was i not clear enough earlier Y/N? Hm? Because i specifically remember asking you to have this work done by the end of the day. You get off at half 4, it’s now half 2 and you’ve only done half. Do i pay you to galavant around town with Stacey or do i pay you to do your goddam job?”

In the 2 years that you’ve known Andy, he’s also never made you cry, yet here you are trying your absolute hardest not to let these tears fall in front of him.

“You pay me to do my job and i’ve tried my best to get it done. I-I’m sorry” you stand there awkwardly, picking at the torn skin around your fingernails as you stare hopelessly at your stilettos. “Well your best isn’t fucking good enough Y/N, try harder. You can stay here until all of the paperwork is done and that includes Friday’s load too now close the door on your way out”

Is he actually serious? He can’t be, surely. What is wrong with him?

“No” you stand tall, hands on your hips as you talk back and if he was angry before then now he’s livid with you “What do you mean no?” he questions, stepping towards you, hands in his pockets as he awaits your answer.

“I said, no. Just because you’re in a bad mood for whatever reason does NOT mean that you get to stand here and humiliate me. I said no and that’s final. I’ll do my best to get today’s work done before i leave but Friday’s work can wait and i don’t care what nasty comment you have in store to throw back at me”

His face screws up as he clenches his jaw again, you should feel really scared right about now, that comment might have just cost you this job but you don’t care. If that’s the case then you’ll walk out of here proud of yourself along with one less so called friend in your life.

“Bad mood? I’m furious and you don’t even know the half of it” he picks his phone up, tapping a couple times before handing it to you and walking back to his desk to sit down. You watch the clip in his camera roll, squinting as you try to make out the faces in it and then you realise that it’s you and Ashley. Fuck. He was there that night at your apartment, he was obviously coming to see you and you didn’t even know it. He must have seen you with another man and changed his mind. You feel awful as you look back at him, he just sighs once you place the phone onto his desk.

“Andy, i-i”

“Save it. If you wanted to cut our little deal off then you shoulda just said. I don’t appreciate being lied to Y/N and i don’t fancy talking about it with you for a minute longer so just do as your fucking told and get back to work”

All you can do is turn around and walk away since you’ve done enough damage already. But all you can think about is the look on his face after you watched the incriminating clip. He looked sad, broken even and it’s replaying in your brain over and over. Torturing you. 

This is why he’s been so nasty today, so demanding and harsh. He’s hurt that you lied to him, hurt that you were with someone else, even if it was just dinner. You still arranged a date with another man and went and what Andy has never wanted to admit before, not even to himself is that he really likes you. In fact no, he’s fallen madly in love with you. 

Every waking moment of his life is spent with you on his mind. You even corrupt his dream world too and it’s gotten out of control. Saturday he decided it was time to cut your little deal off and start over. He was going to do it right, confess his feelings, ask you on a date and then take you out and treat you like a princess.

Ever since he laid his blue eyes on you that first time when he was doing the presentation in your class at college, he liked you. You asked so many questions, engaged a lot in the debates and he knew then that you were going to play an important role in his life. And you have. You became close friends, going out regularly and doing things like bowling and eating dinner together more than a handful of times. He enjoyed your company and you enjoyed his but there was this unspoken rule that you had to remain just friends. He wasn’t ready for anything serious and you were still not over your ex.

But then when you walked through his office door on your first day dressed in that skirt, those heels and stockings and lets not forget about that blouse. He was trying his hardest not to drool. One things for sure though, he was painfully hard for you.

When he came to your apartment Saturday and saw you outside your door with some preppy douchebag who was around your age, he felt this lump in his throat form as his heart ached. Sure he expected you to get a man eventually after all you are 24 and he’s in his 30’s. But he didn’t expect it to happen so soon. He also didn’t expect you to have such an effect on him the way you have but here he is, angry at you for moving on without telling him and angry that you aren’t his anymore. 

He feels bad for shouting at you today, for being so harsh with his words. He could see the tears pooling in your eyes right away but he was too pissed off to stop and now he’s almost certain that any friendship the two of you had is gone for good thanks to his vile actions.

Another 2 hours tick by and you’re still working at your pile, you’ve still got a lot left being that he’s included Friday’s in your load too. It’s going to be a long night so you pick your phone up and call Ashley.

“Ashley hey, it’s uh, it’s Y/N. Listen, i have to work late today so i won’t be able to make it” you announce and as he responds, Andy opens his door but you don’t notice.

“Rain check? Uh...” you trail off, trying your hardest to decide if you even want to see him again. It’s like you’re torn. On one hand you have Andy, your dream man. A man who knows your body like the back of his hands and a man who can more than likely take care of you if you just took a leap and told him about your feelings but then on the other hand you have Ashley. A guy who is your age and who makes you laugh a hell of a lot. Before you can even decide though, you hear a cough behind you. It’s Andy.

“Ashley can i call you back? It’s just now’s not really a good time, i have a lot of work to get done”

You hang up the phone as your eyes are locked onto Andy’s and the moment your phone is placed back onto your desk he wraps his large hand around your wrist, lifting you up off your chair and tugging you into his office. You watch as he locks the door behind him before going back to sitting behind his desk.

“You gonna see him again?” he asks, jaw clenched.

“I-I uh, i don’t know. I’m a little torn right now” your eyes settle on his plump pink lips, wanting nothing more than to bite down on his bottom one as you sink down onto his cock but you’re dirty thoughts come to a staggering halt as he speaks. “Torn with what? You like him right?” why is he asking you these things? Is he trying to torture himself with the details.

“Yes i mean no i mean I don’t know. I like him but i don’t think i can date him”

“How come?”

“Because i like someone else, in fact i love someone else”

Andy feels his heart sink further as more cracks appear threatening to shatter it completely. You love someone else and now he’s truly out of the game.

Rage works it’s way back into his body and he can’t help but take it out on you “did you sleep with him? Huh? Did the douche bag get to fuck that tight cunt of yours?”

At first you find him funny, laughing as you look around the room, anywhere but his eyes but then your own rage sets in.

“Not that it’s any of your business but no, he didn’t. We had dinner and that’s it” you state, matter of factly as you place your hands back onto your hips..

“Bullshit”

“Is that what you really think of me Andy? You think i’d just give it up to any guy that even looked my way. Wow, i knew you were a lot of things but vicious was definitely not one of them and what’s that i smell? Is it jealousy? Surely not.” you tut, shaking your head “I don’t think i even know you at all by the looks of things if you thought lying to me was better than being honest and trust me, i’m not jealous in the slightest, in fact i pity you. It’s your sex life that will suffer” he doesn’t falter for even a second as he stares you down and just as he anticipated, you’re the first one to break, looking away from him. You can’t help the way your heart starts to race from all of the fury filling up your body. How dare he.

“I was only keeping it from you until i found the right time to tell you. And don’t you dare think for one second that just because we’ve slept together that you have any right to comment on my sex life. You made it perfectly clear that monogamy wasn’t your thing so don’t be mad when i finally want to move on from being someone’s fuck buddy” you spit, heat rising to your cheeks as you realise what you just said. Fuck.

“I’ll comment on whatever i fucking want to so quit the bitching and yeah, i don’t do commitment but i sure as hell wouldn’t be with you even if i did”

You don’t respond to him this time, there’s no quick comeback to fire his way, no insult that could mean you having the upper hand again. Nothing is left but shock and disappointment. He really said that, he really played on your biggest insecurity. He played on it and used it to his advantage, to get the upper hand and win the argument.

“What? Got nothing to say?” he snorts, smug grin on his face. Watch his smile disappear now...

“I love you, Andy” you finally get the words out and you feel as if you’re going to choke on them and die right here in his office. Cause of death, unrequited love.

“W-what?” he’s practically speechless, his words barely audible.

“I’m so madly in love with you and i have been for a while now. But i continued to shut my feelings out and reject other guys because i came to the realisation that having you in any way that i could would be enough for me even if it meant that i couldn’t have you in the way that i’ve always wanted. But none of this matters now, right? Because you’ve made it pretty clear how you feel and where you stand. You wouldn’t date me even you did date and that’s fine but at least now both our cards are on the table”

He looks up at you, using his index finger to force you to look back at him and when you do, he looks so deep into your eyes almost as if he’s attempting to see into your soul. Like he’s trying to search for any signs of dishonesty.

“Why didn’t you just tell me? Instead of going out with other guys you shoulda told me and been honest about it?” is all he can say and that’s the last response you expected but what catches you off guard the most is how he said it, almost like he was hurt and relieved simultaneously.

“Andy, you’re my boss and you made it clear that you didn’t want a relationship” he has absolutely no right to lecture you about honesty when he’s spent the entire time he’s known you blabbering on about how the single life is better for him and how he’d hate to be tied down again. You roll your eyes as you move away from him when he attempts to move closer.

Silence falls upon the two of you and it seems never ending, leaving you no choice but to leave. The moment you turn around to walk away he’s on his feet too “where are you going?” the tone his voice makes it sound as though he’s pleading for you to stay without actually saying the words.

“I’m going back to my desk to do my fucking job, just like you told me to do earlier” you turn back around but just as you expected, he stops you “look. I’m sorry, okay. I was just mad that you”

“Mad about what? That i went out on a date? I’m a single woman Andy and despite our little deal, i don’t belong to you so you have no right to be mad at me for doing what any other single person does”

He bites down on his bottom lip as he runs his fingers through his perfectly styled locks, messing them up instantly “God, you’re so fucking infuriating”

“I’m infuriating? You really are clueless to your own behaviour aren’t you? I just told you that i love you and you still haven’t told me if you feel the same. So i think that says it all, don’t you?” you stop yourself before continuing your rant, trying your hardest to prevent something worse slipping out. Right now in your state, you’re bound to say things that you don’t mean and will later regret. “you know what, i think i’m gonna take the work load home and complete it there. I’ll see you tomorrow, if i still have a job that is” you raise your brows at him, praying he doesn’t fire you for your attitude alone. But to your surprise he doesn’t.

“You really think that low of me? That i’d ever fire you because of what’s going on between us outside of this office? Wow” he leans back on his desk and his shoulders drop as he slumps over, looking down at his large calloused hands.

“It’s what i assumed would happen. You’re really gonna pretend like you don’t want me gone after today?”

“I don’t, believe it or not. But i have no time to deal with this discussion any longer, i have to leave early today” he says as he goes back to sitting behind his desk again and turning his computer back on “i don’t expect you to stay any longer, you can take that work home and finish it after your date” he mutters the last few words, pulling a face as if they make him sick.

“Really? We’re back to that again. God i’ve had it with you” you spit, biting down on the inside of your cheek before strutting over to the door but his hand stops you before you even get yours on the lock.

“Let me go Andy. I don’t even want to look at you, let alone be stuck in a room with you” harsh, but in this moment it’s true. He’s done nothing but upset you all day long and even after your stupid decision to confess your love for him, he’s still doing it. You feel so defeated right now that you can’t take another second of his shit.

“Just one more thing and then you’re free to go and fuck whoever you want, whenever you want. How many guys have you been on dates with since we started hooking up?” the desperation is evident in his eyes as they pierce into yours, searching again but this time for the answers before you can even open your mouth to give them to him “one. It was only one date on Saturday night with Ashley” and that’s the truth. You would never repeatedly date behind his back, this was a one off. A one off you’re regretting more as the seconds tick by.

An awkward silence falls upon the two of you once more as he walks back over to his desk, pacing next to it and creating a draft. “Are you planning to see him again?” and he’s back with more questions. Why does he care so much?

He clearly doesn’t love you too otherwise he’d have said it once you confessed your feelings for him. Instead he left you looking like the biggest joke ever, the clown. And you feel so mortified for even believing he’d say it back.

Silly little Y/N, always catching feelings for men who don’t feel the same way back. You’re starting to feel as though you’ll never find someone.

But still his behaviour has you second guessing him. Maybe he does like you and that’s why he’s acting so hurt.

“Maybe i will, after all i am single. That shouldn’t be a problem, should it Andy?” you know full well that you’re pushing down hard on his buttons and you can see his cheeks turn red as his knuckles turn white from his tight grip on the side of the table.

“What you don’t like that? You don’t like the thought of me on top of Ashley, sinking down onto his cock as he touches my body and kis -”

Out of nowhere he interrupts you, slamming his fist down onto his desk “dammit, Y/N, what is it with you? Trying to make me jealous? Because i’ve had just about enough of you running your mouth” he pulls one of the chairs out, falling into it and spreading his legs “In fact. I’m so sick of your voice. Why don’t you come over here and put your mouth to better use? Huh? Maybe then you’ll shut up about that fucking douche bag” he is jealous, it’s so obvious to you now. He’s jealous of Ashley, jealous of the possibility of him spending time with you and he hates the thought of someone stealing you away from his tight grasp.

You can’t quite believe your ears or your eyes as he spreads his legs further, grazing his hand over the tent in his dress trousers and you can’t help the gulp that follows.

“Andy”

“Shhh, enough talking. I don’t have it in me anymore to argue with you, just come here” he insists but you stand your ground “no. i can’t keep going round and round in circles with you with absolutely no end in sight and with no hope for you to reciprocate how i feel. I’m sorry but i’m leaving”

Yet again, as expected, he clears his throat “fine. I guess i’ll just get off all by myself”

Like they always do around Andy, your legs turn to jelly and your eyes glaze over along with your better judgement being clouded by x rated thoughts of him railing you. The idea of him touching himself, working his hand expertly around his girthy cock causes arousal to flood your panties. How dare your body betray you like this. How dare your mind do the same. It’s not fair that every time you think you have the upper hand and the dominance, he comes along, snatching it away from you and proving you wrong.

You have absolutely no idea why you’re about to do what you’re about to do other than the fact that your body gravitates toward him like a magnet and it’s out of your control.

So without a second longer to fester or overthink, you spin around on your heels, charging towards him. Andy watches in awe as you drop to your knees and make quick work of his belt. Once you free his cock from the confines of his black Calvin Kleins and into your small hand you spot the droplets of precum oozing out of the slit on his red bulbous head. You look up at him through your eyelashes, batting them as you give the tip a couple of kitten licks before spitting all over his shaft and pumping him agonisingly slow.

“Fuck” he groans, rolling his eyes back as he grips the arm rests on the chair when you take him into your mouth “attagirl, sucking daddy’s cock like a fucking pro” his hands grip your face as he continues to watch you go to work, making a mess of yourself as you gag around him,

You don’t bother to issue a warning before taking all of him in your mouth, all the way down to his balls over and over. Making sure to hollow out your cheeks as you bob your head up and down, your tongue licking the underside of him as your hands grasp his balls. He starts bucking his hips up, attempting to fuck your mouth but you push him back down as a whole batch of unholy sounds that only you can elicit from him fall from his perfect lips, the sounds that are so loud and downright filthy that he has no option but to cover his mouth with his hand, biting down one of his thick digits to keep from exposing himself to his unsuspecting colleagues outside.

He soon pulls you off and you do so with a pop. He forces you to look up at him, his hand grabbing your cheeks and squeezing aggressively “no matter what undeserving boys you go out on a date with, no matter who flirts with you. You’re mine, always have been and always will be” he moves you to straddle his lap before he stands up to move the two of you to the couch.

“So no more dates princess, no more other guys. Because i’m the only one who gets to have you. Is that clear?” he cocks his brow up at you and you nod in response before mumbling a quick “yes” to satisfy his need for confirmation and assurance.

He lifts your knee length dress up to your stomach before he gets to touching you, squeezing at your ass cheeks a little too hard for your liking but you secretly love the way he gets so rough with your body, the way he smacks both ass cheeks repeatedly until you wince from how sore he’s made you.

“God, these clothes drive me crazy. Ever since that first day i met you, i’ve wanted you and when you started working here, i was so desperate to fuck you as you wore these stockings and these heels. You’re so fucking hot, princess and you have no idea how crazy you drive me when you bend over, shoving this ass in my face”

He starts to kiss your neck, sloppy open mouthed kisses on the spot that has your back arching as you grip onto the back of his neck to steady yourself. He’s working you up all the more, turning the pool in your panties into a river. You’re dripping wet for him, desperate for him to just fuck your greedy pussy, desperate to clench down around his cock as he pounds into you.

“You’ve done it before Andy. Many times in fact”

His kisses halt as he smirks at you, that devilish look in his eyes. It always drives you wild “do it again, please, i need it” you beg pathetically and much to your surprise, he does exactly that. He takes your panties, tugging them to the side and playing with your soaked core a little as well as touching your bundle of nerves. You whine into the crook of his neck as you urge him to hurry before he eventually pulls his pants further down his legs to position himself at your entrance better. You don’t even have time to breathe before he’s knocking the air from your lungs as he fucks himself to the hilt inside of you.

The way his pace continues to pick up until it’s rendering on animalistic is causing you to let out the loudest and sexiest sounds, it’s like music to his ears but he can’t have anyone hearing this. He flips the two of you over so that you’re below him, your legs pushed back to your head and you hold them in place. His hand covers your mouth as he slides himself back in, not making any effort to start slow “you’d better be quiet or everyone’s going to know what a naughty little slut you are” he continues with rough snaps of his hips as he fucks into you with reckless abandon and causing the sweet music you make to vibrate onto his hand.

“Yeah, like this? Like the way i fuck this pretty little cunt?”

Thrust

“Bet his cock couldn’t even touch what mine does to you, the way you cry out for more and scream my name every time. The way i can make you cum with just my words and my fingers. God, such a dirty little girl for me, ain’t that right, princess?”

Satisfied hums follow his questions along with a frantic nod as you feel the coil tightening in your stomach, like a knot twisting and pulling, you’re so unbelievably close that you can almost taste the impending orgasm. “Don’t make a fucking sound when i move my hand, okay?” again you nod in response and he moves his hand, smiling down at you with adoration in his eyes before moving his hand to your aching sex. His fingers pressing down onto your bundle of nerves, rubbing firm circles on it and as soon as your walls flutter around him, he knows your close.

“Gonna cum, huh? Gonna make a mess all over my cock? My filthy girl, go on baby, cream all over me”

Just like that, along with his permission you let everything go, allowing yourself to really feel the pleasure. Your walls flutter around him again and again and each time he pulls out of you he spots your juices as they cover his cock beautifully. The sight alone has his hips snapping harder, the sound of his skin slapping against yours bounces off of the walls in his office and you accidentally let out a lewd moan that he swallows with his kiss as you wrap your legs around him to pull him closer “cum for me daddy” your encouragement sends his entire world spinning as his thrusts stagger. 

His cock jolts inside of you, twitching like crazy before his cream fills you up deliciously, painting your walls in thick ropes. You arch your back as your arms wrap around his neck. You need to feel his lips on yours.

He kisses you so hard that your teeth clash, making the two of you chuckle into each others mouths before attempting again. This time his tongue forces it’s way past your lips, battling with yours as he rides the two of you through your dramatic and intense highs.

Once his hips still and he pulls out, he flops down next to you. The two of you are nothing but a panting mess. Chests rising and falling along with your erratic heart beats.

“I love you too” he confesses, making you gasp as you turn your head to look at his spent body, the way his eyes meet yours and tears pool in them has your eyes doing the same.

“Andy”

“I’m not finished. I’ve felt this connection with you since the day i first met you, it caught me completely off guard. When we made the deal for it to be just friends, i was upset. I wanted a lot more but i know i wasn’t ready just yet. But the way you’d draw out laughter from me that no one else has ever been able to and the way you’d boss me around only made my feelings grow. Then we fucked and it was like confirmation to me that i was well and truly screwed. But i kept coming back for more because it was like an addiction, i had to have you in any way that was possible and if sex was the only way then i’d have stayed single forever just to keep you close. I’d have done anything to be able to hold your body and kiss your neck and make you feel good. If doing that as just your fuck buddy was the only way then so be it. But i got to a point where just fucking you wasn’t enough. I wanted something real with you. So on Saturday-” before he can even finish you sigh, sitting up.

“You came to tell me how you felt? Andy, why didn’t you just say that earlier?” you don’t know how to feel right now. You’re so consumed by emotions that your head is spinning. One one hand you’re angry, annoyed and upset that he kept this from you and didn’t just tell you he felt the same when you confessed how you felt. But then on the other hand you’re relieved and happy that he does feel the same. This was never some unrequited love, it’s always been reciprocated and real. 

All the lingering stares you’d catch, all of the compliments thrown your way and the insults hurled at random guys who’d ogle you whenever you were out in public with him or whenever another guy at work would take an interest.

“I saw you with that guy Y/N and i broke down. Then today, i expected you to come in and talk to me about it but instead you sat down at your desk, acted normal and didn’t say a word. I was hurt that you’d keep this from me. I know we both felt these things and i know both of us were unaware of the feelings being reciprocated but you still didn’t tell me you’d even thought about seeing other people and i guess i just expected more from you, more honesty”

He’s right. You don’t have it in you to argue because he’s right. He might have had his reasons for hiding his true feelings but you hid your date from him and that’s a lot worse. How was he supposed to just come out with it when all he could think of was you with Ashley.

“You’re right. I was wrong, i didn’t even think about the effect it would have and i was selfish. To tell you the truth i only went out with that guy because i was trying to move on from you, i didn’t want to keep feeling this strongly with no possibility of you feeling the same so i did the first thing i knew to do, date some other guy”

Andy can’t say he isn’t relieved to hear you admit that preppy college boy means nothing to you but it’s bitter sweet, you saying that you thought your feelings were one sided so you wanted to move on to avoid getting hurt further makes him hurt too. You’ve always meant more to him than just some friendship or some steamy sex. You’re the first woman he’s even looked twice at since Laurie and that means a whole lot more than you’ll ever know or understand.

“So what now?” you ask, puppy dog eyes showing as you await his response.

“I know it’s a bit backwards but how about a date tomorrow?”

God, he really is so handsome, so sweet. His deep and raspy chuckles make you giggle along with him as you straddle him once again, crashing your lips to his, his beard scratching at your face just the way you like.

He pulls away for a second “is that a yes?” once more you shake your head, tutting at him “a thousand times yes, Mr Barber. Yes i’ll go out with you” he wraps his arms around you as he pulls you flush against his suit clad torso, kissing you eagerly and smiling into it. He finally got the girl.

---------------------------------

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[milliedazzledust]

War Rages On: part 2 (Bucky Barnes imagine)

Words: 3234

A/N: Still don’t know where I’m going with this story but I’m really having fun writing this and I hope you’ll like it! Don’t forget to tell me if you want to be tag for the next parts :)

Previously: part 1

Steve had found Bucky deep in the forest of Wakanda. Escorted by the kind T’Challa, he led him to the man they called the White Wolf. He had found his redemption away from mankind. Surrounded by trees and animals, Y/N and him had lived a simple life inside their cottage up until that moment. Before this, Steve had no intention to bring them back. He had planned to come visit the couple but most importantly to let them have their happy ending, to keep them from monsters that had tried so many times to tore them apart. He couldn’t imagine two people more deserving of peace than them. The King of Wakanda had outdone himself to make sure this was achievable.

“Do you remember the last time you saw her ?” Steve asked him.

Bucky sat on a rock near a river, hastily ruffling his hair.

“She left a couple days ago” He recounted. “She had a message from Stark on the burner phone you gave her”

“What did it say ?”

“Need your help asap - Romanoff compromised. An address was attached”

He got worried when he saw Steve dropping his head and rubbing his eyes in frustration. He had known him long enough to guess something was bothering him.

“Buck’, Tony didn’t send anything.” The Soldier confessed.

“What do you mean ?”

The familiar sensation of anxiety started to form in the pit of his stomach despite the lack of information. He knew he wouldn’t like what he was about to hear.

“I don’t know what happened, but somebody pretending to be him wrote that message”

“That’s impossible” He shook his head, refusing to believe him.

“Buck’ ..”

“She left, Steve. She left to go help him” He vehemently cut him. He stood up and started pacing. His friend could see his whole demeanor slowly shifting. “If she’s not with Stark, then where is she ?!”

“I don’t know” The Captain replied. Admitting it to his friend was almost too painful.

“Have you talk to the others ? Do they know anything ?”

He was looking more and more like a madman. His body had already understood what his mind failed to grasp.

“She send Sam an SOS”

“What ?” He said it in a whisper, instantaneously freezing on the spot.

“Bucky, I’m sorry but she’s missing”

“She can’t be” He felt the panic beginning to creep into his chest.

He turned back to look at his friend.

“That’s not �� She said she’d be back” He explained, as if it would make perfect sense that she couldn’t be gone, as if that promise had been enough to keep her safe “.. She … She always comes back to me”

He dropped on the floor, the captain barely had enough time to catch him. His breathing became more rapid, more shallow. He felt it hit him like a hurricane. There was a logical explanation, but the only one he could think of was worst than any nightmare.

“Steve if it’s …” He suddenly sounded alarmed.

“It might not be” The Captain answered. He didn’t know which one of them he was trying to convince the most.

“Who else ?”

His friend stayed silent. His mind couldn’t wrapped around the fact that this could be happening, that they were potentially facing another threat.

“They’re still after me” The Sergeant muttered. “It’d make sense”

“Even if it’s Hydra, we’ll still find her” Steve promised.

“What if it’s too late ?” Bucky dared to think about that possibility, his eyes drifting into space.

“It’s not”

The soldier put a comforting hand on the Sergeant’s shoulder. When he glanced up at him, he saw the reassurance he so desperately needed. He knew this look by heart, he had seen it so many time on Steve’s face growing up. He had that same determination every time he went on to fight someone twice his size, the confidence and fierceness that had built Captain America.

“C’mon, get up.” He ordered with force. “We’re gonna find her”

He silently followed him, his mind running a mile an hour. He couldn’t remember a time he had felt so vulnerable. The mere thought of her somewhere with Hydra was enough to reopen his deepest wounds. He knew what they were capable of, he had lived through the endless torture for years and to picture a fraction of it being done on her was too much.

Steve had taken him to a jet. After several hours of flight, they had landed in a location he didn’t recognize. The place looked like headquarters, abandoned in the middle of nowhere. They were surrounded by large trees. When they walked out of the plane, Bucky recognized the distinct sent of mint and pine mixed together. He glanced around, trying to find a clue as to where they were, but all he could see was the woods. No other indication.

“What is this place ?” He asked Steve as they walk inside the building.

Before his friend could answer he heard another voice speaking, the sound resonating on the walls.

“Secure location not far from Warsaw, outside of the radars”

Bucky didn’t hide his surprise when he found himself face to face with Tony Stark. The billionaire saw him tense, his body instinctively going into defense mode.

“At ease, soldier” He sighed. “We’re not here to fight”

Still he didn’t ushered a word and looked back and forth between the two men in front of him.  After what had happened between them before he found shelter in Wakanda, he wasn’t sure how to behave around Stark.

“Have you find anything ?” Steve inquired, folding his hands behind his back.

“Sam checked the address you sent me” Stark started to explain. “We were about to take a look at the security footage”

He guided the soldiers to a room that seemed like it had been restored at the last minute. There was a violent contrast between the dust on the floor, the half broken chairs and the high-tech computers Tony had most likely installed. It definitely looked like a hideout. He first noticed Natasha Romanoff leaning on the large table at the center of the room. She was studying a file. Next to her was Sam Wilson, scrolling on a tablet he was holding with intense concentration.

Steve greeted both of them with a simple nod and Bucky noticed the side looks he was being given but chose to not acknowledge them. Stark started to type on his computer and the enormous screen he had placed on one of the wall turned itself on.  

“Here’s what we know so far” Tony told them.

Bucky recognized a screenshot of the message sent to Y/N on the burner phone, the very same one he was carrying in his pocket.

“I was not able to trace the id or the location”

As he spoke, Stark watched the Sergeant from the corner of his eyes taking a sit on a half torn armchair.

“But whomever send this was pretending to be me”

“How were they able to get her number ? Only you and I are supposed to have that information” Steve interrogated.

“I’m getting there, Captain.” Tony answered. “Somebody infiltrated my system and discreetly hijacked it to get into classified data”

The Sergeant suddenly raised his head and with a flick of the fingers, Stark projected details of his firewall system on the screen.

“They left a trail. Sloppy work if you ask me”

“Get to the point, Tony” Natasha reminded him.

The man rolled his eyes before continuing his explanations.

“They searched through every files I have on Barnes. What they were looking for exactly? I don’t know, but I have a vague idea”

“My location” Bucky whispered.

“Bingo. They were after you, and when they realized I was smart enough not to put any compromising informations, they moved to plan B”

“What’s plan B ?” Sam severely asked.

“If you can’t find the Winter Soldier, then let him find you.” Stark directly offered the hypothesis.

“They’re using Y/N as leverage” Steve finally understood.

“Exactly”

Bucky rubbed his eyes in frustration. This was looking more and more like Hydra’s modus operandi.

“Who is they ?” Romanoff questioned.

“I might have an answer to that” Sam replied, waving his tablet. “I found something on the security footage”

A video without sound started playing and instantly Bucky stood up. His eyes traveling from one corner of the screen to the other, he was closely studying every movement. Whomever was doing this had smartly brought the woman in the middle of the city and away from any camera that could incriminate them.

“Y/N is waiting in the corner of the street, then this man approaches her. She takes a step back, probably figured out something was wrong.” The Falcon explained. “All we can see is her reaching for her phone behind her back, which we know now was to send an SOS”

“Any identification on the guy ?” Natasha inquired.

“No. He stayed hidden from the cameras. He knew exactly where they were”

“Why didn’t she attack ?” Tony pondered. “She could have taken him easily”

“Busy street” Bucky answered mechanically. “If you want somebody to comply, lure them in the middle of a crowd. One move and someone else die. Works all the time”

“Of course you’d know about that” The billionaire muttered under his breath.

Steve hadn’t talk yet. His eyes were glued to the screen. Something wasn’t adding up and he didn’t know what. He watched the video playing four times, his hands on his hips, deep in concentration.

“Rewind it” He ordered Sam.

The man didn’t question the request and did as he was told. Shape after shape the Captain analyzed every detail until the information he was missing was right in front of him.

“Stop there”

The video froze and they stared at the frame, trying to figure out what he was seeing.

“What is it, Steve ?” The Russian spy inquired.

“Can you zoom in ?” He asked, ignoring the first question.

Tony took the tablet in his hand and started to play with it.

“What am I looking for ?”

“His neck” He simply said. “He has a tattoo”

His friend raised an eyebrow in surprise, but got to work. Typing on his keyboard, he cut the video’s frame, zoomed in and used a program to polish the picture and create a clear image of the ink on the man’s body.

As soon as Bucky saw it, he felt a cold shiver running down his spine. What he feared the most had only been theoretical until then, there was still a slight hope he was wrong, a one percent chance he was holding onto that he wasn’t living his worst nightmare. And all that came crashing down when he recognized the pattern of a skull he knew by heart.

“No..No, no, no, no” He kept repeating, pacing around the room, panic striking in his veins. “This is not happening, this is not…”

The Captain stopped him in his track, putting his hands on his shoulders.

“Buck’ ..”

“They have her, Steve. They have Y/N” He was terrified, and his friend could clearly hear it in his voice.

The others were following their interaction, not yet understanding what was happening. Steve raised his head, still holding his brother emotionally breaking apart, and looked at them with an alarmed expression that did nothing to ease their worry.

“We had our suspicion on who might have pulled up something like this » He told them. « Frankly, I was hoping we were wrong”

“Who is it ?” Romanoff demanded.

“…Hydra” Bucky murmured, his head low and his human hand shaking.

They all tensed in the room and the silence that followed was frightening.

“Are you sure ?” The Falcon asked.

Steve stared at the projecting image on the wall, pursing his lips.

“Yes, Sam. It’s them” He answered with a heavy voice filled with concern.

Bucky felt the tears on his cheeks before he realized he was crying. His breathing had become unsteady and he was slowly faltering. He quickly excused himself and left the building. He needed the air.

He was trying so hard not to panic but he seemed paralyzed. There was suddenly a menacing aura around him, holding him in a tightening grip. He could feel his temperature rising, a clear sign of his anxiety, his fear. It was a living force creeping over him like a hungry beast, fed by the agonizing possibility he might lose her. He started to take shaky small breath, like Y/N had taught him every time he had a panic attack, but without her to guide him, it was useless. His pulse was beating in his ears, blocking all the other sounds, and he was sweating. There was a lump in his throat, an emotion so large it was aching to be released. He wanted to scream, to punch something, to beg for mercy. Alas, he closed his eyes, trying to focus his senses on one thing only, find her.

And just as the thought crossed his mind, he felt the tiny device he had in his pocket vibrate. He took his phone out, but nothing was displayed on the screen. Then he realized it wasn’t the right one. Fishing in his pants, he found was he was looking for and grabbed the burner phone. One message. When he opened it, the color quickly drained from his face.

« She won’t stay alive for long, unless you come home. Not Romania, not Brooklyn, your real home. No Avenger. You know the consequences of disobedience »

Attached to it was a photo. His heart stopped and his metal fist clenched the phone so hard he accidentally broke it when he saw the picture of the woman he loved, arms chained on a ceiling, body dangling in the air and covered in blood. He absently stared at his hands, thinking back to their time in Wakanda, in peace, away from the world. Just the two of them. What a difference a couple of days could make. He knew what he wanted to do. There was not an ounce of hesitation in him, only the desire to make sure she would make it out of there alive.

So engrossed in his own thoughts, he didn’t hear someone creeping in behind him. Natasha silently stood next to him. Was it out of pity or emotional support, he couldn’t tell. She observed him for a moment, furrowing her eyebrows like she was trying to read him, before she turned back to look at the sky.

“You know where she is”

It wasn’t a question but a statement.

“What makes you say that ?”

“Two fossils from the 1930’s with the same instinct of preservation and the same tendencies to make stupid decisions based on emotions. Not exactly hard to put two and two together. You and Steve have a lot in common”

He pursed his lips.

“Are you gonna tell them ?” He asked, looking back at the abandoned building.

“Still debating.” She admitted. “You’re not really stupid, Barnes. You know you can’t take them all by yourself”

“That wasn’t my intention”

“Then what’s your plan ?”

He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to, she could see it in his whole demeanor. It was in the way he stood up straight, in the way he was clenching his jaw, in the way his eyes held so much determination and purpose.

“You don’t intend on coming back, do you ?”

“I can’t let them kill her” He explained.

“A suicide mission is by far the most stupid idea you could come up with”

“It’s the only one I’ve got” He replied, resigned.

He turned to look at her. The calmness he was displaying was enough to know he had made up his mind and honestly, it frightened her.

“I don’t think you know how much she means to me, Natasha. I don’t deserve her love, I really don’t, but somehow she saw something worth fighting for in me. She saw all the cracks, all the flaws and all the mistakes I’ve made and she didn’t run. She stood by my side and fought for me. She’s my sanity. She’s all the good that’s left in me. She’s the name I whisper when I’m scared my memories are fading. I can’t take the risk to lose her because if that happens, I’ll lose myself and there will be no come back this time”

The lump in his throat prevented him from saying anything more and he gulped, trying to make the feeling of anxiety subside.

“Whatever it takes, and whatever I’ll have to do, I swear she will get out of there alive” He nodded to no one in particular, a silent and simple sign he would not change his mind.

“At what cost ? What are we suppose to tell her when you won’t be here anymore ?”

“That I fought for her the same way she did for me”

His response shut her up. His voice held so much serenity and resolve she knew it would be useless to argue. She understood where he was coming from, just like she understood the sacrifice he was ready to make.

“There’s a version of this where we win, Barnes. Keep that in mind. It doesn’t have to end in pain or worse. Fight with everything you’ve got and don’t stop until both of you are safe”

He sadly smiled.

“You’ve definitely spent too much time with Steve”

She rolled her eyes before turning to stand in front of him. She hesitated a moment, words on the tip of her tongue.

“I’m sorry this is happening” She gloomily confessed. “But you know why they want you, right ?”

“The Winter Soldier” He replied, closing his eyes. “They want him back”

“Just so we’re clear here, Bucky, and just in case, you have to be aware that the moment you’ll get there, they will torture you to get him back. Your mind is already damaged, you won’t hold long”

“I just need to hold long enough to get her out of there” He vehemently assured her, gritting his teeth.

“Your plan is to walk out with her” She reminded him, insisting on the words.

He glanced down at her and judging by the look in his eyes, she knew what he was about to ask her before he even spoke.

“If it comes to the worse, if I become … him again …” He started.

“I know” She cut him. He didn’t need to say the word, she knew thinking about it was already more than enough pain for him.

She stood there, watched him get into the jet him and Steve had taken to get there, and did nothing. It was useless to try to convince him to stay, he was too stubborn to listen. And she knew this was his best shot at getting back the woman he loved alive. She was aware Hydra would not spare the lovers and she prayed they were ready for the fight that was ahead of them. The Avengers would find them eventually, hopefully before it was too late. She turned around when she saw the jet flying in the air and walked silently back inside the building. She would keep that conversation and the promise she had made a secret, and hope whatever Bucky had planned, it would be enough to prevent the worse from happening.

Tag list: @briannareneea985​ - @bangtanxberm​  - @kissmyoops - @steve-is-daddy​

[ohnobjyx]

Would it be that impossible for dd and gg to come out as a couple (provided they respected censorship and didn't talk about it with the media)? I read the other day that homosexuality is not illegal in China, just talking about it and showing in the media, so could not someone as brave and crazy as dd attempt to come out outside of the media? after all they are the first 3 shipped real couples in china, they do have support. Coming out willingly would also save them from being eventually outed..

Hi, anon! (*this blogger cracks her neck and gets ready*) Let’s get into it!

Disclaimer: fake fake fake. Why would you think that we believe in bjyx?

Preface: this post might not be exactly a controversial opinion, since I think many will have the same one. However, it’s alright to disagree: we all have our own perception of the matter, which is coloured by our own experiences (let’s just say that an absolute objective view is difficult). I present here with the most objective post (at least in terms of data and facts) I could write.

Oh, and you all might have noticed, but being concise is not my forte. I tend to digress.

First of all, I assume that the concept of “coming out outside of the media” means that they could have told just close friends and family, without announcing it to the media.

But how would we know that they have done it? (and I don’t mean we should know for sure, ofc). For all we know, they may have already done this, and, from my pov, they probably have. Without entering in “fake” rumours:

TTXS bros know something (repeating myself for the nth time). From the way DZW jumps in whenever it remotely looks like dd is slipping up, how WH poses his questions, how QF teases him. It all seems references to a real, tangible thing, instead of baseless friendly teasing. It’s also very interesting that they have stopped their matchmaking mission and have instead started to defend why dd is “single”.

Their parents are their cover. Even if dd parents didn’t watch TTXS, wouldn’t someone else watch it and ask them about it? Wouldn’t they wonder about the supposed clothes that dd sends home, the medicine, the market stroll? Maybe I’m just projecting, but I wouldn’t use my parents as a shield if they weren’t aware of the situation behind it, because I’d be subjected to their questioning later. That’s why, unless I wanted to tell them or I had already told them, I wouldn’t use my parents as an excuse. So, once is alright, but dd has done it several times, and that, for me, means that his parents know.

That’s what I would consider “coming outside the media”. Of course, this doesn’t involve us fans, and it’s their decision, of which we probably will never hear about (or, at least, not soon, and that’s fine!). 

In my opinion, it’s also the best course of action, especially with all the rumours that are always circulating about them. It wouldn’t be a “brave and crazy” course of action, but rather the most sensible and rational, since it’s the best way to avoid misunderstandings with your friends and family. It’s also considerate for his friends at work, just so they know what to expect when they are on stage and it allows them to understand dd’s reactions.

(Again, we are talking about dd because that’s who anon asked about. I think gg’s circle is less close to him, so it may not be the case with him, but I don’t know enough to say what would happen).

Just let’s suppose his TTXS bros didn’t know anything and just kept trying to act as matchmakers for dd. That’s the kind of situation that’s bound to be uncomfortable for everyone because dd isn’t the kind of person who’d lie (and he doesn’t fast enough to improptu questions). 

The second thing I wanted to talk about is their fans’ support. I want to talk about numbers.

I’m going to explain why I only take the c-fans data as reference. We int fans don’t really count, because we don’t affect their careers directly, as c-fans do. Of course, our support is very useful in showing how many people are rooting for them, like what happened when Roseonly’s livestream with gg was live. And I like to think that they would feel better knowing that there are a lot of people in Chn and overseas that support them and whatever there is between them.

So int-fans do contribute to give more views and likes to their Roseonly livestream (if they can access it, which isn’t always the case), but they won’t buy the roses and impact with real money, so to say.

We don’t really participate in their endorsements, many won’t stay long enough to watch more dramas from them (and I do understand that the lack of eng subs is the main problem), and many don’t/can’t/don’t know how to push them up in the charts. We’ve talked before about how the c-ent industry doesn’t really need the int audience to make a lot of money, and to be highly profitable, and it still applies in a smaller case, like a single idol. 

That’s why I think that in matters of real, tangible fan support, c-fans still make a bigger percentage (around 80-90%) of their support.

So, as of now, there are 3 supertopics in w/ibo that features gg/dd (let’s leave the difference in supertopics for another day, but I don’t support the discussion about people’s sex life, thanks for your understanding):

BJYX. The largest supertopic (top 1) with a wide margin from the others. It has 2.570.000 fans.

ZSWW. It’s the number 5 in the CP supertopics, with 910.000 fans.

LXFY. The number 23 in the CP supertopics with 590.000 fans.

All of them added make 4.070.000 fans. But we have to take into account the overlapping in these three supertopics: many people (like me) are following the three supertopics at the same time. That’s why, in a not scientific way, I’m guessing that those 4.070.000 come to around 4.000.000 once you take out the people that are following the three at the same time.

Even 4 million people is still a huge number of people: that’s more people than the population of the capital of my country, and one tenth of the total census here.

Yet, in China, it means 4 out of every 1400, which translates into 0′003%. It’s also from a very specific demographic (mainly female and young). Of course, it doesn’t mean that they won’t get support from other people if it ever got out, but they can’t know what would happen then for sure.

It means that, in actual 3D world, there are a lot of people who don’t know about their CP. I read the other day some tumblr blogger saying that “we bxg are in our own little bubble, not that many people know about their cp” (was that you, @jcisthebestfightme?) which I agree a lot with. I mean, my w/ibo account and tumblr is filled with bjyx/yizhan, so much that it’s easy to forget that I arranged it to be like this, but that the majority of the people don’t receive so much info about them, nor they analyze their every move like we do.

The only thing they can know for sure is what general population thinks about same sex relationships.

In a recent poll I saw, with thousands of answers about what netizens thought of the legalization of same sex marriage in Taiwan, the supporting votes didn’t get to 50%. In Taiwan, public opinion was like this around the time same sex marriage was legalized:

An opinion poll conducted in November 2016 by the Kuomintang found that 52% of the Taiwanese population supported same-sex marriage, while 43% were opposed. Another poll commissioned that same month found similar numbers: 55% in support, and 45% in opposition. Support was higher among 20–29-year-olds (80%), but decreased significantly with age. (Wikipedia)

(I just want to say, I can’t wait for the younger generations to take over).

More data: the public stance in China could be described as: “no approval, no disapproval, no promotion”, and the public opinion is becoming more and more tolerant, but there’s still a deep-set homophobia, as in only 5% of the lgbt people comes out completely (around 20% comes out to their family), and around 80% of gay men are married to women due to social and family pressure (ofc, these data is from a few years ago, and new polls and surveys are needed, but don’t expect them to carry out a wide-range survey about this nor I think the situation has changed drastically).

In my opinion, society is slowly taking more steps towards tolerance first and acceptance second. One of their best achievement was the lgbt community and many netizens’ refusal to allow w/ibo to instate a ban on content related to homosexuality, which led to w/ibo actually reversing its decision and stop banning that content in less than 3 days.

However, the fact that a lot of people express their support doesn’t take away the truth of a lot of people openly opposing it (let’s remember that there weren’t so many antis to start with in 2/27, but its effects were undeniably large and unjust).

(If any of you read more data about lgbt rights in China, please remember that Hong Kong receives a lot more Western influence, and that public opinion in HK does not represent the actual situation in mainland Chn. Ofc, because they’re more open to lgbt, there are also more data and polls carried out in HK, so a lot of info is HK based).

Leaving this kind of data aside, let’s take another matter of numbers. While they have in total 4 million fans in the supertopics, dd has as of now 35,400,000 fans following him on w/ibo and gg has 26,690,000 fans.

One thing I’m sure they are aware of is the discussion that arises from time to time between the solo fans and the bxg. Another thing they must be aware of, specially dd, is that their fanbase has a lot of females who are their fans, not just because of their talent, but also because they’re single and therefore they can fantasize about being with them.

All in all, even though a lot of people support them, there would be also quite a number of “disappointed” people, with the danger of them becoming antis.

So while I do think they appreciate it, and leave clues specifically for us, and dd goes as far as interacting with bxg, I also feel that gg and dd might not see widespread support, enough so they’d feel comfortable coming out completely with the current public stance on homosexual relationships in Chn.

(And again, from my pov, they aren’t in the closet with their family and friends).

And last, but not least, does “coming out respecting the censorship and not talking about it with the media” mean that it would be known by the general public, or, at least, their fans (in a very hypothetic case, since I don’t know how this could be achieved)? Because then, even if they didn’t talk about it with the media, it would be as good as coming out publicly.

In an idol’s life there’s no “private” and “public”. There’s only “public” and “secret” (and by secret I mean things they “hide” in public/don’t talk about, even though people next to them might know about it). The line between public and private is very very blurred in the c-ent industry.

I always remember the case of an actor who had an affair. Because of his affair (he was married and had a son), he lost endorsements, he was taken out of tv programs and literally erased from filmed episodes. The things he did in private affected very directly his job (I don’t approve of the affair, but the consequences it had surprised me a lot). 

So, while I do think that gg and dd are getting bolder with time, when they were both very startled by the “you’d lose your job if you were in a relationship” phrase, the fear was real and palpable. However, I’m aware that that was their stance a year ago, and that a lot of things have changed (heck, we’ve gone through a pandemic, something I couldn’t have imagined a year ago), so I’m going to observe how they act from now.

That’s why, “coming out willingly would also save them from being eventually outed..” is true, but it’s also true that it would push them into a storm I’m not sure they’d come out completely unscathed. And it may be selfish, but I don’t want them to be the ones who test the public’s tolerance to gay idols.

I think I’m missing my point, so I’ll spell it out: if they want to come out, I’ll support them with everything I have, as I think many fans will do. If they ever prove us wrong dating another person, be it male or female, I’ll support them as a fan too. But I would like any action they take to be decided by them, instead of pressed by fans who just want a confirmation at any cost.

I’ve seen people saying that if they were really together, they should be “honest” with themselves and the audience and come out publicly. In my opinion, it’s easy to judge when you’re not the one who might lose something if you take a step in the wrong direction, and it’s not your income and your job in the line.

I’m sure (reminding you all that I believe that bjyxszd) that they’d come out completely if possible. I’m also sure that they have consulted with managers and public relations experts (and their team would have talked with them about it even if gg and dd didn’t bring it up). Therefore, I strongly believe they are doing what they think is better at the time being. 

To sum up: I’ll support whatever they do, but I don’t want others to push them to do things they don’t want/aren’t prepared to do. They are already between a rock and a hard place, so whatever they do with their relationship is absolutely their call.

So, anon, I hope I have answered you, but I leave here a short summary for you in the case the info was too scattered for you:

Would it be that impossible for dd and gg to come out as a couple (provided they respected censorship and didn't talk about it with the media)? I read the other day that homosexuality is not illegal in China, just talking about it and showing in the media, so could not someone as brave and crazy as dd attempt to come out outside of the media?

They might have come out to friends and family, and, based on dd’s interactions with the people around him and the words he has said, I do believe he has. Because gg is also an honest, sensible person, I think he might have done the same.

after all they are the first 3 shipped real couples in china, they do have support 

Chn is a big country. That means that in terms of public support, sometimes numbers that would be astronomically high in other countries, is not so much in Chn. Translating numbers into percentage, a 1% means 14 million people.

So it’s true that they have a lot of people supporting them, of course. 2 million people is a lot of people, especially considering that many don’t know about them. But when you have to take into account the general public (because it’d be a scandal), since their fans aren’t the only ones interacting with them, it’s still a low number.

Coming out willingly would also save them from being eventually outed.. 

That’s true in the case of family and friends. But if you’re talking about being outed in the media, that’s not possible. Known by the fans = Public.

And remember that in this case, the media wouldn’t talk about them, since talking about homosexuality in the media is prohibited. The problem would come from within the industry and the antis.

[loruleanheart]

Desired Fate, Chapter 2

Read on ff.net

Read on AO3

Zelda, Princess of Hyrule, moved about her bedchambers. It was a vast room with grey stonework walls and old furniture that had been in the royal family for generations. One corner held a grand writing desk where she often carried out her research into ancient relics late into the night. Affixed to the wall above were her most treasured research notes.

The princess was dressed for bed, her thick golden hair in a protective side braid, but she wasn’t feeling too tired, her nerves shot by the day’s earlier events. It was the first moment of rest she’d had all day. She had been constantly in the presence of Impa and the knight her father had assigned as her guard. The knight, who she’d learned was named Link, was odd. He barely spoke a word, yet Zelda couldn't disregard that he had saved her that day when a large Guardian that had been unearthed at the Breach of Demise had activated somehow without warning. This, along with the increasing number of monsters throughout the kingdom made their trip to the Royal Tech Lab an arduous one.

Zelda turned over many thoughts in her mind. How the little Guardian that seemed so attached to her had traveled from a Hyrule of ruin. Her father had seemed so vexed by the Guardian’s appearance, although Zelda was not surprised that he would try to discern whether the Guardian could be trusted. The little one did feel somehow familiar in a vague way…. Not to mention, it brought with it a look into the future of the destruction the Calamity would bring. 

A heaviness was descending upon the princess. Impa’s sister, Purah had managed to extract visual data from the little Guardian’s memory - true to life images that showed what the future would hold. Zelda had taken a cursory look through a few images but had quickly become overwhelmed. This was the destruction that would befall Hyrule should she not be able to harness her divine power. But, perhaps the pictures might also hold clues on how the Calamity could be averted.

She powered on the Sheikah Slate, wanting to give the visual data a more thorough analysis before turning in for the night. She scrolled through the horrific images of destruction, this time not having others around whom she had to put on a brave, composed face for. As much as she loathed wallowing in self-pity, she had at least managed not to break down earlier in front of the others. The princess had sensed the understanding of her plight in Impa’s voice earlier as they looked through the images together. 

Not only was Hyrule Castle pictured, but the destruction seemed to be widespread. Akkala Citadel... Fort Hateno…. The Divine Beasts…. All in ruin or corrupted somehow, and the fate of the entire kingdom and its people were bearing down on her.

I will not allow this to come to pass… I’ll do everything I can to stop this… But without the power, how will it ever be enough?

Despair and dread were starting to set in as it often did more and more over the years. She’d already tried everything she could up until now, and still, the power that should have come so naturally seemed to be impossible to find within herself. And the longer her power remained dormant, the more frustrated and cold her father grew. Zelda shut her eyes, holding her hand over her face, trying to calm herself, but it was too late as the tears she’d been holding back for hours broke forth. She quietly sobbed, hoping to not alert the attention of any of her attendants who might hear her cries. She scrolled to the next image and then there was not a location or a Divine Beast, but a picture of a strange man and she went silent. Her green eyes moved over the image. There on the Sheikah Slate was a hooded man in a tattered purple robe, but she could tell he was very handsome, even if not by typical Hylian standards. She couldn’t help but stop and stare. He was very pale and had dark, collarbone length hair. There was a long braid that hung in front of his left eye and was tucked behind his ear, and another that was decorated with gold beads.

He wore a gold circlet and a thick gold collar that draped over his shoulders that reminded her of jewelry worn by Gerudo royalty, although this man clearly wasn’t Gerudo. No male had been born to that tribe in ages. There was an oddity about the circlet though, in that the red stone had what appeared to be a stylized yellow iris painted on it - sort of symbolizing a third eye.

Who was this mysterious man? He must have been on the slate for a reason. The slate’s screen went black, and she realized she’d zoned out. Her mind was flooded with so many questions and speculations. Could someone like him really be out there, somewhere? He looked more like he belonged in some distant past foreign to her. Were they destined to meet? Should she seek him out? She didn’t know, nor did she know how to raise the subject to anyone else. Her father, dear sweet Hylia, her father…. Would almost certainly chastise for wasting her time with images discovered on Sheikah technology which had been banned up until the recent past instead of dedicating every waking moment in prayer to unlock her dormant power. But to Zelda, this felt as crucial as researching relics, perhaps even more so. And then it occurred to Zelda who she could confide in - Urbosa. Based on the jewelry the man wore, maybe she might know something.

And just like that, the heaviness that had pushed her to the edges of despair had lifted, even if only a little bit. Zelda laid the slate on her nightstand before climbing into her stately canopy bed. She found she was able to drift off with relative ease, all things considered. Tomorrow, she was sure, would be another demanding day, and she was eager for the respite sleep would bring.

In her dream that night was a woman in a resplendent white dress, and Zelda sensed she was connected with her. Was this Hylia, the goddess whose blood was said to run through her veins? The goddess smiled to herself in a dreamy way, absorbed in her song as her fingers moved along the strings of a small harp. The goddesses appeared to be singing as her lips moved silently, Zelda not being able to hear her words. Perhaps it was a lullaby. Zelda wished she could hear the goddess’s song. The goddess seemed so passionate about…. something, but all she could do was watch and hope this dream to be a harbinger of good things to come.

oOo

His harbinger turned and left, having imparted to his disciple how it had come to be and how it planned to counter what its “twin” from a ruined Hyrule had set out to do. It was fate that Ganon’s hatred had followed that Guardian through time to possess the one from this era. 

And now, Calamity Ganon’s will can be fulfilled in this time as well… The Prophet of Doom thought. This was all a part of Lord Ganon’s plan to annihilate his enemies completely, leaving no room for victory, even in a separate path in time.

That Guardian by the princess’s side had the means to set this path on a different course, and the prophet knew he couldn’t let some meddlesome piece of junk alter fate’s rightful course. He would subdue the princess and her newfound ally. The thought of destroying the Guardian had already crossed his mind, even before Lord Ganon’s new directive. Now he just had to make those two degenerate, banana-eating goons do his and Lord Ganon’s bidding.

The prophet was elated that he could now receive such clear directives and revelations from Lord Ganon. Had he not met with the harbinger, he would truly be on his own. The harbinger was proof to potential allies that he had indeed been chosen and could know the will of Calamity Ganon, not just interpret it through the constellations or prophetic dreams. Gaining the trust of the Yiga Clan didn’t feel like much, but things were coming together. The Calamity would return and reign down its hatred on Hyrule, and the kingdom would come to its end, at long last.

oOo

“I have selected the candidates for the Divine Beasts. Zora grace, Princess Mipha; Goron vigilance, Daruk; Rito confidence, Revali; and Gerudo spirit, Chief Urbosa. You will go meet with each and explain their role to pilot their respective Divine Beast.” King Rhoam’s voice carried through the main foyer from his place on the balcony.

Zelda looked up at her father and responded. “Yes, I suspected as much… I will meet with Chief Urbosa first. I am... looking forward to seeing her again.”

Rhoam nodded. “Understood. It has been some time since your last meeting with her.” The king’s voice held a respectful tone, perhaps thinking of his late queen who had been close friends with the Gerudo chief. His gaze moved to the little Guardian, and his voice became cold. Zelda stiffened as the words left his mouth. “And? You’re taking this relic with you, I presume?” Rhoam narrowed his eyes at the small Guardian that was currently hiding behind his daughter.

Zelda could sense an admonishment incoming, yet she managed an explanation. “Yes. After talking to Purah and Robbie, we thought it would be best.”

Rhoam took a seat on his throne, considering this. The Guardian moved out from behind her as if emboldened by her voice. “I will remind you once again. Above all else, your duty is of the utmost importance. Are we clear?” Rhoam said, sternly.

For the briefest moment, Zelda thought of the hooded man she’d seen on the Sheikah Slate. “Yes, we are clear. I understand... And I will honor my duty.”

It wasn’t a lie, per se…. Zelda thought. After all I’ve been through, who can say what honoring my duty looks like. Prayer hasn’t worked. I’ve spent over a decade dedicating myself to prayer. If I could just focus my attention elsewhere, perhaps the power will find me in a way nobody could foresee.

Zelda, Link, and Impa departed the castle with the new Guardian in tow. The Princess breathed a soft sigh of frustration as she felt her father’s eyes boring into her, which didn’t go unnoticed by Impa and Link. And in time, the three were laughing and bonding over the little Guardian that acted as if it were a knight in the princess’s service.

[wolftraps]

Sign over your soul

Many people (including @sidewalk-and-chalkin most recently) asked about Cass and her meeting with Martin about keeping her job and the whole reveal. Technically this doesn’t include the full reveal, but I already gave you a powerpoint for that. So here. Have Cass and Martin trying to one-up each other while Jon continues being a disaster.

--

Cass and Martin have never been friends. Which is odd because it’s not like they haven’t known each other, and they’re both generally friendly people. They’ve even been friends with a lot of the same people. And yet, even after years of working in the same place and talking to the same people, they still know each other almost solely by reputation. Reputation which, prior to Martin joining the Archives, had been good. Now… well, now it’s hard to say. The doors are locked, as usual, when Cass arrives for her pseudo-interview, but that’s been the case for months and it hasn’t mattered so far. And as usual, Patrząc meets her out front and leads her around to a side door, propped open with a tape recorder, that she locks back up behind her. As always. “And how are you today, beautiful?” Cass asks. Patrząc meows back, pleased. “That’s great. So, what are the odds I’m about to lose my job?” Another meow; Cass laughs. “I know better than to bet against myself. Do you even have any money?” Patrząc ignores her, just leads her through the familiar building to a room on the ground floor that Cass knows has been turned into Martin’s new office. There they stop. “Right.” Cass takes a deep breath. “Wish me luck.”

“Mrrow,” Patrząc says. “It doesn’t matter if I need it or not. It’s polite.” The cat just stares. “Oh hush.” With another breath, Cass knocks, intending to wait, but as soon as she does, Patrząc huffs and rubs up against the door, which swings open with only a soft click. She meows at Martin as she leads Cass in and then stalks right back out as the door closes behind her. “That cat has no sense of decorum,” Cass says fondly, staring after her. “She’s Jon’s cat,” Martin responds, just as fond, “I’ve given up. Anyway. Sit, please. You want any tea?” “Sure. Just a—” “Small spoonful of sugar,” Martin finishes, already setting the mug in front of her. It’s made perfectly. “So, first off, thank you for all the work you’ve been doing. It’s really been a relief to not have all that to worry about.” “No idea what you’re talking about,” Cass lies. “Right. So you don’t want this bonus I was going to give you.” “Well it’s not like you or Sims were going to maintain the network. Also you can blame the cat for letting me in.” “Yeah, I know. I’ve always known. If it was a problem we would’ve talked way before now.” “Right. Good… Should I bother asking how? I know you’re not watching the security footage.” She’d checked. No one had accessed any of it but her since they closed the doors. “You… can. First I’d like to go over some things myself. And, whenever he can be bothered to join us, Jon has some questions too.” “O- oh.” Cass doesn’t actually have anything to hide— not really. She still gets a shiver down her spine, though, and takes a sip of perfect tea to cover it. “Sure.” “Cool. Alright. Where—” Martin flips through the papers on his desk, fumbling a bit. It makes him look like the same nice, approachable man he’d been before. Something about it feels deliberate, though. Cass forces herself into a relaxed posture to match. Finally, Martin finds what he was ‘looking’ for, two sheets down in the stack right in front of him. “Ah! Here we go. So you’ve been working here for six years, right? Two promotions in that time. Do you like working here? I guess that’s a good place to start.” “I mean, yeah. It’s not exactly easy work. IT in a place like this—” “Not exactly easy to do any job in a place like this,” Martin mutters. “Well, yeah, but you never had to explain to Elias that it didn’t matter how high- or low- tech we went, security cameras wouldn’t work in the Archives.” “You didn’t have to hide in your flat for a full day because supernatural worms trapped you there.” “You didn’t have to create an entirely new encryption program to prevent data corruption in all Elias’s emails.” “You didn’t have to try to convince Tim not to murder Jon.” “You didn’t have to write a virus to keep Tim from stalking Sims even more.” “Did you really?” “Yeah.” “Oh… thanks.” Cass waves him off. “Not like it worked.” “Still… You didn’t get chased through secret tunnels and stumble across your old boss’s corpse.” “Right, about that! Who did kill Gertrude? Really?” “Elias.” “Yes! Called it…” She considers for a second. “You didn’t have to crawl through the walls to replace the cables the worms ate through. You think the ECDC cleared out all their gross, wriggly little corpses? They didn’t.” Martin sets down his tea, looking appropriately disgusted. “Oh, ugh. Hmm… You didn’t have to run from a creature that eats people and steals their identities.” “You didn’t have your friend replaced and have to explain to their best friend what happened without fully understanding it yourself.” “I… kind of did, actually.”

Cass pauses, something suddenly becoming clear. “Oh… oh. I’m… surprised Tim was as controlled as he was, then.” “Yeah. He had… other things to distract him. It’s not exactly the same. Sasha’s still around, sort of. She’s just—” Not something he really wants to talk about, clearly. “Right. You’ve never had to spend hours trying to figure out exactly how Sasha fucked up your system after she changed things without warning.” “I have, though,” Martin sighs, clearly exasperated. “The number of forms I’ve had to redo. It’s not… totally her fault. She doesn’t mean to do it; it’s more like a reflex.” “Oh no. Michael Lanson’s entire existence in our system was not some reflex. She did that intentionally, and she made it just right enough that I probably wouldn’t have noticed for months if Hannah hadn’t said something, and just wrong enough I had to redo the whole thing from scratch or it would’ve drove me insane.” “Oh. That. Yeah. She was… trying to do us a favor, sort of? Anyway, you never had to convince Daisy Tonner that you had no clue where Jon might be while he was on the run.” “Sure I did. Not as hard as you did, sure, but I still had to lie to her.” “Wait— You knew where Jon was?” “I mean, not at first. But Melanie King comes in talking about the dead guy being Jurgen Leitner and leaving with boxes from the Archives? That she’s just allowed to carry out? After Sims utterly destroyed Diana in her defense?” “Wait, Jon did what?”

Cass sits bolt upright, potential glee already taking hold. “You don’t know about that? I swear the archives were CCed.” “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “Oh my god. Okay. Hold on,” Cass says, already scrolling through the saved emails on her phone. It takes less than a minute to find and send the right one. “You never wondered why Diana hates Sims so much?” “I mean. A lot of people hate Jon, and I doubt Diana could kill him, so I wasn’t that worried that… Oh my god, Jon. How did I miss this? I… I think I might need to frame this… Wait, if you thought he was with Melanie, why didn’t you say anything to Daisy?” Cass pauses for a second, but, well, given how freaky the Archivist himself is, this probably won’t phase Martin too much. “I didn’t just think. I traced her mobile to place her at Georgie Barker’s and then hacked CCTV feeds until I caught Sims.” “You…” Martin sighs and slumps a bit. “Of course you did. I don’t know why I… That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell Daisy.” Cass shrugs and takes another sip of tea. “Wasn’t my business. Also, that would’ve been tampering and all the bets I’d taken would be void. Anyway. You never had to prove to Daisy Tonner that you’d already destroyed any and all evidence that might implicate Jonathan Sims in any murder, especially that of Peter Lukas, after she joined the Institute.” “You never had to get Jon to talk about his feelings.” “True, but you never had to explain to Elias both what keyloggers are and why we shouldn’t use them.” “Key— Wait, are you trying to tell me there aren’t keyloggers on every computer here?” “Oh, no, there absolutely are. But all collected data is immediately encrypted with a specially created algorithm where the key changes at short, irregular intervals and requires both knowledge-based and biological-based authentication just to generate a decryption key for use. Also our storage space is limited, so most of it can only be kept for a week at most. He probably still knew everything everyone ever typed, but any actual evidence was only ever accessible by me.” It takes Martin a moment to process this. Cass takes another sip of tea. “How did you get away with that?” “Assured him Gertrude would never be able to access any of it. And then every time he came around for any reason I started thinking about all the upgrades I wanted to ask for.” He looks a little shell-shocked. “I… honestly can’t tell how much you know about everything that’s been going on around here.” “Not as much as us, but more than most everyone else, and enough she likely won’t change her mind about staying,” Jonathan Sims says, striding in looking harried with a very self-satisfied cat draped across his shoulders. “I… apologize for my tardiness, Martin, Josie.” Cass freezes. “Jos—” Martin starts to ask. “Ahh,” Sims says, almost sheepishly. “I- I’m sorry. I didn’t—” “It’s fine,” Cass says stiffly. “I figured you probably knew. It’s— not actually that big a deal.” “Still. I shouldn’t— I didn’t mean to—” Well, this is awkward. “Martin said you had some questions,” she cuts him off. “Y-yes. I— don’t think that will be necessary.” “Wait- really?” Martin asks incredulously. “You don’t have any questions? You?” “I—” Cass knows many things about most of the people who have worked in the Institute over the past six years, but there’s only so much you can ever actually know about a person from a distance. She’s good at filling in the blanks, but it still somehow surprises her to find that the dreaded Archivist is almost painfully awkward. He looks at her with something like apprehension. “Go ahead,” she tells him and goes to take another sip, only to find her cup empty. Damn. “Miss Walters has a grand total of one close friend outside the Institute, and that only because Hannah Kenway has now left our employ. Her only remaining family is a grandfather who lives in a small town near Barcelona and hasn’t taken any of her calls in the past five years, though she still always tries on Christmas and her mother’s birthday. She has had an interest in the paranormal since… ah.” “Since?” Martin prompts. Cass keeps staring at the empty mug in betrayal. “Since her mother disappeared when she was six, after reading her a children’s book titled “Una Invitada Para el Señor Araña.” “What does— Ohh.” “Guessing you know that one, then,” Cass says. “I— had my own encounter with it,” Sims tells her. “About three years after yours, though it was in English then.” “Yeah. Strange how no one ever believes the kid who says they saw a giant spider eat someone.” “And yet— You aren’t afraid of spiders.” “I am. Sort of. After it happened, I decided I was going to learn everything there was to know about spiders, the supernatural, and Jurgen Letiner. Which eventually brought me here. It’s just… Spiders are fascinating. I have a… healthy respect for them—” “And you’ve always been attracted to dangerous things.” Cass narrows her eyes at him and tries to keep her voice serious when she says, “If you’re about to say the word ‘murderwives,’ I’m gonna have to insist you let me record it.” Sims scowls, something like affront on his face. “I would not.” “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but now I actually kind of want to hear you say that, Jon,” Martin says. Cass wonders again why they aren’t friends already. “I will not!” “I bet Sasha could get you to say it.” “She could not, and you are not going to call her in here just to try,” Sims asserts, but the mischievous smile Martin has doesn’t seem to agree. “Martin.” “I won’t call her in here just to try,” Martin promises, though Cass notes what he doesn’t say and doubts that will be the end of it. Around Sims, Martin nods at her, just slightly, and she knows that she’ll probably get an audio file from him within the week. Sims looks reproachful. Martin looks entirely unrepentant. “Regardless,” Sims decides to move on, “Miss Walters has found herself rather attached to the Institute and likely hasn’t even considered not staying on. Also I suspect, should we not keep her on, our network may refuse to cooperate with her replacement entirely.” “… You mean that literally, don’t you?” Martin sounds so resigned Cass has to laugh. “That’s my baby,” she says proudly. “Right,” he sighs. “So I guess we’ll just go straight to selling your soul to a fear god, then.” She can’t say that’s what she was expecting to hear, especially with someone like Martin in charge. But, she supposes, they don’t actually know each other that well. Anyway, selling your soul to a fear god sounds dangerous, and she’s intrigued. “Alright,” she asks, “is that a bug or a feature?”

[ian-the-anion]

How does the narrator have so much info on monsters and items? Magic. [Undertale theory]

Slightly more refined version of a theory I had previously posted to Reddit.

Screenshots are a courtesy of @nochocolate​​, @determinators​​, u/HylianAngel & Funny756. Some of the screenshots are from version 1.0, so they might be outdated.

Something that might go over the heads of many people when playing the game is the fact that the narrator has info on almost all the monsters and items from the underground, and sometimes even describes what they are thinking or feeling. Most probably wouldn’t pay any mind to this and just dismiss it as the “omniscient narrator” doing its job, however as many of you may know the narrator isn’t omniscient:

They don’t know what a water sausage is, and learn its name at the same time as us.

They don’t recognize much of the equipment in the True Lab.

They incorrectly describe the Monster Candy as having a “non-licorice flavor”.

They incorrectly describe Frisk’s actions when fighting one of the Amalgamates.

The fact that the narrator has info on most of the monsters and items, and even seems to be able to read their minds becomes even more problematic when you consider what is arguably the most prominent Undertale theory, Narrachara, as although we don’t get an exact timeline it’s heavily implied that there is a long gap of time between Chara’s death and the events of Undertale, so they wouldn’t know the details of many of the items and monsters, and they obviously can’t read minds (Unless you believe Undyne’s theory that humans have mind control powers). Some examples of the narrator seemingly reading the monsters’ minds:

Temmie forgot her other attack.

CHILLDRAKE - ATK 12 DEF 7 | Rebels against everything!! Looking for its friend Snowy.

ICE CAP - ATK 11 DEF 4 | This teen wonders why it isn't named 'Ice Hat'.

Ice Cap is thinking about a certain article of clothing.

Glyde is thinking of new slang for the word "cool." Like "freakadacious."

Papyrus is thinking about what to wear for his date.

Papyrus is thinking about what to cook for his date.

Shyren thinks about doing karaoke by herself.

Shyren thinks about her future.

Froggit doesn't seem to know why it's here.

Final Froggit knows exactly why it's here.

Undyne thinks of her friends and pounds the ground with her fists.

And whilst there has been an attempt to justify this* it leaves much to wish, as it relies heavily on conjectures and leaves many questions unanswered. Nonetheless, there is plenty of evidence that, like saving, loading, ATK, LV, determination, etc, this is yet another instance of Toby trying to integrate game mechanics as part of the Undertale universe – it’s not that the narrator already knows this info, but rather often monsters are the ones who provide it, and items are also often embedded with theirs.

I feel like I should say this upfront: I know nochocolate already made a post on this. I did come across it when looking for screenshots while writing this, but I did also reach this conclusion on my own. Despite them having already made a theory on it I figured I should chip in on the matter, since there is a lot of evidence they don’t mention, and they also don’t talk about items.

Names

Let’s start with names. The fact that names are provided by the monsters themselves is made pretty obvious, as one of the Froggits in the Ruins outright tells us that yellow and pink names are actual “things” the monsters own*. Besides this we also have three more clues that make this even clearer:

Temmie misspells her own name during battle.

We don’t get to see Endogeny, Reaper Bird and Memoryhead’s names until after they’ve calmed down. So either they can’t or don’t want to show us their info, possibly because of their fractured minds.

During the fight with Asriel, first his name in the menu is "Asriel Dreemurr", later when the rainbow effects start, the letters of his name start moving around and are also rainbow-colored. Later when he enters his true form the rainbow effects are gone, and his name changes to just "Asriel".

Stats

Stats are also an easy one.

Temmie doesn’t give us her stats, but rather says that she’s “RATED TEM OUTTA TEM”.

Glyde also refuses to give us his stats.

We also don’t get to see the stats of Endogeny, Reaper Bird and Memoryhead, or even get the option to check Lemon Bread.

Check

While the check text is a bit more tricky, once again the clues we have point towards the conclusion that the info we see in them is often provided by the monsters themselves.

Chilldrake’s description tells us that he’s “Looking for its friend Snowy”, so not only does he give us his info, but he outright tells us what he’s doing at that moment.

Sans' check could be a joke he put there himself, as it says he's the "easiest enemy" despite being arguably the hardest.

Undyne’s description also points towards this conclusion, as her description reads “The heroine that NEVER gives up.”:

This emphasis on “never” is one of her mannerisms, as we see her do this multiple times throughout the game:

(When calling her in the room hidden behind the waterfall) - When I feel like relaxing, I always take a break there. That means NEVER!! I HATE RELAXING!!

(When calling her next to the bird) - That bird will carry anyone past the gap. It NEVER says no. When I was younger, it gave me a lift. It took an hour... But this bird NEVER once thought of giving up!!!

(When hanging out) - I mean, look, he was SUPPOSED to capture you... and he ended up being FRIENDS with you instead! I could NEVER send him into battle!

(If you kill Papyrus before fighting her) - Look. Papyrus didn't come to his meeting today. Say what you want about him. He's weird, he's naive, he's self-absorbed... But Papyrus has NEVER missed a meeting.

(Alphys even makes a point to do the same if we ask her to roleplay Undyne during the date) - "Ngahhhh!!! Hey, Alphys! You look cute today! Which I say often! But platonically because I would NEVER like you.”.

Besides, having never met Undyne before, the narrator wouldn’t know of her resolve to never give up, so either the narrator is someone who knows Undyne or this info was quite simply given by Undyne herself.

During our rematch with Undyne her description changes to “This time, don’t hold anything back!”, a message put up there by Undyne herself.

It wouldn’t really make any sense for Frisk or the narrator to incite us to fight in a pacifist route (even using a real attack rather than the “Fake attack” option does f*ck all since Frisk has no intention to fight). Meanwhile Undyne was the one who wanted the rematch herself, and is even letting us make the first move, so she obviously wants to fight. She also uses this exact same phrase moments prior, when inciting us to turn up the heat of the stove:

And once again towards the end when her and Alphys are about to kiss:

Showing us that this is yet another of her mannerisms.

When checking Memoryhead the narrator just outright tells us “No data available.”, meaning Memoryhead didn’t give them any info, and apparently the narrator couldn't come up with a description of their own. Only after we’ve placated the amalgamate do we get a description, and it simply reads “MEMORYHEAD”.

When checking Reaper Bird his description is Whimsalot, Final Froggit and Astigmatism’s checks overlapped, and the same thing happens with its dialogue, which shows us that this isn’t the narrator’s doing (and why would the narrator do that, anyways?).

Items

The info of items also seems to often be embedded in the item itself, as we see several similarities with how the info of monsters is given to us.

We don’t get to see how much HP the Dog Salad recovers, and the same thing happens with the Snail Pie, meaning that just like monsters can refuse to give their info, the info in items can be omitted.

The description of the Monster Candy says that it has a “distinct, non-licorice flavor”, yet when we use it the narrator says that it tastes like licorice, so the info in the item was wrong.

Mind you, even after using it the narrator never updates their description of the Monster Candy, meaning that they aren’t saying what they think of the item, but rather just reading the info they are given.

Differently from every other item, whose names are properly capitalized, that is not the case for the Temmie Armor.

This not only would be weird for the narrator to do since the name of every other item is properly capitalized, but also happens to be what Temmie calls it on her shop, and is also consistent with Temmie misspelling her own name as mentioned previously.

Temmie also often doesn’t capitalize her phrases properly when we’re fighting her, hence everything points towards the conclusion that Temmie was the one who named the “temy armor” like that.

The description of the Snowman Piece also indicates that the info of the items is embedded in them, as it reads:

Which is a message likely put there by the Snowman himself.

Whilst another possibility is that the narrator is the one reiterating the Snowman’s request, this doesn’t seem to be the case. The narrator has no qualms about us eating the Snowman Piece even in the pacifist route, and in the genocide route we still see this same message despite Frisk taking a piece of the Snowman before he can even finish making his request, and when checking the remains of the Snowman the narrator describes it as “(A useless pile of snow.)”, hence they'd have even less reason to care about the Snowman's request.

A question that might arise is whether this could also apply to items that humans made, as seems to be the case with some of the weapons and armor. It's a common theory that some of the items we find were left behind by the humans that fell before Frisk, such as the Burnt Pan, Cowboy Hat, the Torn Notebook, etc, as seems to be indicated by the fact that we see these items during the fight with Flowey when fighting the different souls.

Of course, it’s possible that they didn’t enter the underground with these items, but rather found or bought them and equipped them during their adventure, however I think that the probability that they did in fact already enter the underground with these items is reasonable enough that this is something worth addressing: Could items made by humans really be magical?

And the answer is that yes, we do have an example of this: The Bandage. This is an item that Frisk has from the very beginning of the game, and just like other armor we get in the game it influences our stats. And when we unequip it and use it during battle, we instantly recover HP - just like the items made by the monsters which, as Big Mouth tells us, instantly convert into energy. So although there are items which don't seem to be made of nor infused with magic, such as the stick Frisk has with them or the Worn Dagger, even items made by humans can be made of, or be infused with magic, as is the case with the Bandage - something which is further corroborated by the fact that we see humans using magic at the opening of the game.

How is this possible? Magic. (But seriously, it’s magic)

One of the books in the library tells us that monsters express themselves through magic:

And it seems that this is what Toby meant when adding this line – he was trying to add a justification to the fact that we’re able to see monsters’ names, stats, check text and sometimes even their thoughts. Monsters give the narrator their info through magic, which also explains the erratic behavior when checking the amalgamates, since they are several monsters melted together.

The same thing happens with many items, which are either made out of or infused with magic (We’re told by Big Mouth that monster food doesn’t spoil, and that when eaten it converts perfectly into energy). In the same manner that monsters, who are mostly made out of magic, can give us or omit their info if they wish, the same happens with items, which is why the Snowman can leave a message in his piece, why they can have incorrect information in them such as with the Monster Candy, or just not have any info at all like with the Dog Salad.

This is not to say that the narrator never gives a description of their own, of course. Sometimes the narrator just describes the monster themselves, such as in Endogeny’s case, since they didn’t give us any information initially, even their name:

Or in Glyde’s case, who also doesn’t want to give the narrator any info:

There are also cases where it seems the narrator is given info by the monsters, but they also chip in themselves, such as in Vulkin’s case:

Or in Napstablook’s case, where whatever it is that Napstablook told the narrator it made them reach the conclusion that Napstablook doesn’t have a sense of humor:

In summary, while there are instances where the info and descriptions we get could be justified as the narrator knowing the monsters or simply stating the obvious, there are those which can’t be explained that easily. Nonetheless, it seems that Toby tries to add a justification to these instances by outright telling us that monsters express themselves through magic, and that they are the ones who provide us their names, besides giving us obvious examples where the monsters and items provide us their stats and descriptions.

[amandaoftherosemire]

Sing For Me - Chapter Three

Fandom: Marvel Avengers

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X OFC (Sasha)

Characters: Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Wanda Maximoff, OFC Sasha

Author: @amandaoftherosemire​

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 2,220

Format: Series (Complete)

Warning: language, sexual subject matter, angst, fluff, slooooow-burn. (Future chapters will be NSFW due to smut)

Summary: Sasha makes a plan to win Bucky over.

A/N: Not consistent with Marvel canon. I just started writing fanfic, please be patient. I’m open to constructive criticism and any help more experienced writers would like to offer. The story has picked me up and is carrying me along with it. Please let me know what you think.

Sing For Me Masterlist

Chapter Two here

Chapter Three

Bucky stood at his door, one hand on the glass where he had unknowingly placed it when she walked away. He had to resist her. She was too good, too pure, too sweet for the likes of him, he saw that now. He realized that he avoided her, been cruel to her, because he wanted to protect her. She could never be allowed to feel what he felt. She was light, and he would not taint her with the darkness inside him.

Dammit. It was much easier when he thought he hated her.

 Three things happened nearly simultaneously. First, Sasha had a blinding realization. Second, the crack of thunder and drenching rain. Lastly, she felt the brush of Bucky’s energy at her back.

She couldn’t help herself. She tipped her head back, eyes closed, and let the rain wash over her. She laughed. She laughed, imagining the fair folk had waited for the dramatically appropriate moment to release the rain. She laughed overjoyed with her new revelation and the brush of energy that confirmed it. She laughed at herself for feeling so giddy about it.

She stood up and felt the energy behind her surge in concern. She smiled widely and sank into a curtsey, just in case fairies were real after all.

The next morning found Sasha in her normal spot. As Clint walked into the kitchen he saw Sasha leaning against the counter in yoga pants and a hoodie. The hood was pulled up over her head half covering her eyes. She stood, scowling, as she alternately blew on her coffee to cool it and sipped greedily, trying to get the life-giving caffeine into her system as quickly as possible.

"Good morning, Sasha," Clint said as he poured coffee into a giant mug.

"Go fuck yourself," she replied, sneering.

Clint grinned at Wanda as he grabbed some of the eggs and toast she had prepared. Wanda just chuckled and shook her head. As Clint settled in at the table, Steve walked in.

"Good morning, Sash," he said, cheerily.

"Go fuck yourself," she replied, this time with some venom. Sasha hated morning people. Especially Steve Up With the Sun Rogers. Steve just laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to give her a squeeze. Sasha didn't have the energy yet to resist, but she growled until he let her go with a chuckle.

Natasha had walked in during the one-armed hug and chuckled with Steve. "Still on the first cup, huh? Good morning, Sasha," she said, smirking.

"Ugh! Go fuck yourself!"

"I thought I heard your dulcet tones, Sash," Sam remarked as he walked in, "Good morning!"

"Goddammitgofuckyourself!"

To a chorus of laughter as everyone settled around the table with food and coffee, Sasha drained the last of the coffee in her cup and poured another, stumbling a little because she refused to open her eyes more than a slit. She nearly had enough caffeine now to remember that she didn't really want to set the building and all its inhabitants on fire.

To her utter astonishment, the next voice she heard was Bucky's.

"Morning," he said softly, not looking at her as he poured coffee for himself.

Sasha tilted her head back enough to see out from under her hood and peeled one eye open to glare blearily at him.

"Morning," she replied, confused. She closed her eye again and dropped her head to take another drink of coffee. "Now go fuck yourself."

Bucky's lips twitched. He had thought of nothing else but Sasha last night and had decided that just because he wanted to keep Sasha at arm's length didn't mean he had to be a complete prick. He took his coffee, a plate of Wanda's breakfast, and a giant bowl of Cap'n Crunch to the table.

A couple of minutes later, Sasha finished her second cup of coffee and her eyes were open. She was still a little annoyed at the existence of mornings and that she had to be awake for them, but the caffeine was working its magic. She poured a third cup, but actually added cream and sugar to this one. She took it and a small plate of breakfast and sat down across from Bucky.

Pushing her hood back, she looked around the table at the motley crew of misfits she'd come to think of as family. She felt a warm rush of affection for all of them.

"Good morning, everybody!" she sang out.

"Go fuck yourself!" they all, but Bucky, shouted in unison.

Sasha grinned impishly and started eating.

Bucky tried to watch her without being obvious, but she glanced up and caught his eye. She smiled shyly and took a sip of her coffee.

"At the risk of losing a hand, can I steal a crunchberry?" she asked.

"Losing a hand?"

"Well, I've seen how you are about food. I don't want to get in the way of such a passionate love affair," she replied with a wink.

Bucky felt his face heat. Stuttering a little, he said, "S-sure."

Sasha's heart fluttered a little when she saw the blush stain his cheeks. With his permission, she reached over and daintily snagged a crunchberry out of his cereal bowl. She popped it in her mouth with a hum.

"I swear, when it comes to cereal, my stomach stopped maturing at twelve. Crunchberries are my favorite."

"Have another," he said, earnestly, not noticing that everyone else was quietly looking at each other in amazement. No one could decide if they were more surprised to witness Sasha and Bucky conversing or Bucky sharing his food.

"Well, if you insist," Sasha said with a flirty smile as she plucked another crunchberry from the bowl. "How about you? What's your favorite?"

"Uh- I don't know. Crunchberries are good," Bucky replied, flustered. He really had not been expecting Sasha to be so friendly.

"You know, there's an off-menu drink at Starbucks that tastes just like crunchberries. You just ask them to add a shot of toffee nut flavor to their strawberries and cream Frappuccino. It's to die for. I'll grab you one next time I'm there."

"Um- okay. Thanks," Bucky replied, starting to panic a little.

Sasha just smiled and turned her attention back to her breakfast.

"I figured it out! I figured it out! I figured it out!" Sasha called out in a sing-song voice as she stepped into the lab balancing two cups of coffee and a cheese danish.

Tony looked up at her, the consequences of a long, sleepless night evident on his face. Sasha on the other hand, looked fresh as a spring daisy. She had put her hair up in her habitual sock bun and her knee-length white dress had bright red poppies bursting into bloom all over it. A rush of resentment toward her color and cheer washed over him.

"Since you're practically dancing, I doubt it's anything important," Tony muttered.

"You know, Tony, sleep is good for the body and mind. You might want to try it." Sasha set the danish and the black coffee next to Tony. "Eat, have some coffee, you'll feel better."

Sasha pirouetted around the room, the full skirt of her dress spinning out around her.

"Why are you in such a good fucking mood?" Tony groused.

"Because I figured it out! Barnes doesn't hate me at all! He wants to hate me, which is another thing entirely." Sasha plopped into her desk chair, smoothed her skirt over her knees, and smiled smugly at Tony.

"Isn't the outcome the same?"

"You only think that because you're emotionally stunted. I've already started making him like me. It's only a matter of time before you're officially replaced and Barnes is my new best friend."

Tony laughed despite himself. "One, I'll believe it when I see it. Two, there is no replacement for me."

"Well, you are the only one who gets my Archer references."

"See? I knew I was good for something."

A couple of hours later and Sasha was in the zone. She was grooving on the data and completely oblivious to her surroundings. Bucky had come in for help with his arm. The plates weren't moving quite right, and he needed Tony to look at it.

Sasha was totally immersed and hadn't noticed him. He took the opportunity to watch her work. He kept his head down and watched her through his hair so that Tony wouldn't notice where his attention lay.

Of course, Tony noticed. And wondered. And worried.

Sasha, unaware, meticulously peeled away layers of irrelevant information, searching for clues. Combing through the data wasn't difficult, recognizing the data that actually mattered was. The deeper she went, the more vocal she became. She hummed, she sang, she muttered.

Silence reigned, however, except for the sound of clicking keys and the clink of metal on metal, when all of a sudden Sasha asked, "Why did Peter Venkman have thorazine on him when he went on his date with Dana? I mean, we know Venkman was a sexual predator by the way he lied and manipulated that college student, but thorazine? Was he a full-on rapist?"

Tony looked up from where he was working on Bucky's arm.

"What?" he asked, completely confused.

"What?" Sasha replied as she pulled her mind out of the work and looked up. "Oh, hi, Barnes!" she said, her face lighting up, "How you doin'?"

Tony noticed that Barnes' face flushed when Sasha spoke to him and didn't bother to hide a smug smile. Crazy Girl was right, as usual.

"I'm alright, just a little problem with my arm," he replied, hiding behind his hair again.

"Alas, we don't have Shuri, but the Sleepless Wonder here is the next best thing," she answered with a wide grin for Tony.

"Ignore her," Tony muttered. "She's a fucking ray of sunshine this morning. Overly caffeinated and offensively chipper."

"Ha! This kettle thinks "overly caffeinated" is rich coming from a pot full of goddamn coffee," she retorted.

"How many cups of coffee have you had this morning?" Tony asked, accusingly.

"This is seven. How many gallons have you had?" she fired back.

"So, this is what you guys do all day?" Bucky asked, amused.

"Pretty much. It's always nice to have company, though. Tony likes an audience."

"Please,” Tony scoffed, “we both know you're the drama queen here."

Sasha smiled cheekily at Tony, winked at Bucky, and turned back to her screen.

After Bucky had left, Tony came over and sat on the edge of Sasha's desk.

"Okay, Crazy Girl. You're right about Barnes. What are you going to do?"

Sasha drug her eyes from the screen and blinked up at Tony. Leaning back in her chair she answered, "I'm going to be myself, of course. The problem is I think he's afraid of me."

Tony hesitated. He wasn’t sure he wanted his Crazy Girl anywhere near Barnes. Sasha had become like a favorite niece to him. Her cheerful presence in his lab everyday settled his nerves and helped calm his mind. He knew she did it on purpose but neither of them ever mentioned it. Bucky was even more fucked up than he was. The last thing Tony wanted was for Barnes to take any of the shine off of her.

To be honest, Tony had been hoping that something would take off between Sasha and Steve. He knew that Steve would value her and take care to never dim that shine.

On the other hand, he’d never seen her shine the way she had when she looked at Barnes. Shine, hell, she downright sparkled. Tony sighed.

"Some people don't like to look at their own emotions. Knowing you can see us more clearly than we would like to see ourselves is hard to come to terms with," Tony said as he awkwardly patted her on the shoulder.

"You did."

"You remind me of a cartoon kitten," he said as he stood up and walked back to his workbench.

"That's not why."

Tony looked back at her. She had a sad smile on her face and for the first time since he'd met her, she looked small and lonely. His eyes dropped to the gloves that carefully hid her forearms.

"Being weird, like us, can be isolating. It's hard to know who to trust. It's hard to build trust when you feel like the other person knows all about you, but you can't see them the same way." Tony spoke off-handedly, but he couldn't help but notice the way Sasha pulled her arms down and hid them under her desk.

"I got to know you without any pressure. Just the two of us, in here, chatting while we work. We connected because I didn't feel like you were scanning everything I say for "emotional resonance"." Sasha smiled for real at that. "Maybe you can find a way to let Barnes get to know you from some distance."

Sasha was nodding thoughtfully as Tony spoke but with his last words, her jaw dropped.

"TONY! YOU'RE A FUCKING GENIUS!" she shouted, happily.

"I know."

Late that night, after her nightly ritual was complete, comfortably ensconced in the pile of pillows and blankets that made up her bed, Sasha grabbed her phone from the nightstand. She had been listening to the sounds of Barnes' television and his footsteps as he moved around his rooms.

She scrolled down her contacts until she got to 'Barnes Is Fine' and started to type.

Can't sleep?

She stared at it for a while before she got up the nerve to hit send. Her heart stopped when she finally saw the three dots that told her he was typing back. With a bloop, his response appeared on her screen and she grinned like an idiot. Considering how long it took him to type, she couldn't help but smile at his response.

 No. You?

Chapter Four here

[kentuckywrites]

Opening File: T3CHN0.

In pursuit of the truth of what happened to his father on Earth, Fudge stumbles across a confidential file. Opening it has unexpected consequences.

Fudge Antonio Carson should’ve reacted differently to the news that he was a J-Body. He was an artificial intelligence, a machine down to his very core. If he was cynical and only looked at the surface, he’d say there was nothing human about him. But he was based off a human, a human that was made of flesh and bone and memories. His memories were the same of this human, a machine built of different parts. Though the physical bodies were not the same, he was still Fudge Antonio Carson. These were his memories, formatted in a different kind of coding, a simpler one to understand. And in the end, did it matter? Fudge remembered. That alone should have proven his humanity. It was all a cherry on top of an ice cream sundae, how he was able to remember his life on Earth, his father, his work. All it was, was a different body. Everything else remained the same.

Yet...why did Fudge feel so empty? Something was missing. Something wasn’t quite adding up. His father’s logs detailing his program’s creation lined up, but the fact that his father still never boarded the White Whale had Fudge concerned. His memories told him that his flesh body died on Earth, long before the White Whale ever departed Earth. The fabricated program he’d been given, the seal that was only broken over time and discovery, was that his father had given up his own spot on the Whale so Fudge could board instead. That wasn’t the truth, but the logs Fudge dug up could only provide so much, and none gave a reason for Antonio Carson’s lack of being on the White Whale. So why? What happened to Fudge’s father? 

Fudge groaned, leaning back in his chair. The projections displaying the logs, the data entries, the blueprints, all of the Carson family’s history and work - it was blinding. It didn’t help that the test hangar had long since been emptied, the entire building void of its usual energy. The lights had been dimmed, and the few who did remain worked quietly in their own separate workspaces. Occasionally he’d see a spark fly from the one guy working on a Skell, he’d hear the squeak from a loose bolt being tightened. Subdued, of course, but still music to his ears. A sense of familiarity in the chaos he’d opened up.

Fudge reached up, flicked most of the tabs closed. His laptop pinged incessantly as the pages he’d closed appeared on the screen. He kept a couple on display in front of him, however, like the blueprints for his mimeosome and some of his father’s logs. Currently, it was open to a specific date: November 11th, 2050. Would’ve been Fudge’s birthday, but he’d died a couple months prior. This was the log that Fudge had the most trouble deciphering. It was weird, as if it wasn’t Antonio Carson writing. The language was more eloquent, more poetic. Antonio Carson wrote to the point, never minced any details. Easier to work when you knew what you were reading. Metaphors, similes, excessive imagery? Too much bullshit. Save it for actual poems, not technical reports. 

“RIPS, tell me I’m not losing my god damn mind,” Fudge said quietly. He really should’ve taken his stuff into a back room once he knew how sensitive the information was, but really, who in the test hangar would’ve cared about this stuff? They were too far away to read this, anyways. “Analyze the writing patterns in Log 4-19-1 and compare it with the previous log data sets. Does the language sound different to you?”

His laptop whirred and soon made a small ping. RIPS, his AI, chimed in. “Detecting abnormalities in the usage of language. Theory: there is a second author signing under Antonio Carson’s name.”

“Shit. Well, that’s something I wasn’t expecting,” Fudge stroked his chin, leaning in further as he reread parts of the log entry. “Theories on the second author, RIPS?”

“Negative. Insufficient data.”

“Fair enough. Any other logs have this sort of writing pattern? Maybe I missed a few...run a scan if you can, RIPS.”

“Performing scan.”

As RIPS scanned the log entries, Fudge got to theorizing. His father was far more sociable than Fudge was, he had his fair share of work colleagues and friends. Fudge could name at least a dozen that he knew his father would trust unconditionally. But would he have trusted them with the logs for his confidential project - his project to build his son back to life? He wasn’t sure he could narrow that down. 

“Scan complete. One item found.”

Fudge focused his attention back to his laptop. “Pull it up, RIPS, let’s take a look.”

“Further confirmation requested. This file was not found in the log entries, Master Carson.”

“Where’d you find it, then?”

“File located in Folder: Confidentials. File name: T3CHN0.”

Fudge scowled at that. “That’s the one folder I couldn’t open without connecting myself to the mainframe, right? Thought that was suspicious as fuck. Any way to bypass that certification, RIPS?”

“I have already scanned potential backroads. No viable options.”

Well, Fudge wasn’t exactly looking forward to this. But his curiosity demanded he keep going, that perhaps this secret file would hold the answers he sought. He sighed, long and hard, before telling RIPS, “Confirmation granted. Wasn’t what I wanted to do on a Friday night, but in the pursuit of knowledge, there’s no holds barred.”

It was something he remembered his father saying. The laptop pinged once more, and a small metallic plug popped out of one side. Fudge took the plug, careful not to tug its cable too hard, and maneuvered it around to meet his left forearm. He pressed down on the little panel and opened it up to reveal his inner circuitry. Just as he was about to plug the cable in…

“To bypass Folder: Confidentials, access must be granted through primary motherboard.”

Fudge muttered a curse. “You’re sure, RIPS?”

“Affirmative.”

“Shit. Fuck, shit, fuck,” Fudge closed the panel on his arm and wrapped the cable around to the back of his neck. It took some effort, but Fudge was able to open the panel at the base and fumble with the cable until he found the proper input for it. The plug clicked into place softly, and Fudge shivered. It was like a needle, but colder, longer, thicker. Nothing getting sucked out, nothing getting injected in - at least, nothing he’d be able to feel.

“Connected,” Fudge told RIPS, “Let’s open that fucking file.”

“Access granted. Opening file: T3CHN0..”

Fudge smirked to himself, preparing to see the file, figure out the clues he’d need to piece together this mysterious second author’s identity. But instead, he was met with a pop-up, black and static, like a malfunctioning TV. His smirk soon disappeared, replaced by an annoyed frown.

“RIPS, was the file corrupted? Fuck, run a diagno -”

A spark, something shooting up through the cable and through the port on his neck, and Fudge felt something inside him switch off. RIPS called out a warning, but its voice soon distorted, popped, vanished. The display holograms retreated into the laptop, where they hid behind a new pop-up. A video, pre-recorded. Fudge couldn’t move, couldn’t stop it from playing. All he could do was watch the man in the video adjust his tie, clear his throat, talk to the camera with a smile.

“Begin message. Welcome to the world, Techno.”

Another switch was flipped inside Fudge’s body. Suddenly he was sitting upright, eyes trained to the screen. His ankles crossed, his hands folded in his lap. A perfect plaything, with wires to act as puppet strings.

“If this recording’s made it to you, that means you’re alive and well. I request your aide in continuing what we started. Sit tight and await coordinates to my location, where I will debrief you on your new mission details.”

Fudge would’ve been clenching his teeth if he was still in control of his body. But the longer the man spoke, the longer the video played, he felt something...something dying. Fudge fought to remain conscious, but he was beginning to see the strings of programming overwriting his being. The body was alive, it was working, but Fudge Antonio Carson was fading. And he was losing the fight to stay alive.

Before the final wave of coding pushed him into oblivion, Fudge remembered a name.

Dr. Octavian Dsandro.

“Don’t be late. Goodness knows I’ve waited a long time to see you again. Cease message.”

[and-then-there-were-n0ne]

Calm explanations aside, many people panic when they hear of such possibilities. They are happy to follow the advice of their smartphones or to take whatever drug the doctor prescribes, but when they hear of upgraded superhumans, they say: ‘I hope I will be dead before that happens.’ A friend once told me that what she fears most about growing old is becoming irrelevant, turning into a nostalgic old woman who cannot understand the world around her, or contribute much to it. This is what we fear collectively, as a species, when we hear of superhumans. We sense that in such a world, our identity, our dreams and even our fears will be irrelevant, and we will have nothing more to contribute. Whatever you are today – be it a devout Hindu cricket player or an aspiring lesbian journalist – in an upgraded world you will feel like a Neanderthal hunter in Wall Street. You won’t belong.

The Neanderthals didn’t have to worry about the Nasdaq, since they were shielded from it by tens of thousands of years. Nowadays, however, our world of meaning might collapse within decades. You cannot count on death to save you from becoming completely irrelevant. Even if gods don’t walk our streets by 2100, the attempt to upgrade Homo sapiens is likely to change the world beyond recognition in this century. Scientific research and technological developments are moving at a far faster rate than most of us can grasp.

If you speak with the experts, many of them will tell you that we are still very far away from genetically engineered babies or human-level artificial intelligence. But most experts think on a timescale of academic grants and college jobs. Hence, ‘very far away’ may mean twenty years, and ‘never’ may denote no more than fifty.

I still remember the day I first came across the Internet. It was back in 1993, when I was in high school. I went with a couple of buddies to visit our friend Ido (who is now a computer scientist). We wanted to play table tennis. Ido was already a huge computer fan, and before opening the ping-pong table he insisted on showing us the latest wonder. He connected the phone cable to his computer and pressed some keys. For a minute all we could hear were squeaks, shrieks and buzzes, and then silence. It didn’t succeed. We mumbled and grumbled, but Ido tried again. And again. And again. At last he gave a whoop and announced that he had managed to connect his computer to the central computer at the nearby university. ‘And what’s there, on the central computer?’ we asked. ‘Well,’ he admitted, ‘there’s nothing there yet. But you could put all kinds of things there.’ ‘Like what?’ we questioned. ‘I don’t know,’ he said, ‘all kinds of things.’ It didn’t sound very promising. We went to play ping-pong, and for the following weeks enjoyed a new pastime, making fun of Ido’s ridiculous idea. That was less than twenty-five years ago (at the time of writing). Who knows what will come to pass twenty-five years from now?

That’s why more and more individuals, organisations, corporations and governments are taking very seriously the quest for immortality, happiness and godlike powers. Insurance companies, pension funds, health systems and finance ministries are already aghast at the jump in life expectancy. People are living much longer than expected, and there is not enough money to pay for their pensions and medical treatment. As seventy threatens to become the new forty, experts are calling to raise the retirement age, and to restructure the entire job market.

When people realise how fast we are rushing towards the great unknown, and that they cannot count even on death to shield them from it, their reaction is to hope that somebody will hit the brakes and slow us down. But we cannot hit the brakes, for several reasons.

Firstly, nobody knows where the brakes are. While some experts are familiar with developments in one field, such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, big data or genetics, no one is an expert on everything. No one is therefore capable of connecting all the dots and seeing the full picture. Different fields influence one another in such intricate ways that even the best minds cannot fathom how breakthroughs in artificial intelligence might impact nanotechnology, or vice versa. Nobody can absorb all the latest scientific discoveries, nobody can predict how the global economy will look in ten years, and nobody has a clue where we are heading in such a rush. Since no one understands the system any more, no one can stop it.

Secondly, if we somehow succeed in hitting the brakes, our economy will collapse, along with our society. As explained in a later chapter, the modern economy needs constant and indefinite growth in order to survive. If growth ever stops, the economy won’t settle down to some cosy equilibrium; it will fall to pieces. An economy built on everlasting growth needs endless projects – just like the quests for immortality, bliss and divinity.

Well, if we need limitless projects, why not settle for bliss and immortality, and at least put aside the frightening quest for superhuman powers? Because it is inextricable from the other two. When you develop bionic legs that enable paraplegics to walk again, you can also use the same technology to upgrade healthy people. When you discover how to stop memory loss among older people, the same treatments might enhance the memory of the young.

No clear line separates healing from upgrading. Medicine almost always begins by saving people from falling below the norm, but the same tools and know-how can then be used to surpass the norm. Viagra began life as a treatment for blood-pressure problems. To the surprise and delight of Pfizer, it transpired that Viagra can also cure impotence. It enabled millions of men to regain normal sexual abilities; but soon enough men who had no impotence problems in the first place began using the same pill to surpass the norm, and acquire sexual powers they never had before.

What happens to particular drugs can also happen to entire fields of medicine. Modern plastic surgery was born in the First World War, when Harold Gillies began treating facial injuries in the Aldershot military hospital. When the war was over, surgeons discovered that the same techniques could also turn perfectly healthy but ugly noses into more beautiful specimens. Though plastic surgery continued to help the sick and wounded, it devoted increasing attention to upgrading the healthy. Nowadays plastic surgeons make millions in private clinics whose explicit and sole aim is to upgrade the healthy and beautify the wealthy.

The same might happen with genetic engineering. If a billionaire openly stated that he intended to engineer super-smart offspring, imagine the public outcry. But it won’t happen like that. We are more likely to slide down a slippery slope. It begins with parents whose genetic profile puts their children at high risk of deadly genetic diseases. So they perform in vitro fertilisation, and test the DNA of the fertilised egg. If everything is in order, all well and good. But if the DNA test discovers the dreaded mutations – the embryo is destroyed. […] Following selection and replacement, the next potential step is amendment. Once it becomes possible to amend deadly genes, […] you can just rewrite the code and turn a dangerous mutant gene into its benign version. Then we might start using the same mechanism to fix not just lethal genes, but also those responsible for less deadly illnesses, for autism, for stupidity and for obesity.

[…] And even if you don’t want that for your child – what if the neighbours are doing it for theirs? Would you have your child lag behind? And if the government forbids all citizens from engineering their babies, what if the North Koreans are doing it and producing amazing geniuses, artists and athletes that far outperform ours? And like that, in baby steps, we are on our way to a genetic child catalogue.

Healing is the initial justification for every upgrade. Find some professors experimenting in genetic engineering or brain–computer interfaces, and ask them why they are engaged in such research. In all likelihood they would reply that they are doing it to cure disease. ‘With the help of genetic engineering,’ they would explain, ‘we could defeat cancer. And if we could connect brains and computers directly, we could cure schizophrenia.’ Maybe, but it will surely not end there. When we successfully connect brains and computers, will we use this technology only to cure schizophrenia? If anybody really believes this, then they may know a great deal about brains and computers, but far less about the human psyche and human society.

[…] Of course, humans can and do limit their use of new technologies. Thus the eugenics movement fell from favour after the Second World War, and though trade in human organs is now both possible and potentially very lucrative, it has so far remained a peripheral activity. Designer babies may one day become as technologically feasible as murdering people to harvest their organs – yet remain as peripheral.

Just as we have escaped the clutches of Chekhov’s Law in warfare, we can also escape them in other fields of action. Some guns appear on stage without ever being fired. This is why it is so vital to think about humanity’s new agenda. Precisely because we have some choice regarding the use of new technologies, we had better understand what is happening and make up our minds about it before it makes up our minds for us.

-  Yuval Noah Harari, Can Someone Please Hit the Brakes? in Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

[melindarowens]

Countdown To A Rate Hike… – Daily Pfennig

Chuck Butler’s: A Pfennig For Your Thoughts 

December 12, 2017  

* Dollar resumes its rally…

* An Engineered takedown?

* A short-n-sweet Pfennig today… 

Good Day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! Another day, and another late edition of the Pfennig… UGH! I don’t know where the mornings go any longer… Instead  of me getting up and making my way to the writing desk and my laptop, I get up and begin the process of giving myself antibiotics through a PICC-line… Sound easy, and it is, but it’s time consuming, and before I know it, the morning is almost gone, and I haven’t gotten the Pfennig out yet! UGH!  Today marks the halfway mark of the 6 weeks that I’m scheduled to doing this, so I ask that you stay with me for 3 more weeks, and then things should be back to normal… Maybe…  ’cause you never know!   Robin Trower greets me today with his song: Bridge of Sighs…  

I don’t like doing this, but given the lack of news, and the tardiness of the Pfennig, this will be a short-n-sweet edition today.

Well… The board games have been taken off the shelves at the Eccles Building, and the Fed members are busing playing Sorry, Battleship, and Monopoly today. Longtime readers know that I’ve kidded about this for years, and it all started when in an interview, I was asked, what I thought the Fed members were talking about for two days?   I replied, that they must be playing board games, and I can hear one of them saying now, “by Joe, you’ve sunk my battleship”!  

So, today begins the two-day FOMC meeting, that will culminate in a rate hike tomorrow afternoon… I’ve put my tail between my legs on this one folks… I still think it would be the prudent thing to do, to bypass the rate hike now, and wait to see what the lawmakers do about a budget. But since when does the Fed do the prudent thing? 

The “boys in the band” have used this market thinking that a rate hike is in the cards tomorrow, to pile on the short paper trades, so much that now real Gold and Silver investors are panicking and selling… Don’t do that! Do not panic! If you need to sell, then sell, but don’t panic!  This is just an engineered take down of Gold & Silver to test the managed money holders’ resolve…  Gold lost nearly $7 yesterday and is down another $7 today… 

But, here’s the thing that bugs me… yesterday’s low came in the after markets trading… The “boys in the band” are really getting brazen with their trading, folks, and just like the criminals that Elliot Ness used to chase on TV years ago, once they become cocky, they expose themselves, and get caught… We can only hope that someone with some intestinal fortitude, stands up and says, “This is a crock!” “And I’m not going to stand for it any longer!”   

Well,  yesterday I told you that I thought the dollar rally would resume again any day, after taking a two-day breather, and in the overnight markets that’s what happened, but the move isn’t really BIG at this point, but it sure feels like it’s going to burst out soon…  The Dollar Index  had moved over the 94 handle to 94.19 this morning, yesterday it was 93.88, and last week, it was in the low 93 handle before all this dollar buying began. 

And I really don’t have much more to say about that today… I could go on and on about how it’s really not a smart thing to do to hike rates when you want inflation to rise, but I’ve done that many times in the past, so I’ll just leave you with that thought once again today… 

And the Data Cupboard isn’t giving us any clues or ideas as to where the currencies should be trading. Yesterday’s Cupboard was bare, and today’s only has the Federal Budget, which we already know will be a deficit, and PPI (wholesale inflation), which I expect to be a little stronger than the average bear.  But other than that, there are no real economic data prints, as they data schedulers have cleared the deck for the Fed announcement tomorrow.   

To recap…  The dollar has the conn again this morning, and everyone is of the belief that the Fed will hike rates tomorrow afternoon… Chuck points out that it’s not the prudent thing to do right now, but has given up the ghost on his holding out on no rate hike… UGH!  Gold & Silver are seeing engineered takedowns, in Chuck’s opinion, so don’t panic!  

Before I head to the Big Finish today, I wanted to talk about this… I was very bummed out when my favorite Cardinals player that I got to see his entire career, Ted Simmons missed the Hall of Fame election by one vote! Ted and I worked together (in his offseason) back at Mark Twain Bank in 1981.. What a great guy! And at that point he had been traded to the Brewers by Whitey Herzog. I was never going to forgive Whitey for that move, but then he won the World Series in 1982, against the Brewers, and while not all was forgiven, some was… But if you ever want to compare Ted Simmons’ stats VS other catchers that are in the HOF, go ahead, and you’ll be amazed that this man is not in the HOF… It’s shame, and a black mark on the HOF committee! 

For What It’s Worth…  I haven’t really had the opportunity yet to really dive into the Tax Reform Bill, but my long time friend, Bill Bonner did, and here’s his take on it, which can be found here: https://bonnerandpartners.com/the-gop-tax-bill-is-a-deep-state-scam/  

Or, here’s your snippet: “But the broad brushstrokes are so obvious, they must be visible from outer space: It is a scam.

Its real effect will be to enable the transfer of trillions of dollars more from the productive economy to the zombies, cronies, and Deep State insiders… leaving slower real economic growth and leaving most people poorer.

Yes, some people will benefit in the short run. But most will suffer as the years pass… as the tax bill will add $1.8 trillion or more to U.S. debt.

Then, with lower tax revenues and rising expenses from 70 million retiring baby boomers, the country will go broke. Could foreigners do that? Unh-unh… This is a Made in America disaster.” 

Chuck again… Thanks to Bill for doing some of my work for me! HA!  But $1.8 Trillion to our national debt? I told you that I would find that the Bill was not revenue/ debt neutral as it was billed to be!   

Currencies today 12/12/17… American Style: A$ .7550, kiwi .6928, C$ .7765, euro 1.1727, sterling 1.3318, Swiss $1.0078, … European Style: rand 13.7016, krone 8.3651, SEK 8.4418, forint 267.75, zloty 3.5917, koruna 21.8575, RUB 59.08, yen 113.65, sing 1.3534, HKD 7.8063, INR 64.50, China 6.6156, peso 19.18, BRL 3.2916, Dollar Index 94.19, Oil $57.69, 10-year 2.41%, Silver $15.69, Platinum $875.69, Palladium $1,008.88, and Gold… $1,008.88  

That’s it for today… Well, the doc says I’m doing great! took the stitches out, and sent me on my way! Thanks to darling daughter Dawn for taking me and then having to wait through the whole process… I’ve been given the green light to drive now, but getting in and out of a car is still a major ordeal for me, so for now, I think I’ll stay put… Alex stopped by last night to check on me… I’m so proud of him, he has really grown into a great  person. I now have three adult children who I can’t say enough good things about each of them…  I’m proud of all of them… OK, enough of the sappy stuff, Buddy Miles takes us to the finish line today with his redo of the Neil Young song: Down By The River…   Thanks for reading the Pfennig, even when it’s so late! I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday, and Be Good To Yourself! 

Chuck Butler

Source link

source https://capitalisthq.com/countdown-to-a-rate-hike-daily-pfennig/ from CapitalistHQ http://capitalisthq.blogspot.com/2017/12/countdown-to-rate-hike-daily-pfennig.html

[everettwilkinson]

Countdown To A Rate Hike… – Daily Pfennig

Chuck Butler’s: A Pfennig For Your Thoughts 

December 12, 2017  

* Dollar resumes its rally…

* An Engineered takedown?

* A short-n-sweet Pfennig today… 

Good Day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! Another day, and another late edition of the Pfennig… UGH! I don’t know where the mornings go any longer… Instead  of me getting up and making my way to the writing desk and my laptop, I get up and begin the process of giving myself antibiotics through a PICC-line… Sound easy, and it is, but it’s time consuming, and before I know it, the morning is almost gone, and I haven’t gotten the Pfennig out yet! UGH!  Today marks the halfway mark of the 6 weeks that I’m scheduled to doing this, so I ask that you stay with me for 3 more weeks, and then things should be back to normal… Maybe…  ’cause you never know!   Robin Trower greets me today with his song: Bridge of Sighs…  

I don’t like doing this, but given the lack of news, and the tardiness of the Pfennig, this will be a short-n-sweet edition today.

Well… The board games have been taken off the shelves at the Eccles Building, and the Fed members are busing playing Sorry, Battleship, and Monopoly today. Longtime readers know that I’ve kidded about this for years, and it all started when in an interview, I was asked, what I thought the Fed members were talking about for two days?   I replied, that they must be playing board games, and I can hear one of them saying now, “by Joe, you’ve sunk my battleship”!  

So, today begins the two-day FOMC meeting, that will culminate in a rate hike tomorrow afternoon… I’ve put my tail between my legs on this one folks… I still think it would be the prudent thing to do, to bypass the rate hike now, and wait to see what the lawmakers do about a budget. But since when does the Fed do the prudent thing? 

The “boys in the band” have used this market thinking that a rate hike is in the cards tomorrow, to pile on the short paper trades, so much that now real Gold and Silver investors are panicking and selling… Don’t do that! Do not panic! If you need to sell, then sell, but don’t panic!  This is just an engineered take down of Gold & Silver to test the managed money holders’ resolve…  Gold lost nearly $7 yesterday and is down another $7 today… 

But, here’s the thing that bugs me… yesterday’s low came in the after markets trading… The “boys in the band” are really getting brazen with their trading, folks, and just like the criminals that Elliot Ness used to chase on TV years ago, once they become cocky, they expose themselves, and get caught… We can only hope that someone with some intestinal fortitude, stands up and says, “This is a crock!” “And I’m not going to stand for it any longer!”   

Well,  yesterday I told you that I thought the dollar rally would resume again any day, after taking a two-day breather, and in the overnight markets that’s what happened, but the move isn’t really BIG at this point, but it sure feels like it’s going to burst out soon…  The Dollar Index  had moved over the 94 handle to 94.19 this morning, yesterday it was 93.88, and last week, it was in the low 93 handle before all this dollar buying began. 

And I really don’t have much more to say about that today… I could go on and on about how it’s really not a smart thing to do to hike rates when you want inflation to rise, but I’ve done that many times in the past, so I’ll just leave you with that thought once again today… 

And the Data Cupboard isn’t giving us any clues or ideas as to where the currencies should be trading. Yesterday’s Cupboard was bare, and today’s only has the Federal Budget, which we already know will be a deficit, and PPI (wholesale inflation), which I expect to be a little stronger than the average bear.  But other than that, there are no real economic data prints, as they data schedulers have cleared the deck for the Fed announcement tomorrow.   

To recap…  The dollar has the conn again this morning, and everyone is of the belief that the Fed will hike rates tomorrow afternoon… Chuck points out that it’s not the prudent thing to do right now, but has given up the ghost on his holding out on no rate hike… UGH!  Gold & Silver are seeing engineered takedowns, in Chuck’s opinion, so don’t panic!  

Before I head to the Big Finish today, I wanted to talk about this… I was very bummed out when my favorite Cardinals player that I got to see his entire career, Ted Simmons missed the Hall of Fame election by one vote! Ted and I worked together (in his offseason) back at Mark Twain Bank in 1981.. What a great guy! And at that point he had been traded to the Brewers by Whitey Herzog. I was never going to forgive Whitey for that move, but then he won the World Series in 1982, against the Brewers, and while not all was forgiven, some was… But if you ever want to compare Ted Simmons’ stats VS other catchers that are in the HOF, go ahead, and you’ll be amazed that this man is not in the HOF… It’s shame, and a black mark on the HOF committee! 

For What It’s Worth…  I haven’t really had the opportunity yet to really dive into the Tax Reform Bill, but my long time friend, Bill Bonner did, and here’s his take on it, which can be found here: https://bonnerandpartners.com/the-gop-tax-bill-is-a-deep-state-scam/  

Or, here’s your snippet: “But the broad brushstrokes are so obvious, they must be visible from outer space: It is a scam.

Its real effect will be to enable the transfer of trillions of dollars more from the productive economy to the zombies, cronies, and Deep State insiders… leaving slower real economic growth and leaving most people poorer.

Yes, some people will benefit in the short run. But most will suffer as the years pass… as the tax bill will add $1.8 trillion or more to U.S. debt.

Then, with lower tax revenues and rising expenses from 70 million retiring baby boomers, the country will go broke. Could foreigners do that? Unh-unh… This is a Made in America disaster.” 

Chuck again… Thanks to Bill for doing some of my work for me! HA!  But $1.8 Trillion to our national debt? I told you that I would find that the Bill was not revenue/ debt neutral as it was billed to be!   

Currencies today 12/12/17… American Style: A$ .7550, kiwi .6928, C$ .7765, euro 1.1727, sterling 1.3318, Swiss $1.0078, … European Style: rand 13.7016, krone 8.3651, SEK 8.4418, forint 267.75, zloty 3.5917, koruna 21.8575, RUB 59.08, yen 113.65, sing 1.3534, HKD 7.8063, INR 64.50, China 6.6156, peso 19.18, BRL 3.2916, Dollar Index 94.19, Oil $57.69, 10-year 2.41%, Silver $15.69, Platinum $875.69, Palladium $1,008.88, and Gold… $1,008.88  

That’s it for today… Well, the doc says I’m doing great! took the stitches out, and sent me on my way! Thanks to darling daughter Dawn for taking me and then having to wait through the whole process… I’ve been given the green light to drive now, but getting in and out of a car is still a major ordeal for me, so for now, I think I’ll stay put… Alex stopped by last night to check on me… I’m so proud of him, he has really grown into a great  person. I now have three adult children who I can’t say enough good things about each of them…  I’m proud of all of them… OK, enough of the sappy stuff, Buddy Miles takes us to the finish line today with his redo of the Neil Young song: Down By The River…   Thanks for reading the Pfennig, even when it’s so late! I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday, and Be Good To Yourself! 

Chuck Butler

Source link

from CapitalistHQ.com https://capitalisthq.com/countdown-to-a-rate-hike-daily-pfennig/

[worldofvisual]

Stein’s;Gate 0

Time to do one of these again, this time for the daring sequel, Stein's;Gate 0! A VN I was glad to see have an official english release swiftly announced, and one I even came across on physical store shelves, much to my pleasant surprise.

First, a warning: Don't be mislead by the title – S;G0 is not a prequel. To enjoy this story, and not spoil the original Stein's;Gate entirely, you need to have played the original first. While I will not entirely spoil the S;G0 story here, it is probably a good idea to stay clear if you are yet to experience Stein's Gate, either in game or anime format. Go ahead and do it – it's worth it!

For those who want to enter S;G0 as blindly as possible, but just want to know whether it's worth giving it a try, I'll say this for starters: if you loved the characters and atmosphere of the original, then this is definitely worth it. There are things S;G0 do really well, and things that made me wonder if it would have been better to leave well enough alone, but in my opinion the good moments outweigh the bad, and make it worth a shot.

And now to the nitty-gritty.

This VN begins the very moment one of the original Stein's Gate routes end, showing us how that particular timeline progresses, leading into the events that puts Okabe Rintaro on the path to save the world and his friends. This means that in contrast to it's predecessor, this game skips the long start and build-up entirely. We already know who we are dealing with, what has happened, and how serious the situation is, and with that the story wastes no time getting to where it needs to be.

Stein's Gate 0 has 6 endings, one of which only unlocks once you have seen a particular other ending. Like in S;G the choices to enter these routes are not done in traditional VN manner where you pick between conversations or actions on the screen, but through interactions with your phone. There are only 2-3 places in the game where these choices matter, mainly in whether you choose to pick up your phone or not, but these are effectively and seamlessly used to bring the reader into vastly different routes and perspectives on what goes on. Inbetween those major choices you will still receive messages from Okabe's friends that you can choose to ignore or respond to in different ways, choices that have no real consequence, but let you interact with everyone in sweet and funny ways.

The game's many routes and timelines tend to converge around two important plot points that effect everything. One is the whole deal with the timemachine concept: the paper Kurisu wrote to prove such a thing was possible, as well as the knowledge the protagonists have of how to practically create one. In my opinion, this was definitely the stronger one, showing how dismantling the Phonewave isn't necessarily the end-all of their troubles, but also the struggle of how Okabe has to protect what he knows, all on his own.

The other plot point is centered around the research that Kurisu was originally working on in America, which gave her the ability to create the Phonewave in the first place: the science of memory data, and how to possibly upload and work with such. This results in the creation of Amadeus, an AI that makes use of the memories of a real person to behave and speak as close to a real human as possible. This plot point is what brings in a lot of the new characters into the story, such as Amadeus "Kurisu" herself, Kurisu's old friend Maho, and the mysterious girl known as Kagari. While Kurisu's memories in Amadeus only go as far as to the point where she left America for Japan, the clues buried in there also end up having a major impact on the world lines.

Sounds and visuals are still strong as well. The music is great, bringing both new and old to the table, and the voice acting is stellar. It's games like these that make me sad when I return to other VNs with unvoiced protagonists, as it adds so much more character.

Most of the character art is new, though it works well. There are times where the old character art makes a reappearance, mostly when Okabe remembers the past. One thing I loved was a brief but impactful return to the old timeline, where old sprites and artstyle return, giving you a vivid impression of being "back". I found this very effective, though later on this is sadly diminished when, in some routes, the story continues into summer and brings the rest of the old character sprites back with their summer wear. I found the use of the old art to bring back the feeling of where you came from incredibly effective, and would have loved if they had kept using it that way only.

As for the story itself, these are definitely among it's strengths:

Character writing. The game does a great job at portraying its characters as people who feel real, with emotions and interactions that are meaningful and go beyond being the stereotypes that vns often resort to. The center of this story is definitely Okabe himself, and the journey he makes after having been turned into a broken mess by the events that have come before. There are moments that pitch him and the others against each other in ways that keep you on the edge of your seat, or even form a tear on their behalf, as well as funny/sweet situations you never knew you wished you could see them in. One difference in S;G0 is that the game sometimes switches viewpoints, letting us see events happen through the eyes of its other characters. This especially gives an occasional interesting outside view of Okabe himself.

The timemachine plot. In my opinion, this is the stronger of the two plot points in the game, continuing the threads of what we already know might happen after S;G ended.

Weaknesses:

The memory data plot. While this definitely adds some interesting points to the story, and my general enjoyment of the concept of Amadeus "Kurisu" and her interactions/effects on Okabe, it also added a whole other of unnecessary problems, mainly the complications and additions to the things foreshadowed in S;G in ways that felt like cheap excuses to add new mysteries. In major part, the character known as Kagari.

Kagari appears as a young girl/grown woman with an uncanny resemblance to Kurisu, another time traveller who can go from being an ally to an antagonist depending on what timeline you end up on.  Not only did I never manage to really care for this character, but her unexplained likeness to Kurisu felt like a cheap excuse to elicit emotion, and make you feel there was something more to it that never got resolved in any way you'd think it would. There is one point where her lost memories brings Okabe into a moral dilemma that in itself is very interesting, but in the end feels like something he would never even do in the first place, and therefore doesn't manage to be entirely convincing.

In general, I would still say the good outweighs the bad, and I am glad I got to experience many of the moments in Steins;Gate 0. If you are a fan of the original, then you should definitely give it a shot just for those moments alone.

I have a general tendency with unplanned sequels like these, to feel like I need to keep them and the original apart in my mind to fully enjoy both. There are bits that work really well together, and bits I prefer to see as interesting "what ifs". Stein's Gate itself still stands perfectly fine on its own, telling you everything you need to know, without needing the extra complications and additions to its resolution that S;G0 somehow needed to bring up.

In the end all I can say is that I have now run out of Stein's Gate things to read, and that makes me sad.