#anyway. ​old man yells at cloud etc etc

[a-concert-just-for-me]

This is a joke

[whats-ur-credit-card-number]

really tiring when even supposedly progressive stories make only their most evil and pathetic characters fat. shouldn't we as a society be past this by now

[macklesufficient]

if i were taylor swift i’d record a vid of me covering this song, upload it to every social media platform, and turn off my phone

[clarascuro]

i think it's sad that like George Lucas and Hayao Miyazaki were inspired by the stories they grew up with and made their own unique art that only they could make, and then everyone who grew up watching star wars and ghibli movies was inspired to make more star wars and ghibli movies

[greenerteacups]

I think AO3 should tell you what chapter someone's commenting on in the inbox notification, rather than the "[X] commented on [Y]!" header. Context being that I posted a chapter last Friday with a Christmas scene, and got a comment today about something referencing Christmas, and I wrote out a whole reply discussing the most recent chapter on the assumption that they meant the new update — since most people wait until they're caught up to comment, 99% of an author's unread comments at any given time will be the most recent chapter — only to check, on a whim, and realize they were talking about Chapter 4. Which happens three years and forty chapters earlier. And you know, bullet dodged, but goddamn, how much would it suck to have an author spoil their own story directly in your inbox?

[first-blight]

vehemently fighting the urge to remake/move blogs just to start a new tagging system

[ranger-kellyn]

not to be hyper specific on main but i miss my pandora radio station from like. 2016

[morskisir]

i'm really curious why you dislike the comics? /genq /nm

ooooh the dreaded question. i can get really passionate about this (i care too much) so i'm going to be as brief and simple as i can. i'm aware many people enjoy the comics and that's fine. /gen you do you. like i said; i care too much

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: we have no clue how much time or dedication was given to the comics by valve; the poor writing isn't necessarily the fault of the writers and i have no personal beef with them! with that said, old man yells at cloud /ref under read more/keep reading.

the two main gripes i have with the comics are lack of planning and tone problems.

as i already said, the lack of planning- and therefore the poor writing- does not mean the comic team was incompetent (the art is quite good a lot of the time, actually), but this does mean it severely hurts the quality of the comics themselves. it's clear they aren't sure where they're taking this (as evident by whatever the fuck is going on with helen) and what the story is even supposed to mean. the tone goes hand in hand with the poor planning; the comics aren't sure whether they want to be purely comical and action-focused or a DARK comedy; having serious moments and themes in the story.

in the end, the serious moments come off as either manipulative (iykyk. i am not getting angry about this for 40 minutes again) or as if they're being made fun of (cough cough sniper).

they also struggle to really build up those moments, so sometimes it feels as if they just came out of nowhere. it's really jarring.

there's also just. not a lot of conflict between the main cast?? there isn't a lot of pressure put on pauling from the mercs via questioning her actions, etc. (we only slightly get this from spy. but like once) (i get that it's to show how much trust they have in her but, really? not a single thing?) (this could build up to like. a "grand betrayal" sort of thing but yknow. they didnt think about the build up to anything)

this is why i think making it JUST the RED team really hurts the story- they already have set dynamics and don't need to develop or sort through any conflicts they have with one another. medic only has conflict with sniper of all people. MEDIC. who went to join another team which was actively hunting his previous one.

the comics introduce conflict and new dynamics by straight up making up new characters?? as much as i love zhanna- she was primarily put into the story just to be soldier's love interest and have a fun dynamic with him.... i'm so sorry miss.

they could've done that with demo btw?? since demo and soldier are supposed to be friends?? unless actually the team differences DO matter (which the comics do not make clear at all, engie is randomly blue while the rest are red. okay. why? wouldn't you like to know.) so red soldier and red demo dont bounce off of eachother as much as blu soldier and red demo do.

i'm not formatting this at all but remember the poor planning? ahem. sniper timeline. why did you make him barely 30. i will fucking kill you he was always clearly meant to be, look, and sound like an old man. its in his concept art its in how he talks. raghghgh

they keep giving themselves problems by adding new characters cause then the main fucking mercs who people adore get no time for themselves (demo, pyro, scout, engie) they're just kinda......there. it sucks. but it's what we got, i guess. just how canon the comics are is questionable- but i don't care if they are.

it's free real estate i'm doing my own thing!!!!!!!!!!! fuck around find out!!!!! be gay do crime!!!!!!! *gets arrested by valve for tampering with copyrighted material*

anyways, after all that negativity; shoutout to the only stuff i enjoyed from the comics: pauling, heavy, the art. goob byeeeeeeee

[literaticat]

Can bad Goodreads reviews or Book Tok bomb an author's career? Reviewers trash books that aren't even out yet because they didn't like the blurb. Or something the author said. Or because of something they heard about the book that isn't even true. A lot of these reviewers haven't even read the book, which they even admit in the reviews. How can authors protect themselves in this climate? I'm thinking particularly of the Cecilia Rabess case.

I think it's very important to remember that "online" is not the same as real life. Like I know it SEEMS like it! And if you're in the thick of reading terrible reviews about your book, or getting involved with some Twitter Controversy, or whatever -- it FEELS like it is all-consuming and truly the world is against you, etc.

But like -- that's probably not the case, in reality. In REALITY, a small number users are very active on BookTok or GoodReads or whatever. MOST people in reality, the people who like, GO OUTSIDE, etc, will have never heard of whatever-the-thing is, even if it seems like everyone in your online circle has.

As an example, one of my books had a sort of publisher-"scandal" years ago and it was big news -- zero fault of the author, entirely the publisher mishandling something and seemingly "whitewashing" the cover, which went viral on Twitter etc, and then even got picked up by major media like The Guardian, etc. -- For me, and the author, this was SO INTENSE -- people were so mad, many of them AT US! For some reason! -- and it felt like the absolute end of days. During the midst of this, though, I had to go to a dinner with like, 100 of the most well-connected librarians in the Bay Area. I truly expected them to not only know the story, but have bad opinions about it, and I was bracing myself. Guess what: ONE of them had heard the story, and they were very nice about it. The rest of the folks had never heard about it -- because they weren't glued to a small section of twitter or paying attention to random-ass "news" that didn't affect them anyway. That's when my fever broke - -this wasn't the end of days. This would blow over. Nobody would remember it later. And that was all true.

So I guess that's the takeaway. Don't seek out lousy reviews. Don't engage with reviews. Do not argue with reviews. Reviews are not your business. If you are freaking out -- get off the internet and talk to some people and touch some grass. And remember -- "Bad" reviews might inspire people to read the book, too. I read/see plenty of "bad" reviews that make me think, oh, that sounds interesting, actually. And if people are talking about your book, even if some of them are mad, that's better than NOBODY talking about your book. (I'M NOT SAYING, start a scandal! LOL. Just, you know. Most books get totally ignored, so hey, no such thing as bad publicity?)

I had not heard of "the Cecilia Rabess case" so I did some digging online. It seems that the author was the subject of "review bombing", where a bunch of disgruntled people saw a post online that made them mad and went en masse to one-star review the book on Goodreads. It very much sucks that people do this, btw, and I wish they wouldn't -- but it's much like when a bunch of people review bomb a business on Yelp because they saw a video of the owner being a jerk or something. Can that make the owner's day/week/month pretty rough? Yes. Will it prevent the owner from ever working again? Probably not, at the end of the day, provided they are actually doing good work and real Non-Yelp people know that.

In this case, the "bad review" on TikTok that inspired the whole thing was done well before the book even came out, and the person was objecting to the very premise of the book, and many/most of the people one-starring it had definitely NOT read it, because it wasn't out! (Insert "Old Man Yelling At Cloud" GIF)

The premise they were objecting to is that it *seemed* like it was an enemies-to-lovers Romance between a Black liberal woman and a T**mp-lovin racist white dude. I can absolutely see why people lost it about that -- because A ROMANCE NOVEL inherently has a happy ending, and sorry, but there's no way that premise COULD have a happy ending unless both parties got lobotomized, and how happy could THAT be? (Much akin to why people lose at at enslaved person / enslaver Romances, or Nazi/Jew Romances -- GROSS. It's GROSS.)

The thing is though .... it's not a Romance.

It has at its center a woman and a man in a complicated romantic relationship -- a 'love story' if you will -- there may be romantic PARTS -- but ultimately, it is not a Romance Novel. The author didn't intend it to be a Romance Novel, and the publisher didn't intend for it to be shelved in the Romance section as far as I know. (Where they effed up is I guess in the marketing they used the phrase "enemies to lovers" or something, so people assumed that because of that Romance Trope being invoked, that it was a Romance Novel? But IDK.) -- if anything, though it isn't horror, it seems more akin to like, GET OUT, thematically. The title and cover alone point to that -- "EVERYTHING'S FINE" is what the character says even though everything is very much NOT fine -- and there's a crushed strawberry on the cover bc (spoiler) one of the things that happens in the book is, the main character doesn't tell her partner that she's allergic to strawberries and eats them anyway because she doesn't wanna rock the boat, and "EVERYTHING'S FINE" -- but it's, again, say it with me, VERY MUCH NOT FINE -- it's about her self-sabotaging, etc. Lots of us gravitate towards things that hurt us but feel good, no? Especially in our 20s? I sure did.

Luckily the book actually sounds pretty good, and has had a lot of big time accolades as well as the trolls. I wouldn't have heard of it before, and now I'm interested. So... I think the author will end up fine, at the end of the day. An unpleasant episode that actually the majority of people never heard about and will be forgotten by all soon.

[trainsongbyvashtibunyan]

absolutely hate how instagram is becoming just another platform on which to buy things. get the fuck outta here with your Products

[cryptwretch]

idk looking at this awake and mostly lucid i feel kind of silly about this considering the vast amount of criticisms there are to be leveled at wod, both classic and modern, but i'm also someone who was influenced by it very strongly as a kid and all those things have been said way better by other people, so a lot of my thoughts are gonna be old man yelling at cloud about how it's not goth enough anymore or whatever

anyway vtmb2 looks mid as hell, sub-mid even, and it won't even have the saving grace of a world created with love and care by people invested in the setting and attached subculture. nostalgia won't be enough to save this one, especially since it misses entirely literally everything (gameplay, atmosphere, etc.) the nostalgia is attached to. sad!

the collide posters in the internet cafe are really making me think about like, that post from the other day about how it's like obvious there are no goths working on bloodlines 2 or whatever and that's so sad. thinking about it, collide are from LA, like, the fact that the bloodlines devs thought to include a nod to a local goth band like that is really really cool. and it just kind of makes me think of the general shift pretty much all the modern vtm/wod stuff has had away from that kind of thing. i don't really have the words to fully describe what i'm thinking rn like it's late and i'm tired as fuck and everything, but reading through all the old vtm rulebooks lately and comparing them to all the modern ones it really feels like the modern material is like almost embarrassed of stuff like this, like it's actively trying to distance itself aesthetically and thematically from the material from this time, including the nods to goth culture, not even really updating it or anything, just basically abandoning it altogether. i guess for mass market appeal cause a wider audience might find it cringe or whatever. idk, like you're definitely not gonna see any fuckin posters for like nox novacula in vtmb2's seattle, that's for sure.

[runawaymun]

Not to sound like a boomer but I genuinely am starting to feel that Netflix is one of the worst things that happened to television.

It’s all the same now.

And I don’t mean like, genre diversity. I mean the art form. Like Netflix has really just cursed the world with television that now has an absolutely breakneck, relentless pace. So few shows are casually watchable anymore. It’s hard for me to find good new comfort shows. All of mine are older. Seasons used to have 15-30 episodes, sometimes more! They used to be episodic. So you could literally just drop in at any point in a season, nearly, without having to remember where you’re at or be sucked in by cliffhangers for twelve hours. You could just sit down with your favorite characters for one episode and be done.

And sure, people still marathoned favorites, but that wasn’t the norm. And the thing is, shows like Psych, Stargate SG-1, Babylon 5, Doctor Who etc? I remember distinct episodes. I can name them, and I’ll go back and rewatch them over and over again independently. With newer shows I just don’t. If you ask me to name an individual episode of Cobra Kai, I can’t. If I’m rewatching then I’m rewatching the whole damn show and I just don’t have that kind of time, usually, so then I just don’t rewatch and it’s onto the next series— which gets super exhausting. Sometimes I don’t want that commitment.

And you lose a lot of character depth in my opinion. The beauty of episodic longform shows is in the sheer room you have. Yes. Seasons had arcs, but usually the plots were contained to an episode and the season arc was purely character development. And you had room for dumb episodes where characters go to the beach, or a party, or just dick around and live their lives. The viewer had time to get attached— which is why so many older shows still have such strong, old, thriving fanbases who are immensely loyal to their show.

And also??? Shows didn’t used to be cancelled for a bad first episode or season. That’s not normal!!? Netflix and other provider’s habits of cancelling shows that “flop” in their first three episodes or first season isn’t normal. With older shows it was just sort of accepted: the pilot and first season are like the first ugly pancake. Give the show some time. And that time is worth it. That’s why shows could run episodically for 6, 7, 14, 20 seasons, because people just accepted that some seasons are better than others and that’s okay. Some episodes are better than others. Shows didn’t used to rely on cliffhangers to keep their audience. They relied on characters. That was what we were watching them for and why we kept coming back.

I just really am starting to hate how every single tv show is now essentially a really long movie tbh. Give me my episodic, campy, 30-episodes a season shows back. They really are worth it and I’m so sad that those seem to be actively squished by tv providers. It’s an art form in of itself.

It’s just a symptom of late stage capitalistic churning of things for mass, quick comsumption. Like the fast fashion of film. Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of new favorite shows I genuinely enjoy like Schitt’s Creek, House of the Dragon, Cobra Kai, Gentleman Jack, etc, but I just wish I had more options in terms of length/number of episodes/and how episodic a show is. It feels like a damn shame that episodic shows are being pushed out in favor of quick, bingeable ones. It also feels like writers are no longer being given the time to really craft a good story. There’s so much pressure and time crunching from studios and drive to cram your story into less than twelve episodes and that’s why you get, rather than a mediocre season, absolutely genuinely ruined seasons like the last season of Game of Thrones and the most recent season of Stranger Things. Both literally needed more episodes to make their story make sense. (If we ignore the dumb bran ending.)

Anyway this is your latest “old man yells at cloud” by your friendly neighborhood old person. Thanks for coming to my tedtalk.

[qqueenofhades]

If it makes your journo anons feel any better, i absolutely stopped paying attn to any election analysis coming from people who live outside my district LOL esp after the election. I LOVE YOU GUYS its necessary incredible work etc. But uhhh idk after 2016 i stopped watching cable news and after 2020 i stopped reading anything under 10 pages by topic. I hoped that american journalism would continue its long tradition of committment to truth &independence but esp seeing some ppl i admire on twitter its like. Oh. I see. The professional standards have dropped and i saw journos i really liked get obsessed with "takes" and "i told you so" moments. Disheartening inshallah national pundits are dumped after being dead wrong 4 elections in a row now lol

Being a political talking-head pundit is apparently the only job where you can get it absolutely, incredibly, ludicrously dead wrong, get to spread your wrong ideas to other people, and then just... forget all about it, pretend it never happened, never talk about your wrong predictions and the impact they might have had, and move right on to being wrong about something else. As long as you're still getting paid, who cares?

Anyway, maybe this is once more my Oldness talking, but especially in the world we live in now, I don't think Being Neutral is the right standard to strive for. I wish the news cared more about being factual and critical, rather than Being Neutral or providing a narrative that everyone can use to support whatever they believe, because Every Opinion Is Valid! But because it is not profitable to do this, and we live in a capitalist hellscape that functions to preserve the interests and wealth of the profit-makers, we instead get the Facebookification of news, where what is objectively correct is conflated, dangerously so, with whatever makes you feel good and confirms your pre-existing biases. So because that also makes money, there's no incentive to stop it.

...in short, yes, I am absolutely the embodiment of Old Man Yells At Cloud right now, but still. Considering the utter and relentless devaluation of empirical information, anything that you don't like and therefore isn't true, and the privilege of information that supports You over the privilege of information that supports others and/or the entire real world, it's no wonder at all that we are in this mess.

[funnyexel]

100 Years of Age

Logan x Reader (Oneshot)

A/n : I’ve recently have had an OBSESSION with Logan from the X-men franchise. Thus, this short fanfic. Usually my fanfics would end in a little spice (kiss, smut...etc.) but this time it’ll be a fluff ending. Please bare with me, this is my first fluff story so if it sucks that's the reason. Also, sorry if the title doesn’t really make sense. I tried to make it nostalgic in a way. Enjoy my lovely’s <3 Masterlist Mega List

“How could you?” Hot tears glided down your face. “How could you!?” There your parents stood before you as you got yanked away in chains. “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!?!” Your last words as the truck doors closed. You were being taken and it was all their fault. Full on balling on the truck floor, the soldiers watched. A 14- year old getting taken away with their parents consent...that’s got to be a first. 

The truck was a one-way ticket to hell but how could you have known? They gave you away to some unknown cause to save their own asses. You spent years there, being tested on.

“She has the right DNA. We’ll be one step closer to evolution.”

The first few months were horrible. Being tested on for the Elemental Project, being alone in a foreign area, resenting your parents and being a child in all. On a certain dreadful day, an experiment worked on you. That day was your 15th birthday. They did four major experiments and preps over and over and over again. At this point, you weren’t upset anymore. Your parents are living their lives now. They may or may not be regretting their decision but its out of your hands. You’ve come to terms with this, after months of denying it.

“how are you feeling?” She quietly walks into your cell, trying not to disturb you as you were watching tv. You were sitting against the wall, hands in your lap as your eyes staying glued to the tv. “fine.” Your voice strained and quiet. She hums to your word. You’ve become a woman of little words, only speaking when comfortable and necessary. This woman was nice to you. You welcomed her into your small bubble...sometimes.

She placed a glass of water in front of you, without looking the water arose out the glass and separated itself into these words. “Today is my 15th birthday.” They subsided back into the glass, which you proceeded to pick up and drink out of. She and others were amazed, astonished. This isn’t the end. They still had much to do. You may not have mastered the first element but you’ve grasped it and that’s all they needed to know, before starting the next tests.

The tests were excruciating and brutal. The elements were manifesting backwards. Water, Earth, Air and Fire. Each element took an amount of lives. They told you to control it...they told you to fix yourself. But you could not. You did not control the elements. They only took a liking to you and allowed you to have them, nothing more nothing less. 

But they don’t understand, their thoughts clouded by war and hate. You got put into war before as a ‘learning activity’. Yes. A fantastic idea to put a 20-year old in The American Civil War.

You were cold. Very cold. They made you clothes to fit the elements but the clothes were not very war worthy attire. “She’ll burn her clothes off, if she wears that.” The woman says to the general in charge. “I better see something, Ms. Bailey.” The general says before glancing at you then taking his leave. She turns to you with a little smile. “Be mindful of people around you.” You nod your head to her. You weren’t scared given you were put into a war. You were just..just...you didn’t know. You didn’t know what the feeling was called but you were feeling it.

“Bring her here!” Ms. Bailey and you follow the soldier. “You can’t come on the field.” He stated to her. She gave you one final look before turning away. He motioned you to follow. The sounds of gun shots flooded your ears and the smell of gun powder filled your nose. “Stay close.” He said, not ever laying a finger on you. It was almost nightfall, they knew this’ll be the best time for you to come out. You stayed with him and two other men. 

They were conversing a few feet away, also keeping an eye on you. A young boy was coughing, around the age of 16. You crouched in front of him and rested a hand on his shoulder. Doing a faint hand motion you cleared the air he was breathing. “T-thank you.” You smiled to him but the smile faded as the soldier called out to you. “Come, we’ve got the ‘go�� from the general.” The field was painted in blood and bodies. 

“Can’t handle it?” One of the other soldiers teased. You scoffed at him, the sound barely being audible. “We need you to take an enemy and bring them back here.” The soldier says to you, motioning the two men not to follow you out. You sighed and nodded at him. Walking to the middle of the battlefield, you dipped down to the ground. Your fingertips lightly touching it. “I will not control you.” The ground began to rumble as big chunks of dirt and rock get pulled out. Carefully, you aimed each one at their big guns and incoming soldiers. 

With ease you walked to their men. Their guns were inefficient, due to you setting the gun powder in the guns ablaze. Finally, you found someone that looked like they knew a lot, motioning your hand to the sky. Particles of water parted from the clouds and engulfed the victims body, knocking them out momentarily and carrying them with you. You quickly got escorted back to the base.

“Great, we have the enemy. HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET INFORMATION FROM A DEAD MAN!?!” You flinched at the yelling general. There the man laid on a nursing bed, dripping wet. A gust of wind passes by to dry him then you put your hand over his mouth. Taking the liquid out his lungs. An array of coughs alerted one of the nurses. “alive.” You spoke, looking the general in the eyes. Ms. Bailey took you to the tent for a rest. “You did good today.” She smiled handing you sleeping clothes. You took the clothes and changed, now sitting on the floor, no movement what so ever. 

You often did this when the elements were uneasy and they were always uneasy. “Sorry, no visitors.” You look over your shoulder and see one of the men you were on the field with. Getting to your feet, you walk and stand next to Bailey. She nods to you and walks further into the tent, keeping a watchful eye. “Hi, I’m Logan.” He sticks a hand out for you to shake. You hide your hands behind your back, denying his request. He retracts his hand at your reaction. “y/n” You whisper to him. “Okay, that’s all, she needs to rest.” Bailey closes the tent as you wave goodbye to him. 

Those memories became distant, vivid as you went back to the dreadful place. Time passed very slowly there. You never knew why but it did and it was awful. “This is ground breaking! Absolutely ground breaking! Now that we’ve got her to adapt to all the elements we’ll be able to make an army.” That day felt different. Stumped on the why but it felt different. Later on you found out why. You’ll never ever forget it. It was your most happiest day you’ve lived. The freedom. The life that filled your soul and the genuine happiness that accompanied your aura. But nature had different plans for you. 

Nature had weird ways of caring for you. It liked you. It had better plans for you. Plans that would not involve this era in anyway what so ever. You were hesitant at first but your character is familiar to its weird ways. Thus, leading you to comply. “wait. everyone quiet.” Voices were creeping into your hearing, slowly becoming louder. “She’s waking up.” Your eyelids flutter open. It felt as if you were worked to the bone, took an elevating nap then woke up refreshed. You were in a cocoon like capsule, made by water and other bits of nature. The cocoon discarded itself, evaporated and moving itself into the ongoing water cycle. 

Your body slumped a bit, a little surprised squeak as you stood straight. Seeing people in weird gear and other gadgets around the room. Eyes big and observing everything. “Hi.” You looked at the man before you. Your eyes instinctively trailing to the flat screen. It’s a television. ‘How the world has evolved.’ You thought looking back to the man, mouth open but no words flow out. So you decide to respond with a small wave. Your calmness got interrupted as you saw a gadget that resembled a gun. “the war is still present?” You speak in a low tone and sigh. “The war?” He shakes his head. 

“How old is she?” Someone utters in the background. You shrug to their question. “1863?” You look the man in the eyes. Pure shock fills his soul. “It’s the 2000’s.” You feel a force pull you out the establishment. Into a forest. ‘The 2000’s? What would you want me to do in the 2000’s?’ You question in your head as you run. To no destination in particular but to get away from those people. You ended up in a bar. It was one of the things you could recognize...everything was so different. As soon as you stepped foot into the bar, all eyes were on you. Stares full of disgust, lust and confusion. 

You walked to the counter and stood at the end of the tall table. “Miss, are you lost?” You nod to the nicely dressed lady. She converses with her peers as you look over to the television. ‘Mutant Rights? Mutant? What’s a Mutant?’ This is so new. It was a lot happening at once. A high pitched whistle, stung your ear. “Hey, cutie.” Looking to him unbothered, you point to him and a gust of wind pushes him away. Not enough to knock him down or anything serious like that but enough to get him out your personal space. He looks at you like he’s seen a ghost. “m-m-m-m-m-m” 

He kept stuttering, you cock your head to the side in amazement but puzzlement. “Yeah, she’s a mutant. Run along, boy.” The woman exclaims and pulls you into a back room. “You seem like a wonderful girl but men will take advantage of you.” She says handing you a soft fabric. “what’s this?” You ask, opening the folded clothing. “A hoodie? Have you not- you know what never mind.” She leaves the room. Pulling the fabric over your head. “A hoodie.” You fiddle with the cup like piece. “I’m a mutant?” You look at the full length mirror. ‘I see why she said I’ll be taken advantage of.’ 

You dust off the skin tight shorts and knock out rocks out your minimalistic flat shoes. “where do mutants go?” You walk out the door and ask the girl. She finishes serving someone a drink before answering. “here.” She hands you a pamphlet. ‘Xavier Institute’ You study the interestingly folded paper then look to her. “thank you.” You smile and walk out the bar. ‘Now to find this Institute.’ At those words many images and places flood your mind, until one image matched the pamphlet. You could hear children giggling and happily cheering. The images fade away and you know exactly where you’re going. 

Putting the paper in the hoodie pocket, you begin to walk in the direction of the school. “ouch.” A small pebble hit you in the leg. Sighing, you stand still. The ground beneath you begins to rumble, carving a circle large enough for you to stand on. It slowly ripped itself out the ground bringing you in the air. Putting your hands out, you began to get your balance as you fixed your stance. It seemed like your seeing the world in a different light. The trees were so vibrant and beautiful as you were gliding on the rock. The sun was rising, its the most beautiful thing you’ve seen in your life. You couldn’t help but smile. 

In no time, the school came into your view. The rock pile that was holding you up, broke apart into little rocks as you were lowered to the ground. Walking through the gates, you looked around for others. It didn’t seem like anyone was out yet, but lights were on in the inside. Placing two knocks on the door, you stood and waited for someone to answer. A woman with white hair answers the door. Before she could let out a simple question, you stop her with your own. “what year is it?” Her face scrunches up with confusion at your odd question. “2006? Come inside.” 

She pats you on the shoulder as a welcoming jester. You hesitate before stepping into the abnormally big school. “logan?” You lock eyes with the recognizable man. “Do you know each other?” The white haired woman asks you. Breaking away from the eye contact, you frantically shake your head and back into the door. Logan kept looking at you, in confusion. “I- um. I might be at the w-wrong place.” Mist begins to fill the space you occupied, giving you a chance to leave. Time running short as footsteps echo behind you. Having no time to run off the property, you run into the woods that’s to the left of the school. 

“I-I...I don’t want to go back.” You cried out as they grabbed you from behind, roughly sitting you down. “You know me?” He asked. You responded with a hum, still being a little shaken up. “you and I met at war. it was only once.” You looked up to him. “Why’d you run?” He asked as you got up to your feet. “when I escaped my project. there had been many more trying to recreate it. I thought it was still going on.” He lead the way back to the school. “I was apart of a solo weapon x program. It- it wasn’t #1 priority but it was still important.” They brought you into an office and began to ask questions, which you answered. 

“So how old are you exactly?” Storm asks. “I don’t know.” Logan asked a few questions here and there but he stayed quiet most the time. Storm gave you an vacant room after the long introduction. You got familiar with the room before going out to the yard, you observed some students and meditated. It seemed like everything was calm. It was odd non-the-less but very nice. “Hello.” A child no older than 11 greets you. “hello.” You give a small smile to him. “What’s your name?” He asks, you look up to a small group of students a good ways away. “Y/n.” You say looking back to him. 

“Look at what I can do, Y/n.” He says a bit excited. Pulling a weed from the ground, he holds it between his thumb and index finger, slowly it turns to a flower. “That’s very similar to what I can do.” You smile to the innocent boy. “Can I see?” He asks in a cutesy pure tone. “Sure.” You point to some moving rocks. They bonded together and came rolling to you. It was a medium sized ball of pebbles and rocks. Clasping your hands together then breaking them apart, water separated from the rocks. The rocks now rolling back to their places. The water splits into two and glides around, almost dancing with each other. 

Soon enough it came down to you. “Wow.” The boy says, studying the water. You then open your right palm, heat gathering in it and creating fire. Now you had fire in one hand and water in the other. The two elements began to fight with each other. Trying to put the other out. Finally, you put the fire out and disperse the water. A gust of wind swishes through is hair, roughing it up a bit. Standing up, you give him a smile. You see Logan in the corner of your eye. “bye, flower boy.” He gives you a smile and you approach Logan. “You didn’t answer my question properly earlier.” He slows and matches your pace. 

“I- I see. I had a failed attempt before. I thought I found refuge but I was horribly mistaken.” You looked away from him for a moment. “a distant memory is all it is now.” You give him a small friendly smile. “How can you not be upset?” He stops his actions and turns around to you. You stop too. “Upset? Why would I be upset?” He studies your answer for some time. “I’m not upset. How could I be? When all those people who experimented on me, are surely dead. While I am here, in a new era. Alive, well and hasn’t aged a day.” Your lips curve slightly but drop into a noticeable frown.

You wanted to open up a bit more to him but you felt you weren’t ready to talk about it. “You look upset.” His statement hinting at a tease. “Not upset. Just..sad.” Not picking up his light-hearted statement. You part ways as Logan gets called by Storm. Giving him a small wave, you go to your room. During the start of your months at the Institute, you did some strength training. “Colossus and Kitty, will spar with you.” It was soon clear to everyone that you are fairly powerful. Continuing your stay at the school with studying, you had to learn about the 21st century somehow. You found a new passion for reading while doing so. Romance books in particular.

“What romance book are you reading tonight?” You hide your smile as your head lifts from the book. “I’m actually reading a crime book.” He sits in a chair close to you. “What brings you here?” You bookmark your page and set the book down. He let out a heavy sigh. “Nightmares?” You whisper and he nods to you. He does a jester to you, returning the question. “visions of my parents.” You lean back, rubbing your forehead. “I need a cigar.” He exclaims under his breath. “do you ever think about it?” His eyes lock on yours. “do you ever just think about why we were chosen?” You try to maintain eye contact with him. “stupidity and..” He points to himself then you. “sacrifice.” 

You break your eye contact with him. “I’m sure it wasn’t stupidity in your case. At least you had a choice.” He stays silent wanting to hear more about you. Logan was very hesitant about letting people in since Jean. But he couldn’t help the fact that he wanted to learn more about you. You knew him in the past and besides that you were an interesting person to him. “My parents...they gave me to the program. They didn’t even know what it was, all they needed to know was that it was going to save themselves if they gave away their child.” He reached over to you, giving you a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 

“I don’t even remember much of my childhood. They told me it was garbage in my mind that I didn’t need.” You leaned into his touch slightly. “Some people say they want to forget their family. They don’t mean it. Do they?” A few tears escape your eyes. “because this feels like hell.” You quickly wipe the tears away. Logan walked with you to the sleeping quarters. You can’t stay up all night. The walk was silent but you two did walk pretty close together. “goodnight.” You smiled to him as you opened your door. “I’m sorry for dumping that all on you tonight. You don’t have to remember.” You nervously chuckle. He shakes his head.

“It’s..okay.” Hesitation in his voice. “If you need someone to talk too, I’ll- you can talk to me.” You can tell he struggled to find the right words but you appreciated it more than any other person would. Giving him a heartfelt smile. You gripped the door knob and looked over your shoulder. “Thank You, Logan.”

[mechfucker]

Old man yells at cloud, etc.

Oh, for sure. Y'all can't ever get rid of me. Who's to say I haven't had someone keeping tabs here from the shadows. Maybe I know everything.

And they just decided to not tell me about how nasty Tumblr's interface has gotten. Which would be fair, I think. I probably deserve it for one reason or another.

Anyway, what's up.

Feeling very "Old Man Yells At Cloud" about whatever the fuck it is Tumblr has going on with all this new shit.

[im-totally-not-an-alien]

Final fantasy 7 prompts number 74

1. Zack rocketed out of the slide and strait into the nearby wall. All Angeal had to do was glance at the food tray lying next to his student to figure out what happened.

"Zack-!" He began, intending to chastise his protégé. But whatever he was about to say was lost when a blur of black and silver shot out of the slide. The next thing he knew, Sephiroth was staring cooly up at him from his position on the floor, his own tray abandoned a few feet away from them.

Zack started laughing

Aka Zack can convince anyone do do stupid shenanigans with him, not just Cloud

2. Zack and two other 3rds found a large pile of scales, laying curled up on the beach while out on a mission. They surround it and are preparing to pounce when the serpentine body unravels to show the torso of a man.

The three freak out a bit and ironically yell at the man to stay calm. The blond just blinks at them before rising up and up and...the man was the snake. Or was the snake a man? Either way, Zack ends up befriending him and bringing him home as a suprise birthday(?) present for the General. Seph needed a friend, and Spikey would be perfect!

In the meantime, Naga! Cloud lives as Zacks secret roommate

3. A were-chocobo is running around Shinra tower and Cloud is fed up with people assuming that it's him

4. Sephiroth accidently gets left alone with an infant and he panics for a while before excepting his fate

(Its funnier if its insane sephiroth)

5. A Sephiroth fan stalks time traveler Cloud, believing him to be a threat to their precious idol.

They find out something important and foil all of the blonds plans

6. Willingly walk into the lions den and let reunion take over. The implants will let you keep your rationality without alerting Sephiroth, mostly by creating feedback that makes the madman hear whatever he wants to hear. For all intents and purposes, you will appear to be his perfect puppet. Thats then you'll stab him in the back. Literally.

At least, that was the plan...until Sephiroth started hugging him and sobbbing. Then the silverette started talking about feelings and how neither of them would ever have to be lonely again. Cloud was honestly a little scared by this seemingly sudden mental breakdown and couldn't help but wonder what exactly Sephiroth was hallucinating from the feedback

7. Cloud cut through the fabric of spacetime, just barely managing to escape his silver haired stalker yet again. He didn't even have time to be relieved however, as a Cait Sith popped out from behind a nearby tree. "Oh, hey Cait." He greeted casually.

The robot didn't reply, choosing instead to stare at him in silence. Odd, considering "Cait Sith" was a chatterbox, even on a bad day and Reeve would never be so rude. "Reeve?" The blond asked, concerned.

The cat recoiled, as if startled by something before running off. "Huh." He made a mental note to ask Reeve about his Cait Siths when he got back to his home dimension.

A slight tremor made him pause. Looking to his left he found the source: a litteral stampede of Caits! And they were headed right for him!

He later learned this was a world where he was the villain instead of Sephiroth...after he was captured, of course

8. Cetra! Lorekeeper! Cloud laid his mother to rest after her sudden passing, but instead of taking over her duty as guardian of the sacred sights, he decided "Well, the planet is doomed anyway." And set out to walk in the footsteps of his ancestors.

He just wanted to see the world beyond the snow-covered pines and travel the old nomadic routes carved out by his kin. Kinda like a final lap, to say goodbye. Too bad there where so many people wanting to kidnap him...kinda puts a wrench in his plans.

Based loosely on the song Lullaby of the Moon by David Vitas. I like the twist at the end

9. Shinra and Wutai role reversal au

10. Au where Sephiroth didn't actually die in Nebilhiem. He came to inside the mako and swam away and contemplate his life decisions and decided to fake his death. (The events of OG, AC, etc remain unchanged)

He can't bring himself to actually cut his hair, so he dyes it and ties it back into a ponytail.

He lived through all of the tragedies, living life as a normal everyday worker...until a man with a crimson cloak walks into his life with the blond from his nightmares.

11. Sephiroth is terrible at cooking, despite following instructions to the letter.

Every year he makes these amazingly awful cookies. No one was brave enough to tell him that his food tastes like burnt mud, so he obliviously assumes that people are avoiding him out of fear. (He's kinda right.) So he hunts people down and gifts them to whomever he manages to catch, looming over them ominously with a blank expression until they eat.

This year, Zack gets caught.

12. Time traveler Cloud accidentally winds up mentally connecting with just about all of SOLDIER after his connection with the Sephiroth of his timeline is severed.

Instant regret. On the other hand, all the information flooding through his head is great for sabotage! :D

13. Time traveler Sephiroth and Genesis getting into arguments, which leads to Sephiroth telling Angeal about Gens recent (illegal) escapades.

Gen threatens to dye Sephs hair rainbow, and the silverette calls his bluff

Sephiroth is still wondering how Gen managed to do it...and so well too...

14. Time traveler Cloud au, buuuuut he somehow accidentally bodyswaps with Angeal.

Both are confused.

15. Veld slumped in his chair. The vice president was not making his life easy, that was for sure.

He glanced up to stare at the ceiling, only to find something unexpected there. An envelope was literally duct taped above his desk. How long has that been there?

Upon actually reading the letter inside, he quickly holsters his gun, grabbed a few extra rounds of ammo and walked out the door