#but i would trade any of them for Randy

[chaotic-starlight24]

I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO UPSET ABOUT RANDY BEING CUT

I just found a full video of the La Jolla performance of The Outsiders and OMIGOSH

HOPELESS WAR WAS 10 TIME MORE POWERFUL

The lyrics, the vocals, the emotion!!!! It was the perfect display of the socs feelings

Tbh the only good thing about the current Hopeless War is Emma’s amazing vocals

The Randy singing is amazing and the lyrics make so much more sense and the way Cherry and Randy sing together. AND they start closing in on Pony who is having his own little breakdown

It’s just so efhnio3dk-Dinh oft4mwmofpinutdrhevryu-9ihoenuonne

It makes me so angry that they cut Randy and his amazing actor

[twopoppies]

Would you have a rolling stone subscription or any of your followers please? https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/american-idol-lgbtq-contestants-1235027350/

It doesn't seem to be behind any sort of paywall for me, but I tend tp be cautious when reposting entire articles because blogs have been taken down for it before. Here's most of the worst of it, though. DM me if you want more and can't access it.

Travis wasn’t aware that he couldn’t carry a tune until his audition aired on TV a year later, in January 2006. Seated in the living room of the same halfway-house counselor who had driven him to the audition, he thought to himself, “God, I do suck.” But the realization was too late. His phone was already being blitzed with calls, first check-ins from friends and family members and then requests for interviews with People and Us Weekly. Soon after, Travis says the LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD (which did not respond to a request for comment on this story) telephoned with the offer of taking action against Idol on his behalf. He thought to himself, “What the fuck did I just do?”

The public reaction to Travis’ off-key rendition of Whitney Houston’s 1993 single “Queen of the Night” is perhaps most succinctly summed up by the title of a YouTube video of the tryout: “American Idol Audition Boy or Girl.” Travis wore bell-bottom jeans in a feminine cut and a white tank top to his audition, pulling his wavy blonde hair behind his ears. Simon Cowell, infamously the harshest critic among the show’s original trio of judges, appeared horrified by the sight of Travis, his mouth agape. After Randy Jackson, the panel’s swing vote, kicked things off by asking the contestant to say “something interesting” about himself, Cowell asked, “That’s necessary, is it?” Cowell proceeded to stop Travis in the middle of his performance, which he called “confused.”

Travis has come a long way since Idol. After pivoting to a successful career in gay porn under the name Kirk Cummings, he retired from the adult entertainment industry and now works as a dog groomer, a profession he finds peaceful. But even 19 years later, he finds the footage of his audition tough to watch. As he left the studio in tears, editors added the theme music to The Crying Game, the 1992 film that uses the sight of a trans woman’s body to shock viewers. Today, Travis presents as male and uses masculine pronouns, but at the time of his audition, he had hoped to someday transition. He even had his new name picked out: Kelly. When he was incarcerated, others would try to dissuade him from pursuing a future as a trans person by telling him that it’s a “really hard life,” and Idol seemed to prove them all right. 

“I thought, ‘Wow, if this is how my life’s going to be, then I don’t want any part of it,’” he says. “My experience is not the normal experience of a trans person, but because I had chosen to be on a television show, I saw the worst of it.”

Open cruelty is no longer part of the Idol brand, now that the show is in its second run on ABC after Fox canceled the long-running program in 2015. The series, like much of contemporary reality TV, now trades on positivity, and the annual tradition of airing bad auditions has long been discontinued. But during the height of its popularity in the 2000s, schadenfreude was a major part of the show’s appeal. While launching the careers of instant household names like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, Idol was also the show where tens of millions of viewers watched Cowell tell Season Three contestant Heather Piccinini that she’s “ugly” when she sings and belittle Season Five’s Crystal Parizanski for overtanning; he even pulled Parizanski’s mother into the room to humiliate the contestant further. The show’s June 2002 premiere, in which Cowell advised a young woman to sue her vocal coach, made it clear what Idol would be selling.

That feed-them-to-the-lions approach made Idol the number-one program on TV six years running, the longest stretch at the top in broadcast history — but the show tended to prey on its most vulnerable contestants, perhaps unwittingly. Idol producers were forced to issue an apology after Cowell compared Season Six hopeful Kenneth Briggs, who has facial malformations due to Aarskog Syndrome, to a “bush baby.” Season Five’s Paula Goodspeed took her own life outside judge Paula Abdul’s home in 2008 after Cowell criticized the contestant’s metal braces following a performance of the Creedence Clearwater Revival/Ike and Tina Turner standard “Proud Mary.” Goodspeed was reportedly an obsessive stalker who changed her given name in tribute to Abdul, and the contest judge publicly criticized Idol’s producers for not doing more to protect her, saying she alerted them to Goodspeed’s behavior prior to the audition. (A spokesperson for the show did not comment on Abdul’s accusation at the time.)

Among those most targeted by Idol’s alleged abuses were anyone who was outside of the norm, as defined by the extremely narrow standards of Bush-era popular culture. This often included contestants who were experiencing mental health issues, individuals with disabilities, people of color, and plus-size singers like the late Mandisa Huntley, the Season Five contestant of whom Cowell infamously asked: “Do we have a bigger stage this year?” But Idol enjoyed a particularly contentious relationship with the queer contestants who hoped that the series would offer their big break into an unforgiving industry, many of whom had only started to come to an understanding of their LGBTQ+ identities. In another exchange condemned by GLAAD, Cowell told Travis’ fellow Season Five hopeful Charles Berry, who now is an out gay man, to shave off his beard and “wear a dress,” saying that he would make a “great female impersonator.”

Keith Beukelaer, whom Cowell famously called “the worst singer in the world,” knew immediately after his Season Two audition that it would end up being broadcast. “It’s something that I don’t know if I ever fully recovered from,” he says. “I remember it as if it was yesterday.” A devoted Madonna fan, he performed “Like a Virgin” in a green mock-turtleneck sweater, gyrating his body in sync with the song’s suggestive lyrics. Beukelaer has come to understand himself as having Asperger’s Syndrome, although he didn’t have the language for it at the time, and he came out as gay a few years after appearing on the program. He still struggles with the notoriety that his brief appearance on Idol brought, the decades of mockery that followed six minutes of air time.

Cowell did not return multiple requests for comment for this story. Neither did Jackson, longtime host Ryan Seacrest, or Idol creator Simon Fuller — who based the show off his own U.K. series Pop Idol, which aired from 2001 to 2003. But a source close to the production, who requested not to be named in this story, defended the show by affirming that “every single person who came on Idol, whatever their race, color, creed, or sexual preferences, was placed squarely in the firing line for Simon’s barbed critiques.”

[...]

What was a queer paradise for some, however, was a nightmare for others. Of those who spoke on the record, many say that Idol effectively forced them into the closet, and they believe it’s because the show was fearful that an openly queer contestant would alienate the show’s largely conservative viewership.

[...]

There was no rule saying that queer contestants couldn’t discuss their personal lives, but some singers say that Idol made it clear that some things were best kept secret. R.J. Helton, who uses they/them pronouns, went back into the closet and started dating a woman before they auditioned for Idol’s first season, hoping to make their family happy. Helton’s parents always envisioned that they would become a pastor or a Christian music artist, and when Helton’s boy band, the Soul Focus, went their separate ways, competing on Idol felt like a logical next step. Having recently broken things off with their fiancée, not wanting to live a lie, Helton began seeing their Idol stand-in during the season. Although they kept the romance a secret from producers, Helton says the other contestants knew. “None of them cared,” they say. “It was the first time that I felt accepted by a group of people.”

Idol producers never found out about the relationship, but the stakes were nonetheless made clear when executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, the show’s most influential creative voice, pulled Helton aside after seeing them exchange a friendly peck on the cheek with a male member of the crew. “Listen, we love you,” Helton says the producer told them. “We think you’re great, but let’s continue on the sweet side, with the Christian boy thing.” In their on-camera interviews and stage performances, Helton says they tried to tone down their natural ebullience, “butching it up” and staying as quiet as possible. A team of publicists, they recall, followed Helton everywhere “because they didn’t want me to break character.” 

In an email to Rolling Stone, Lythgoe asserts that he “never stopped any contestant from coming out” and says he “never would have done so.” “I did work with a number of individuals who, sadly, were struggling with issues around coming out, and I provided feedback that was very common at the time: that they should let their talent do the talking and not allow others to denigrate them based on their personal lives,” he says. “If anyone was hurt by my advice on those issues, I can only apologize, but I only ever wanted to help and support the wonderful young people who competed on the first seasons of Idol, several of whom, tragically, were torn between a desire to live their truth openly and a great fear about how they would be treated on returning home by their families, by their communities, and even by God.”

Helton, now with the clarity of hindsight, wishes they’d had the confidence to present their full self to America. After being dropped from their record label following a 2006 interview in which they came out as gay, Helton recently came to the realization of their nonbinary identity. “I know it was a different generation, but there are parts of me that think: ‘If I could have worn a gorgeous evening gown with a full beard, I could have won,’” Helton says. When producers would tap them on the shoulder to remind them, “Hey, we don’t talk about this,” it made Helton scared of losing the only affirmation they’d ever had. “As a young person, that really plays with your psyche, especially when you’re not used to the spotlight, loads of fans, or the money. You just do what you’re told. I don’t know if that’s selling your soul to the devil, but it did feel like that. They lifted me up, put me on a pedestal, and told me that the pedestal will only be there as long as I play this part.”

Helton’s fellow Season One cast member Jim Verraros has spent years in therapy working to unlearn many of the unfortunate lessons he says Idol taught him, namely that it wasn’t OK to be himself. That education began with the Pygmalion-esque makeover given to the show’s aspiring superstars: Idol immediately traded in his nerdy aesthetic — wiry glasses and jean jackets with the collar popped — for a generic rock look, sleeveless vests with leather cuff bracelets. He got contacts, lowered his voice half an octave, and put away what he calls the “theatrical and stage part of me that comes also from having deaf parents and being expressive.” “It comes at a cost,” he says. “When you’re told that you aren’t enough — or that this version of you doesn’t work — you spend a big part of your life taking parts away from you so that you can achieve those dreams.”

Although Verraros made the Top 10 of his season, he struggled with the role created for him, and the miscasting of a nebbishy gay Midwestern boy as a conservative-friendly heartthrob led to friction with the show’s creative team. Former co-host Brian Dunkleman, who emceed Idol’s first season alongside Ryan Seacrest, says he overheard Cowell and Randy Jackson discussing plans to directly target Verraros, hoping to get a strong reaction out of him that they could film. “We’re gonna nail Jim,” he recalls the judges saying as they were having coffee in an Idol break room. Cowell tended to reserve his harshest critiques of the show’s inaugural cast for Verraros, and following that discussion, he told the contestant live on air, “I think if you win this competition, we would have failed.”

Idol did get the emotional reaction it sought from Verraros in a scene that ultimately landed on the cutting-room floor. Prior to the announcement of the season’s Top 10 finalists, Dunkleman says that Cowell informed the contestants they would be using the “judges’ veto” to oust one of them from the show. “Jim, you’re out of the competition,” Cowell told Verraros, prompting the young singer to burst into tears. (That’s when Dunkleman recalls that Lythgoe came over and instructed everyone to sing a modified version of the Monkees’ “Daydream Believer” to brighten Verraros’ spirits. “Cheer up, sleepy Jim,” fellow contestants sang together in unison.) For reasons that are unclear, Lythgoe opted to backtrack on the judges’ decision, Dunkleman says, allowing Verraros to move forward to the next round after all. “Later that night, I was at dinner and I got a pretty frantic message from Nigel saying, ‘Look, there’s been a change. Jim is back in the competition. Just please don’t tell anybody about anything that happened today,’” Dunkleman remembers. “And then the next night he made the Top 10.”

Those incidents, Dunkleman adds, played a major role in his decision to part ways with Idol, calling the program “evil.” He also recalls that a judging panel needed to be refilmed so Cowell could call Helton a “loser” instead of a “monkey.” “That’s what it was,” he says of Idol. “It was about how mean they were. It was about how shocking this was and how much they were making fun of these singers.” He isn’t sure, though, why the show singled Helton and Verraros out in particular. “Is it conscious targeting or is it subconscious? That kind of undertone, maybe they weren’t even aware of it.”

[...]

AMERICAN IDOL often strained to fit queer contestants into an instantly recognizable mold that producers could market for the widest possible audience. Simon Cowell declared that he would quit the program if Sanjaya Malakar, an affable Season Six hopeful with a perpetual smile, won the competition. Malakar, who is half Bengali and performed with the Hawaii Children’s Theater during his time living in Kauai, was unlike any singer the show had ever seen. He was earnest and goofy, striding up to the judges’ table to dance with Paula Abdul during a performance of Irving Berlin’s “Cheek to Cheek.” He also straddled the lines of gender, flat-ironing his chameleonic locks for a winsome cover of John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World To Change.” After weeks of all but begging viewers to vote Malakar off the show, Cowell commented regarding the latter song: “Maybe it’s your hair that’s keeping you in. I don’t know.”

Malakar came out as bisexual many years after Idol was over, finding himself after taking a job at a karaoke bar in New York where he found freedom in anonymity. What was hardest for Malakar to navigate, he says, was not the constant scrutiny from Idol’s judges but the vitriolic reaction from fans. A MySpace blogger vowed to stop eating until Malakar was sent home, although the contestant outlasted the hunger strike, which ceased after 16 days. The website Vote for the Worst, which urged fans to subvert the Idol system by keeping on its quirkiest and most divisive contestants, took up Malakar as a personal cause.

Looking back, Malakar believes that it’s the ambiguity of how he presented that bothered people so much. The judges and viewers just couldn’t figure him out because, as a 17-year-old kid who hadn’t graduated high school yet, he hadn’t figured himself out. “There was no way to really understand how to define me,” he says. “They didn’t know what culture I was. They didn’t know what sexuality I was. They didn’t know what genre I was. I was this anomaly that made people uncomfortable.”

The queer singers who had the most painful time being reshaped by the Idol system were those who stood out the most, whether they were flamboyant and over-the-top in their performance style, like Malakar, or their gender presentation skewed toward the effeminate. Season Eight runner-up Adam Lambert — who declined to speak for this story, citing his shooting schedule for The Voice Australia, on which he is a judge — has said that queer contestants who didn’t have the ability to hide were used by Idol as “comic relief.” “Anytime someone came on the show that was perceived to be gay or it was obvious enough that they were gay, they were a joke,” he remarked to the British music magazine NME in a 2018 interview. He added: “To be fair, some of them weren’t great singers, but there were a couple of really good singers that came on. And they weren’t taken seriously.”

To illustrate his point, Lambert noted the example of Adore Delano from Seasons Six and Seven, who would later contend on the reality competition show RuPaul’s Drag Race. Delano declined to participate in this story, but in a 2023 Instagram video publicly announcing her transition, she said that she went back into the closet to compete on Idol. Appearing on the show led her to suppress her transness in order to present herself as “something that was so uncomfortable,” she recalled. And yet her effervescent femininity couldn’t be contained: During her second appearance on Idol, she performed a sassy rendition of “Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley that Cowell deemed “hideous” and “verging on the grotesque.” Delano was ultimately eliminated from the Top 16 after a performance of Soft Cell’s queer anthem “Tainted Love” that Cowell declared “absolutely useless.” She dyed her silky hair purple for the number.

Like Delano, Atlas Marshall auditioned for Idol twice, making it to the Top 36 in Season Eight and then trying out again for Season 16. Both experiences were extremely fraught. Following a performance of Meat Loaf’s “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” during her first appearance on the show, Cowell looked at Marshall and remarked, “I think you probably would.” Even as a guileless 18-year-old with frosted emo bangs and angel-bite piercings, Marshall realized it was a “loaded comment.” “The joke around that song is that it’s about anal sex,” she says. After the audience booed Cowell’s remark, Ryan Seacrest, then the show’s sole emcee, invited Marshall to come sit on the judge’s lap, but Paula Abdul intervened and beckoned the contestant to rest on hers instead. Marshall was voted off Idol the next day.

[...] Marshall’s mother, who recently passed away, was a lesbian, and she raised her child in a queer household where it was OK to be “open, flamboyant, and fabulous,” as Marshall recalls. Being taught by Idol that the outside world might mock the parts of herself she was taught to embrace was a rude awakening. “For so long, there was a lot of shame around it,” she says of her first Idol experience. “I felt gross. I didn’t like myself.”

[...]

While the team behind Idol’s current iteration did not offer a comment on the record, the source close to the Fox production contests the idea that the show stopped contestants from expressing their most authentic selves, while adding that “coming out might have damaged certain contestants’ chances for success.” “No one ever prevented anyone from doing so, but there was often a sense — right or wrong — that it would be better if the American public’s vote was based more on their judgment about the performers’ talent rather than their sexual orientations,” the source says.

[...]

Although it would feel convenient to point the finger solely at Idol, the show at its peak reflected America’s culture as much as it defined it. When the series premiered in 2002, polling from Gallup showed that 43 percent of the U.S. populace still thought homosexuality should be illegal; Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court ruling that struck down sodomy laws in the 14 states where gay sex was still illegal, wouldn’t be issued for another year. A majority of Americans wouldn’t support the right of same-sex couples to marry until 2011, during Idol’s tenth season on the air. That was also, coincidentally, the first season not to feature either Paula Abdul or Simon Cowell on the judges panel. Abdul, hailed by sources as a major supporter of queer contestants behind the scenes, parted ways with the program after Season Eight. Cowell left the following year to launch the U.S. spinoff of The X Factor, the British singing competition he created in 2004.

[...]

For all the troubles that some queer contestants say they had on the show, many argue that Idol’s missteps paled in comparison to how cruelly they were treated by the rest of the media, the music industry, and even America at large. Idol voters eliminated Season Seven’s David Hernandez the week after an Associated Press story revealed that he had previously worked as a dancer at a Arizona strip club that catered to a “mostly male” clientele. By that time, photos that allegedly showed Hernandez bartending at a gay nightclub had already been published on Vote for the Worst, although Hernandez says the pictures weren’t even of him. He says that Idol was already well aware of his work history by the time the reports surfaced, as he disclosed the information in the extensive questionnaire the show required contestants to complete; spanning over 100 pages in length, it also asked singers to name their past sexual and romantic partners.

[...]

The media persecution of queer Idol contestants was so de rigueur during the show’s imperial era that few even questioned it. Jim Verraros’ coming out in 2002 prompted a two-page spread in the Globe, a U.S. supermarket tabloid, asking: “Who’s Next?” Chatter surrounding Adam Lambert’s sexuality made the New York Times after photos circulated of the singer, eyes covered in makeup and glitter all over his face, locking lips with another man. Following the Season Two finale, Clay Aiken says that the first question that he was ever asked by a reporter was: “Are you gay?” He wouldn’t formally come out until a 2008 People magazine cover story coinciding with the birth of his son, and for years, he says, confirmation of his sexual orientation “was the only thing that anybody in the press wanted” from him. “I never did an interview where somebody was not trying to ask me if I was gay,” he says, later adding: “Everybody wanted to be the one who got it.”

Aiken says that speculation regarding his sexuality reached such a fever pitch that, for a time, he stopped leaving his house. Even then, there was no hiding from it: “If I heard anybody setting up a gay joke on a sitcom or a late-night show, I held my breath because I knew my name was coming. Eighty percent of the time I was right.” The topic was a frequent punchline of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who frequently booked Aiken to appear on his show, and comedian Kathy Griffin spent a full 15 minutes discussing Aiken’s sexuality in a 2005 stand-up special on Bravo. “I do find him to allegedly be the gayest man in the free world,” she said in the routine, calling him “Gayken” to hearty applause from the crowd. Even two years after he had actually come out, a Season Eight episode of Family Guy saw Stewie, during a parody of Family Feud, being asked to name a “popular fruit” and responding: “Clay Aiken.” “I laugh at them now,” he says of the jokes, noting that he calls Griffin a friend. “I find them hilarious now, but at the time, it hurt a lot.”

Full article here

[now-and-4ever]

OLBA Week Day 3 - Poppy

Hosted by @olba-week-event

Set during Step 3

Cove, Jamie, Terri, and Miranda were spending the afternoon together. They didn't have any real plans, but their wanderings brought them to the poppy hill behind Jamie's house. This was a special place for Cove and Jamie, but for Terri and Miranda it was brand new.

"Whew! You two sure are lucky!" said Terri, "There's nothing like this in the city." She flopped down on her back and enjoyed the feeling of the grass and flowers. Only a few seconds later she had another thought. "Hey, have you two ever done that thing where you roll down a big hill like you're a log?"

"We have," said Jamie, "Back when we were kids Liz would want to make races out of it."

That got Terri to shoot up. "A race, eh? Think you would be game for that now?"

Terri's friends chuckled and Jamie said, "Why not? You're on! Cove? Randy? You in?"

Cove mused over it for just a second before agreeing, "Like you said, why not?"

Miranda held up a hand, "I think I'll sit this one out. Maybe I could be the judge?"

Cove nodded, "I'm glad you're volunteering. When I first got here I was forced to be judge every time."

Jamie put a hand on Cove's shoulder, "Liz could be so cruel." They took their hat off and handed it to Miranda. "Can you hold on to this, for me? I don't want it falling off while we roll." Miranda gladly took it.

"Look at you, Randy. You're a real race officiant with a flag and everything," joked Terri. That got Miranda to laugh out loud.

Miranda took up an air of seriousness and said, "Positions, racers!" Terri, Cove, and Jamie followed her orders and laid down on their sides in a row. "On your marks, get set, go!" Miranda did end up waving Jamie's hat like a flag to start the race.

The three combatants started rolling down the hill. It was a close race and over far too quickly. What was once a true grand prix to the younger Jamie and Cove was now a brief sprint. It seemed like every part of Sunset Bird was smaller these days. Randy ran down the hill to meet her friends and give them the results.

"The winner is Cove!" announced Miranda.

Terri observed Cove carefully. "Cove's the heaviest out of the three of us. Is that the secret? Or maybe it's aerodynamics! If I let my hair down would that improve my chances?"

"Do you mean to say you're ready for round two?" asked Jamie.

"You know I am!" exclaimed Terri.

The group of friends spent the rest of the afternoon goofing off on the poppy hill. Wins were traded back and forth as they put too much effort into determining what is needed to be the best hill racer. The atmosphere proved infectious as even Miranda joined a few races despite her earlier hesitation. Overall, it was a great way to end the day with friends and laughter in a very special place.

[dalekofchaos]

My alternate Ghostfaces

Did a post like this before, but thought I'd go more in depth.

Scream 1. I would never trade Billy and Stu for the world, but I do have some scenarios.

Randy and Tatum.

Randy Meeks' motive: He's obsessed with horror movies and was in love with but Sidney wasn't in him. He wanted to make Sidney suffer and get revenge. Also he was planning to blame Billy and Stu.

Tatum Riley's motive:She just wants to kill her cheating boyfriend and all the girls he slept with and to her NO ONE is good enough for Sidney. She doesn't want to kill Sidney, she wants her all to herself. aka Yandere Tatum.

Scream 2.

Nancy is the mastermind. Murphy and Lois the sorority sisters are the people who get their hands dirty. They were OBSESSED with Sidney in all their scenes and they did nothing with them. Their motives would be wanting the famous Sidney Prescott in their Sorority House and for her to die in their Sorority House.

Scream 3.

Dewey as the mastermind or Milton as the mastermind and Roman and Angelina as the killers.

The old Dewey was Ghostface fan theory.

Obviously this never happened and Roman was the third Ghostface and the mastermind. But imagine if this did happen.

So let's create a motive.

Dewey was unhealthily obsessed with Sidney. He was the third killer during Billy and Stu's murders. He tied up loose ends and stalked Sidney. He was tired of being the town laughingstock and tired of being the butt of Tatum's jokes. So he convinced Billy and Stu to help him. They'd become infamous, while Dewey would be seen as the hero and get the girl he always wanted, but that never happened. If he can't have SIdney, no one can. Jennifer was someone that Gale fucked over to get the Woodsboro gig. It was supposed to be hers. Gale took everything from her and she wanted revenge. So Dewey and Jennifer come together and enact their plan.

So here's my little pitch for the Milton story,

Milton is the mastermind. He essentially wants to tie up loose ends. If the story of Maureen gets out, his studio and the Stab franchise is finished. So Milton decides to use his son Roman and his new actress for Sidney to kill all ties to Maureen Prescott, finally ending with Sidney's death. Roman's motive remains the same and Angelina's motive is her cut motive was her being obsessed with Sidney, taking the role of Sidney and wanting to become Sidney.

So I thought of giving Roman a redemption arc. Milton keeping Roman in the dark about how he raped Maureen and when Sidney tells him, Roman is conflicted. Sidney kills Angelina and then Milton has Sidney where he wants her and remarks. That this is like when he took her mother and before anything gross can happen, Roman shoots him dead.

Roman turns himself in and down the line Roman would be the key to helping them in future Ghostface cases while also having Sidney and Roman grow closer as real siblings, almost akin to what Sam and Tara are. Speaking of. Roman could've been what Sam and Tara needed. He knows what they're going through, that inner darkness and especially being related to a monster. He could've also helped resolve any issues between the sisters.

Scream 4.

Jill and Rebecca Walters.

Jill's motive remains the same.

Rebecca’s motivation would be she wants a juicer and more willing victim star to sell out and make significantly more bank while possibly cashing in herself with her story of being “close” to Sidney and the heart break of losing her.

To Jill Rebecca is the mother she never had and the perfect agent any star could ever have. To Rebecca, Jill is the daughter she always wanted and someone who could easily replace Sidney.

Imagine this. She brings Sidney back to Woodsboro. She’s a shady publicist and her motive is to make a profit off of Sidney’s death and make Jill into the perfect victim that will make them both famous.

Now we could have Charlie or even Trevor as killers just to give us 4 killers since Scream 4 lol Jill strings them along, Charlie is obsessed with Jill while Trevor is doing this to be forgiven for cheating. Charlie and Trevor kills the teens while Rebecca kills the heavy adults. In the end Rebecca and Jill kills them and frames them as the killers. Jill would do her self-injury while Rebecca would rush out the door as the screaming witness telling everyone what happened.

Jill doesn’t kill Rebecca. When Jill learns that Sidney survived. Rebecca insists that she lets her handle this.

Much of the same happens but with Rebecca in the Jill in the hospital role. When Sidney hits her with the MRI Sidney says “Rebecca, you’re fired”

The final scene would be for Sidney, Gale and Dewey coming for Jill. Only to see that the bed is empty. Jill is on the run with a promise that she could return to hunt Sidney.

Scream 5. Three scenarios. Either Vince Schneider and Amber, Judy & Wes Hicks or Tara and Amber

Vince and Amber.

Vince's Motive. Embracing his uncle’s legacy and attempting to turn Sam into his partner for her to embrace her father’s legacy. This time, the Macher is the mastermind and groomed Amber to be his partner like Richie did. Amber's motive remains the same.

Making Vince the mastermind could have added an extra layer onto the lambasting of toxic fandom.

Like, Amber could still have 100% been the toxic fan, but you could add on a commentary about how her being as entitled and angry as she was about the Stab movies not doing exactly what she wanted was what allowed Vince to take advantage and groom her into doing what he wanted.

Which is what Richie did too, but adding in a little twist that Vince didn’t actually give a fuck about the Stab movies would have been a nice bit of frosting on top of things.

Sort of like what Mrs Loomis did with Mickey, with how truly terrible people can and do manipulate impressionable kids into doing horrendous things.

The one thing I would change is I would save Dewey’s death for Scream 6 and the big death would be Richie is killed instead of Dewey. We get one moment of Sidney, Dewey and Gale together. Dewey is with the Carpenter sisters. The Vince reveal happens and Vince mortally wounds/knocks Dewey out. Sid & Gale kill Amber while Sam kills Vince.

And Scream 6, same movie but the motives is Ethan and Quinn are Vince’s siblings and Bailey is Vince’s father and we see one more Ghostface, Leslie Macher and it’s the Macher’s revenge against the Carpenters.

And as for Dewey’s death in Scream 6. Bailey kills Dewey. I feel like one cop killing the other would’ve worked better, especially since Bailey is a dark reflection of Dewey.

Judy and Wes Hicks

In Scream 4, we were introduced to Judy. Judy had a past with Sidney back in Woodsboro High. Something about Judy, always seemed off to me. But you know who also had a past with SIdney? Angelina and her cut plotline was Roman’s partner. So imagine this. Richie isn’t the killer, and Amber isn’t the killer. It’s the mother-son duo of Judy and Wes.

Motive. What would their motive be?

Judy is the one who was in love with Billy and wants revenge on Sidney for taking him away. You could still have Sam as Billy’s daughter, because let’s face it that boy was a slut.

Wes could be the second Ghostface instead of Amber. I read a reddit post that suggested that Wes was a bit obsessed with Tara, let’s work with that. Wes is a psycho stalker killing everyone close to Tara so he can have her for himself and plans to blame it all on Sam. Judy killed Dewey to lure out SIdney and Gale after Wes’ killings were not working.

Sidney and Gale kill Judy together while Sam and Tara kills Wes together

Sidenote. If Amber isn’t the killer. She could either sacrifice herself to save Tara or live, the choice is up to you. But if she lives, we get the Core Five!

As for what happens in Scream 6, this video had this idea of Jason being this True Crime esque killer, so yeah do that instead of Richie’s family.

Tara and Amber.

Amber’s motive is a mix of her original motive and Richie’s motive mixed into one. . Tara’s motive would be Sam left her. Her father left her. Her mother is the town pariah who constantly leaves her for work, Wes was obsessed with her and the only guy she liked was stolen from her. Her life was shit and it started the moment that Sam left her. All she had was Amber. They became best friends, shared their love of horror and became girlfriends.

See the rest of my Tamber au for more

Scream 6. Either go with Jason and Greg or even better. Make Sam and Tara the killers.

Jason and Greg was the most interesting thing about Scream 6, SO OF COURSE THEY KILLED THEM IN THE BEGINNING AND REPLACING A TRUE CRIME GHOSTFACE STORY FOR REDOING SCREAM 2, BECAUSE OF FUCKING COURSE! Yeah, I am STILL pissed about Jason, Greg and the Woodsboro subreddit's lost potential.

Sam and Tara.

Fuck it. Melissa wanted to do it and Jenna can do evil good!

Imagine all the attacks on Sam's character and Sam being framed for Richie's murders are all a result of Gale's book. Gale changed the actual story because it would sell more. So Sam decides to get revenge.

Sam does the New York murders and believes she's alone. She's not. Tara is there to make sure Sam succeeds. What Sam and Tara do not realize is their friends are helping them. Mindy helps cover their tracks and Chad is the muscle.

Yes The Core Four are the Ghostfaces in this alternate Scream 6.

One by one Gale's life falls apart. The lies and slander are revealed to all. Sidney outright abandons her and refuses to talk to her. Kirby refuses to help her. "You made your own bed, you're on your own, Gale." And anyone that could possibly help her is dead.

Gale is alone in the Ghostface shrine to confront the consequences of her actions and the monster she created.

One by one, the four of them corner her and then they all mask off.

Sam wears Billy's mask

Tara wears Amber's mask

Mindy wears Jill's mask

Chad wear's Mickey's mask

"You had to know this was coming Gale. All you had to do was write that book about Dewey, but no, you couldn't let Ghostface go, could you? You had to destroy our lives and now you'll pay for it and all the lives you profited off of."

Sam and Tara draw their knife and gut Gale.

They pinned the blame on Quinn Bailey and Ethan Landry.

[destiny-in-the-universe]

I have ideas. Fuck

I honestly just wanted to talk about two different alternate universes I've come up with and genuinely, I can't get enough of it right now- but because I've barely talked about one of these, I figured this would be a fun way to continue! (and the other one's new, but we're going to talk about it anyway-)

Fair warning! This post is going to get a bit long!

Internverse / Intern! Randy

So, for anyone who isn't already aware of this idea- it follows an alternate take on canon because why the fuck not, where Viceroy enacts a new plan to capture the Ninja. The plan is to use an internship program in order to have one of the students reveal the Ninja's identity- as Randy's poor luck would have it, he is accepted as an intern by almost cartoon logic (except for the fact he does know math and excels in it-). Unfortunately for him, he has to ride out the internship or risk revealing himself to McFist and Viceroy- at some point, things start connecting and we'll see what happens after that!

This is the most lighthearted it will ever get with my AU's (although this one was inspired from another creator!), because even my MLP AU is an angsty little bitch

The deal with intern! Randy is it's mostly my excuse to explore on a slightly more serious but fairly tame and soft outlook on the series- also because McFist and Viceroy should've had more screen-time with Randy as a civilian, it's just fucking hilarious to me- (and yk, mentor-mentee type thing with Viceroy, no I will not explain /lh). I feel this au might honestly be an actual identity reveal since neither McFist and Viceroy know he's a teenager (like yes they technically know in canon, but also this is my fic and what i say goes /lh).

Though, I'm going to cover an arrangement of headcanons and general infodumping for intern! Randy because now I'm hooked, oopsie lmao

Randy is a math prodigy! Does this have any true canon basis to it? No- but I'm going to write it anyway hahah, also just- you can't tell me he isn't extremely talented in music (though that's not as relevant)

His parents are extremely absent in his life- he has issues with other people trying to parent him because of this. In his eyes, they're going to leave him eventually except for the Weinerman's, they're practically family but he's also worried about being a constant nusiance

In no way do McFist and Viceroy know that the Ninja is a teenager- Viceroy's the only one who has made the connection that the Ninja likely changes but hasn't quite reached the thought of them being a teenager because that would be ridiculous

Howard isn't a very used character in this, but he still appears nonetheless- he's not an easy character for me to write, but unfortunately my tengu! Howard fic doesn't really count hahaha

McFist and Viceroy have Something going on but it's not romantic! Unless McFist wasn't married to Marci- then that's another can of worms, but we're not doing that here

Bash and Randy might honestly become friends because I said so,

I like to think the Sorcerer isn't a heavily major character in this, and simply stays in the background- not because he got defeated, but genuinely I just don't consider him important. I don't think he'd notice anything strange about Randy either

Randy is inattentive ADHD! I also have ADHD and so, he will be written with my mannerisms more than likely- one of his hyperfixations is video games and I'm still trying to decide what the other is. He also has RSD for ahems- reasons, you will find out why soon!

Randy is going to be staying at the manor with the McFist family because well, why not-

And then we have the new au! It doesn't currently have a name- other than the fact it's literally just an age/role-swap AU!

More specifically, we have a switch between Randy and Finja, as well as "Plop Plop"/Hinata and Howard- it's been done before I think, but honestly I'm hopping on the train as well!

General Role Swap Infodump

Randy and the First Ninja trade places (obviously-). Randy's clan fought monsters in general, yokai who were a threat to Norrisville and other lands- until the Sorcerer came into being. In the end, Randy was the last one standing - forced to bear witness to what was a literal massacre killing of his entire clan - and decided he would find a way to trap the Sorcerer into a prison of his own design. With the help of a magical artifact, he did manage to do this. A few years went by and he continued protecting Norrisville- until he was unfortunately cursed (or something, i haven't quite figured it out yet-) and bound to the Nomicon

On the other hand, we have the First Ninja (who's name is not being revealed yet-); set in a more modern timeline, debating if it's the same as Randy's or current time period- the First Ninja comes from quite a big family (he has eight siblings, but they're not all the same age!) and is attending Norrisville High School. He's kind of like a feral cat- he isn't too fond of making friends and the only one who puts up with his nonsense is Hinata, his best friend

Over the summer, First Ninja was chosen to be the Ninja- he manages to keep it hidden and unlike Randy, he doesn't go blabbing about it in his writing assignment. He takes his responsibility seriously, even if he isn't necessarily eager to have gotten the role

At first, he and Randy don't meet- it's either going to be an episode adjacent to the 13th Century Ninja, or it's going to be something entirely original! I honestly think Finja is likely skeptical of Randy's teaching methods but eventually they start bonding and things take an interesting turn after that

As for Howard, I don't think he's simply the guardian of the temple- He's bound to the tengu spirit and is quite literally immortal. He exists both within the Nomicon and outside of it, but he is essentially Attack Dog privileges. No, I will not explain right now-

Finja has extremely short patience. He's prone to sarcastic fits and would rather do Literally Anything Else, but he understands that the Nomicon chose him-

Uh, the Norisu clan run their own dojos and whatnot because I said so but like, with Finja's siblings- they've all mastered their own elements and due to self indulgent bullshit, I can elaborate more on this but in a separate post. Let's just say there's more to this AU, that's all I'm going to mention right now. I'm fixating hard and it is a problem

I don't have more to add for this AU right now- other than Hinata likely won't be controlled by the tengu? I'm not entirely sure right now because this idea might as well have come to me in a dream hahah

I hope you enjoyed! More will come eventually!

[sharpth1ng]

do you have any tatum or randy headcanons?

Lots! I’ve answered asks on some before so I’ll try to summarize those and add some new ones

Tatum:

Bisexual with a preference for women later in life because she finds most men annoying.

She’s into riot girls & other femme-fronted bands- think Bikini Kill, Garbage, and Hole

If she lived past 1996 she would become a fashion photographer or a fashion editor for a fashion magazine. She’s incredibly stylish but she also seems good at managing people

The stuffed animal on Sid’s bed (the one Billy picks up and plays with when her dad almost catches them in the movie) was a gift from Tatum. She won it for Sid at a fair

She’s known Sidney forever because their moms met before they were born.

Randy:

He was a Pokémon kid, I know this in my heart. He had a meticulous collection of trading cards in pristine condition that will be worth a whole bunch of money in 20 years. Edit: @devilledgreggs rightfully pointed out that Pokémon didn’t come out until 96, which makes Randy a Pokémon adult. Somehow this seems even more in character to me.

He’s got a fear of rats because of the mascot at Chuck-E-Cheese

He gets stupidly good at dance-dance revolution when it comes out, which is funny because he’s a terrible dancer when he’s not playing a video game (he isn’t actually a bad dancer, he just gets in his head about i)

I don’t mean to call the guy out but uhhhhhh… Autism (source: me and my own autism and also @lucidalcomings . We have concluded this.)

He and Billy have been in the same class together since kindergarten, and they never really got along although Stu sort of brought them together by being friends with both of them. He actually kind of likes talking to Billy about movies, not because he respects his opinions, but because Billy has almost always seen whatever obscure shit he’s talking about

I hope that scratched the itch anon!

[heimdallsbraids]

Blood of Mine | Ch. 2 (Heimdall x fem!reader)

Summary: Life is pretty simple. Survive the harsh conditions of Fimbulwinter in Midgard, trade with your dwarven friends in Svartalfheim and – avoid the shit out of Odin’s most loyal lapdog? If word reaches the All-Father about your blood-bending origins, you’re doomed… (Hints of Avatar: TLA, but not a crossover)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Profanity, mentions of death

Previous chapter | Next chapter

View on AO3

Chapter Two: The Offer

As much as you hated it, shivering underneath layers upon layers of clothing was becoming second nature to you as you slowly plodded your way across the frozen Lake of Nine with two freshly caught rabbits slung over your shoulder. It was a lot less than what you wanted – no, expected – from today’s hunt, but it’s not like you would’ve been able to hike a deer all the way back to camp without your sled.

Thanks to your father, he’d all but given it away to a couple of raiders during your last visit to Svartalfheim, ultimately leaving you with no form of transport around Midgard. No form of transport meant a hell of a lot more work for you to keep the trade afloat.

“Sure, Dad. Just donate the sled. I mean, why the Hel would we need that piece of crap anyway?” You mumbled under your breath. “Should’ve just stayed in Niðavellir and worked for Durlin full-time – perhaps toss a cup of mead in that stupid Aesir prick’s face the next time he visits.”

Several weeks had gone by since your unfortunate run-in with Heimdall in Svartalfheim, and you hadn’t been back since. Durlin had become mighty antsy that another event like that would happen and had all but forbade you to return so as to let it blow over. You attempted to voice your protest by visiting the realm the very next day, but you only made it a few steps out of the mystic gateway before you were shoved right back in and sent on your merry way. You understood why he was being this way, but it didn’t make it any less frustrating.

He was one of the only souls who knew your mother, Randi, personally before she died. She was a powerful Valkyrie who served under the former queen Freya many years ago before she was killed in the midst of battle - or so you'd been told. You were only young when it happened, but it left a gaping hole in your heart that could never quite be filled.

Frankly, to this day, you have no idea how your father managed to land someone like her, but here you are - and wielding a dangerous power thought to no longer exist, at that: blood-bending. An extremely rare power it was; the ability to control a person or being from within, to tear them down from the inside as if they were nothing but a clump of wet sand. As far as you knew, your mother didn’t harness those same powers but rather passed them down through a long line of descendants – and even that was difficult to get a grasp on.

Unfortunately, this paints a giant red target upon your back for power-hungry people like Odin. If he were to get his hands on you, especially during this fragile window before Ragnarök, you and many others were doomed.

Luckily, no one but a tight-knit group of family and friends – including Durlin and Lúnda – knew of your circumstance, having taken an oath the moment your mother discovered the power flowing within your veins. But that didn’t make it impossible to find out if one dug deep enough. Hence, why you are lying low in Midgard under the guise of being a simple, mortal tradeswoman. With a few dwarven friends, of course. Your Vanir roots were practically non-existent to those who didn’t know you, and that was just the way you liked it.

“Dad?” You called upon making it to the cave where your crew had set up camp. Waving to the few who noticed your arrival, you quickly headed to where your shared tent was. You called out once more, basking in the warm glow of the fire outside, “Hey, you in there?”

A groan of ‘mm in ‘ere,’ was your only confirmation before the retching sounds began.

You grimaced, “Ugh… when is this ever gonna stop?”

As expected, there was no response to your jab, only more retching. The soft part of you considered heading inside and comforting him with some water and a small serving of soup to regain his strength, but that thought was immediately snuffed out the second you laid today’s excuse for a hunt on the makeshift bench near the tent.

Gonna have to go hunting tomorrow, too, you grumbled inwardly.

You set to work skinning and preparing the rabbits for the camp cook. It should suffice for a couple of days’ worth of rations if everyone spaced it out, but they weren’t exactly on the large side, so you weren’t holding your breath. You were in the midst of fixing up a flask of fresh water when a familiar voice floated through the camp.

Shock coloured your features once you spotted the culprit, “Durlin?”

He looked relieved to see you as he marched past a handful of curious locals, ignoring their puzzled expressions. He never visited the camp. Hel, even Midgard was a rare outing for him these days, the dwarf all too happy to stay nice and cosy in his home realm.

“How’s Björn?” He asked, finally reaching your workstation.

“Throwing up.” Your lips formed a thin line. “Now, why are you really here?”

“Straight to the point, eh?” He muttered, looking around before voicing lowly, “Something’s come up. I need you to come back with me.”

You folded your arms across your chest, quirking a brow at him. “I thought I wasn’t permitted.”

“I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t… urgent.” He pressed, glancing around once again. Come to think of it, he did look more rattled than usual.

“It can’t wait?”

He shook his head.

“… Fine,” you conceded. “You’re lucky I like you.”

He anxiously waited as you readied yourself, choosing to poke his head inside the tent to greet your dad. Disgust was written over his face as you finished packing your things and left the meat with the cook. The trek to the mystic gate felt longer than usual, your short friend barely uttering a word as he ushered you in.

“Are you going to tell me what’s happening, or are we playing some sort of guessing game?” You asked, blinking rapidly as your eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight of Svartalfheim.

“There’s someone who wants to meet you.”

“You’re being awfully cryptic, you know?”

His expression remained grim as he led you straight to the southern docks, bypassing his home and the safety office. A tall figure stood with their back to you, all on their lonesome as they observed the calm blue waves lapping at the jetty. A dark brown cape with green and gold accents flowed over their shoulders, granting them a mysterious air of superiority. Upon hearing your footsteps, they turned around. It was an older man you didn’t recognise. With an eyepatch.

You glanced down to Durlin. "The Hel?"

He only shook his head.

The confusion on your face must’ve been clear as day because he regarded you with a light chuckle.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve asked to meet you. The name’s Odin.” It suddenly felt like a stone was lodged inside your throat. He continued, “Your friend here tells me you’re struggling to make a living. Something about your father?”

“Yep.” You responded, narrowed eyes never once leaving Durlin’s, even as he looked anywhere else but at you.

Odin sidled forward, placing a gentle hand on the dwarf’s shoulder. “Now, now, no need for the hostility. Durlin was simply worried for your wellbeing.”

“Sure,” you offered, finally regarding the taller man with a forced smile. “But I’ve managed this long on my own. I’m sure I can hold out a little longer.”

He chuckled once again, “Determined. I like that.”

He placed his hands on his hips, a tiny grin stretched across his lips as he regarded the water once again. You couldn’t help but stare. For some reason, you’d had a grander image of the God painted in your head. Perhaps taller? Less old-looking even though he had centuries upon centuries on you.

“I wanted to offer you a place working with my merchants in Asgard, perhaps expanding the trade when the time is right. I’ve heard you’re pretty nifty in the kitchen, too. Lord knows Gladsheim could use a little shake-up with the food.”

Your mouth fell open. Just how much has Durlin blabbed about you? Here you were, weeks with no communication whatsoever between the two of you, and now all of a sudden Odin himself was inviting you back to Asgard with him? As a chef, no less?

No… this is bad news. I’ve got to stay away from him. You eyed the dwarf beside you once again. I’m gonna have a stern chat with this little shit as soon as-

Your chaotic train of thought was interrupted. “Having doubts? To sweeten the deal, I’m more than happy to discuss a working wage – with enough to send home for your father, of course.”

He had you there. Money was a constant problem over recent years, what with your father draining most of it away on his pick of poison. That, and his lack of assistance with the trade certainly didn’t help either.

You mulled it over carefully. He didn’t seem to know who you were other than the fact that you were a struggling Midgardian with Durlin as a friend. Perhaps it couldn’t hurt to give it a try - if only to get you and your father out of the sticks?

“I’ll give it a shot.” You agreed, but before he could say anything else, you added, “On one condition.”

“You name it.”

“I, uh, I could do with some new clothes. Mine are kind of…” you trailed off, scratching at the back of your neck in embarrassment.

“Consider it done,” he smiled, reaching over to place an arm on your shoulders. “Shall we head off then?”

Durlin’s worried face was the last thing you saw before you were enveloped in a dark flurry of screeching ravens.

[gerogerigaogaigar]

Kanye West - Yeezus

I'm not here to review Kanye West's recent antics. If you want my opinions on him as a person then watch these videos by F.D Signifier they cover the situation extremely well.

https://youtu.be/wvgehVhF9D4

https://youtu.be/e7e5BFJa-Ug

Here we have the last good Kanye West album. It's not as good or as revolutionary as any of his previous, but it still shows why Ye was one of the absolute best in the business. The beats are very intense and the 8nduatrial.influence is obvious. Sample choices are fewer and farther between than the usual Ye record, but they are placed with precision. The sample of Nina Simone's version of Strange Fruit on Blood On The Leaves is chilling. Lyrically however it's clear the Ye is starting to fall off. For every prescient lyric about oppression there will be some bootstrappy bullshit accusing black people of having bad fashion sense (we get it no one wanted to buy your shoes and you're mad). Or worse lyrics that are just stupid, "I keep it 300 like the Romans" and "eatin' asian pussy all I need was sweet and sour sauce" are terribly embarrassing lines and you'll find something like them on about two thirds of the album. Still, if you go in with a solid understanding of where Ye was at this point in his career it's pretty easy to overlook the weaknesses and enjoy the stark intensity of Yeezus.

Randy Newman - Sail Away

Before he was known for Pixar films Randy Newman was known for biting left wing political satire. I know Tumblr is not known for appreciating or even remotely understanding satire, but imma give you all the benefit of the doubt. The album starts right off with the title track, which is sung as a sales pitch for the trans Atlantic slave trade, promising that "you'll sing about Jesus and drink wine all day" and ominously that "you're all gonna be an American". So that's how satire works, he says one thing but you are supposed to peek behind the words and see what kind of person he is describing that would frame the slave trade that way. Get it? Between songs praising the Cuyahoga river for repeatedly catching fire and claiming that, since everyone hates America anyway, there's no harm in nuking the rest of the world Newman does find time for sincerity. Old Man is a dead sincere ode to the passing of his father and Last Night I Had A Dream seems to be unirinically about the fear of being known by others. Newman's lyricism goes between being stark and funny and it highlights the fine line between comedy and tragedy.

Minutemen - Double Nickels On The Dime

One of the crown achievement in punk rock. This album is long and ambling with 40+ tracks that are usually just under two minutes. The album is actively hostile to the idea of taking this shit seriously. Nothing was left on the cutting room floor, every sketch of a song is recorded and included no matter how unfinished it seems and each side of the album starts with one of the band members revving their car engines. Some of it is distinctly punk like Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing, but then it's followed by a funk track that devolves into spoken word bits. The song Corona is just country. The album achieves coherence by trying to run as far away from it as possible. Of particular note is Mike Watt's bass playing which is often front and center and provides a very bubbly atmosphere to the album. Plus he is just a very good bassist.

The Beatles - Help!

The fab fucks are back! This time with an album that's actually kinda good. Help! is kind of a transitional record having mostly abandoned the rock n roll cover song laden early era, but not having fully embraced the somewhat more sophisticated writing style of the middle records. It's still very much crisp, simple guitar chords backing tight vocal harmonies as the song about girls and not much else. Sure the big hits Help!, Ticket To Ride, and Yesterday are great, but my faves are definitely Act Naturally and I've Just Seen A Face.

Pavement - Wowee Zowee

I'm calling bullshit because Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was already in this list so you can't include any further Pavement records because that's the best one. Wowee Zowee is also probably their weakest imo, not that it's bad but it's a 9 in a sea of 10s. Pavement lost their edge a bit on this one, it's still a collection of great songs but well Range Life is one of my favorite Pavement songs. That doesn't mean I want an entire album of Range Life.

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Pink Floyd is a band that was no stranger to personnel changes. Syd Barrett was the original frontman of the group and left in 68 due to mental health issues. Wish You Were Here is the band's ode to their lost member. David Gilmour's sweeping guitar work perfectly encapsulates the feeling of loss and alienation. It's dreamlike, as if it were a memory barely recollected. That guitar is what carries most of the album, the title track and all nine parts of Shine On You Crazy Diamond live in the spaces between Gilmour's note and Waters' lyrics which come together to eulogize their friend who is still alive but unrecognizable in his deteriorated state. It's weird and tragic, but I think it's beautiful that they made this whole album dedicated to just hoping that Syd could get some help.

[collymore]

Religion and Politics: A match made in Hell!

By Stanley Collymore

Jesus Christ as a person existed and his biological mother who was simply, both underage and pregnant was ostensibly engaged to a quite matured man who was distinctly considerably older than herself; a state of affairs that is a documented reality! But whether or not, Mary's own fiancé Joseph was really her child's putative   father, or literally and conspiratorially it was complicitly in essence, simply another man: an actual Divine figure as is generally stated, or simply and more pragmatically, just an ordinary randy, and obviously, earthly human being, depends really on whether or not you discernibly, unquestionably believe all the obviously unceasing plethora of evidently self-righteous and other fulsomely told stories of Mary, Joseph and obviously Jesus which are proselytized universally!

(C) Stanley V. Collymore 16 February 2024.

Author's Remarks: Unquestionably and effectively 2000 plus years ago those who preached and rather obviously practised Judaism, distinctively and passionately felt that the figure Jesus Christ was not only a dangerous traitor to Jews but likewise undoubtedly so a grave threat to their religion; and accordingly as such they distinctly and quite passionately hated him; quite indistinct from how their present day descendants rather intensely hate the Palestinians, and most ironically, seeing how avidly they financially milk the European holocaust, with all their skewed ranting about how the Germans wanted to eradicate them, conveniently ignoring the blatant facts that the victims of Europe's only holocaust - unlike multiple European ones carried out globally, clearly including the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which lasted for hundreds of years, and not actually the quite paltry 6 years, circa 1939-45, that the European one went on for; a Transatlantic Slave Trade Holocaust that was initiated in Barbados my ancestral homeland by Jews who profited immensely from it; Jews also as the well informed well know weren't the only victims of the European holocaust, as far more millions of Gypsies, the distinctly derogatorily referred to as the Rhineland Niggers - essentially mixed race French citizens - and other groups were also vilely slaughtered in Europe death camps. But I challenge you to guess or better still really research who are the only ones exclusively to undoubtedly garner the multiple billions not only distinctly from the German's post World War 2 compensation scheme known officially as the “Wiedergutmachung Compensation Scheme” but also ongoingly to this day as well from the USA.

Ongoing payments never mind the war did end in 1945. By your own account actually only 6 million - and literally a questionable figure at that - died, and the overwhelming majority of those survivors would actually have been pushing up daisies a long time ago. So who gets these billions, bearing in mind that survivors in the USA, Britain and even Israel itself are publicly on record that they aren't. But just as sickeningly, you've never actually campaigned for or with the other non-Yiddish and Zionist survivors of Europe's holocaust to be likewise granted any kind of compensation; and you rather asininely wonder why additionally having genocidally liquidated the Palestinians in their own homeland, which isn't and also will never be actually ever conscionably or globally regarded as yours, you do practise your own European - for that's quite clearly and precisely what you all are doing, with not a solitary drop of Semitic blood in your very incestuously inbred veins, and as the undoubtedly white Caucasian Europeans that you evidently and most categorically are; while rather ironically for the lot of you and in marked contrast the Palestinians are actually biologically Semites. For if you were genuinely Semitic you'd be plastering that information as you obviously do with everything else you involve yourselves with literally across the globe, clearly bearing in mind this is the 21st Century, and actually the era of the DNA.

So why then don't you? Because the answer is very obvious; you're effectively and certainly no more Semites than Jimmy Savile and essentially Jeffrey Epstein - your very own - were paragons of virtue themselves. So instead, you practise your own sickening Holocaust against the Palestinians and unmistakably just like the very equally racist Australians did with the indigenous Aborigines, you equally pretend also that Palestine was quite Terra nullius before your lot showed up there obviously from Karzai and Russia, as the evidently more westernized European Jew survivors headed principally after World War Two for the USA! How sick can you essentially get? And besides if you took those DNA tests, it would be a cast iron move to oblivion, as apart from proving you're not Semites or the "original Jews" - the world's  distinctly oldest Jewish sect are the Falasha and they are unquestionably Ethiopian and Black and with genuine Semitic blood - but are undoubtedly converts to Judaism, all those of you who're not quite literally nowt but opportunistic, Zionist mercenary prats with no affiliation to any religion whatever other than the one of money itself - those who are essentially decent and genuinely practitioners of Judaism are the distinctive descendants of White Caucasians who did convert to Judaism, just like your basically white kin that obviously converted from paganism to Christianity. And you clearly keep milking the European holocaust to ply and financially peddle your distinctly blatant lies. Money that would effectively dry up without these brazen lies that you very unconscionably proselytize and get guilt ridden Germans to pay for them as well as dim-witted idiots across the West to fall for these insufferable lies!

So it can't be unquestionably ruled out that despite a Roman contingent of customary executioners having apparently carried out the execution of Jesus that the motivation behind his killing wasn't primarily and also exclusively Judaist. Not that farfetched at all when you seriously and rather sensibly consider how many present day Yids - and I use that word contemptuously and rather deliberately and quite unapologetically so, not against practitioners of Judaism who are European - I've literally taught scores of them in tertiary and adult education in Germany - but as a sense of my undoubted abhorrence for the likes of odiously inured lowlife, mercenary egregious and basically malevolent scum of the likes of Sarah Vine and equally Tom Bauer among others who have no compunction or moral integrity in the least sense, as they slavishly, for their discernibly Judas type 30 pieces of silver, shamelessly sell themselves to the Daily Mail, the very same rag, that in league with Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, distinctly wanted all European Jews distinctly, effectively and quite permanently eradicated from the presence of this our homeland Planet Earth. And not simply a wish on the part of the Daily Mail; my lengthy years in Germany showed through research which is actually covered up in Britain by the Official Secrets Act -  I served in the RAF and had access to many such documents through my own security clearance, but no such restrictions inside Germany - that clearly the Daily Mail, other right-wing rags; many of the UK's obvious hereditary families and a goodly number of Britain's monarichal family members were undeniably pro-Nazi, and clandestinely did assiduously work with the Nazis to actually achieve their ostensible goal.

And to have prized cunts like Tom Bauer and Sarah Vine who are the offspring of refugees who fled with their pathetic and endangered asses to Britain: a country that they previously had no contact with, nor had made the minutest contribution to in anyway, behaving accordingly as these Yid pillocks do, beggars belief! But their sort literally control the film, TV and also the media organizations; effectively with even the BBC having them as its principal leaders and controllers; and likewise other propaganda industries as well. And clearly with Britain's intellectually challenged and thick as pig shit morons easily used by the likes of the Daily Mail, are, you can readily quite easily see, why these Yids distinctly get away rather self-evidently with murder and their obsessional plethora of lies. Yet they proselytize themselves as victims.

So basically all power from my perspective to Salisbury's Mayor, Atiqui Hooque, whose supposition I'm very unquestionably much more inclined to accept than anything that these odious Yids and their acolytes have to say!

[majahu]

Scream: Ski Trip

Chapter 3: Blue’s Your Color

Chapter 2

Word Count: 1,332

You didn't go to school the next morning, still shaken up from your encounter with the masked killer the previous night. You rolled over, rubbing your eyes and trying to make out the numbers on your alarm clock: 10:35 am. You yawned, sitting up. You weren't sure what time you feel asleep, but surprisingly that was the last night in a while you hadn't woken up terrified from a nightmare. Walking into your bathroom and flipping on the light, you stared at your face in the mirror, mascara had settled under your eyes and you had a severe case of bed-head. You squeezed a blue and white swirl of toothpaste onto your toothbrush and stuck it into your mouth. You weren't sure what time Billy left last night, but you were thankful he stayed until you fell asleep, sure that if he wasn't there thoughts of ghostface would've kept you up all night. You spit into the sink and, spiraling down towards the drain you noticed some red spots in the sea of foam. You must've bit your cheek while you slept last night.

Pulling on your green Gap brand sweatshirt, you went downstairs to the kitchen, grabbing a container of rolled oats out of the pantry. As you boiled water for your oatmeal, you noticed a bright pink sticky note on the counter—a note from your parents:

Try to relax today.

We love you; call if you need anything.

- Mom and Dad

You knew your parents were worried about you but there was nothing you could do now. You had answered all the questions the police asked you last night and had given them a statement. Now, all you could do was wait for the blood sample to be processed and hope to God they found a match.

Pouring hot water over your bowl of oats and stirring, your thoughts drifted to your friends at school. Would they wonder why you weren't there? Did Billy tell you what happened? You were sure you'd get a phone call from Tatum or Sidney as soon as school let out.

When your oatmeal was done, you brought a tray over to your couch, flicking on the tv and scrolling through the channels. Purposefully ignoring the news channels you settled on one that was airing old episodes of Saved by the Bell: College.

That's how you spent the rest of your day, curled up on the couch watching reruns of shows you had already seen, trading one snack for another. It was boring, but still better than being at school considering how Casey and Steve's killer was still at large and was, potentially, one of your fellow classmates. You weren't sure why the killer had chosen to attack you, but then again you didn't know why he had killed Casey or Steve either.

You looked over at the clock: 3:45 pm. You were sure you'd get a call from one of your friends any time now. As if on cue, the phone rang.

Your heart pounded and an anxious feeling stirred in your stomach. Come on (Y/N), it's not gonna be him.

It's probably Sidney or Tatum or Randy, hell, it has a better chance of being Dewey than that masked lunatic.

Exhaling, you picked up the phone, "Hello?"

"Hey, (Y/N)." The voice on the other end said; unmistakably Stu Macher. “Um, hey Stu” you hadn’t talked much to Tatum’s boyfriend the past couple of days, still kind of mad about how casually he treated Casey and Steve’s deaths. “You’re not still mad at me, are you?” Stu frowned. “No. I’m just processing a lot.”

“Billy told me. Are you okay?” You weren’t sure how to respond to this question. Physically you were fine, but mentally your encounter would be a lot to come back from. Every time you thought about it, a chill ran down your spine. “I’m just shaken up is all.”

“Well,” you could practically hear Stu smile, “do I have some news to cheer you up or not?”

“Yeah?” You said, curious now as to what the wannabe jock was planning. “No school!” He hollered through the phone.

“What? Why? Did something happen?” “Oh, well uh- Sidney ran into our little friend in the bathroom today. Made an epic escape though!” “Stu!” You gasped in shock. “That isn’t something to joke about, is she okay? Did she get hurt?”

“She’s fine.” Stu drawled, already seeming bored of the topic. “Is- is the ski trip still on?” You said, feeling kind of stilly to still be asking about it, but you and your friends really needed an escape. “Yep! But they’re checking everyone’s bags before we get on the bus, making sure the killer isn’t one of us” Stu said in a mock-spooky voice. You rolled your eyes, “enough with the jokes, Stu.”

“Hey, I can’t help it, humor is my coping mechanism.”

“I’ll see you Friday.” You said, hanging up the phone.

Maybe you’d invite Sidney and Tatum over tonight; you were sure it would be comforting for all of you to spend some time together. Hopefully uninterrupted by your ‘little friend’ as Stu had affectionately referred to the killer.

Sidney and Tatum were laying on your bedroom floor reading a magazine you had picked up at the store as you sat at your desk, painting your toenails baby blue to match your freshly done manicure.

“I can’t believe this is happening” Sidney said, burying her face in her hands, “school isn’t even safe!” Clearly your ‘girl’s night’ had not been enough to distract her from what happened this morning. “Which is why we’re getting away for the weekend!” Tatum said, smiling, “no more psycho killers! Just us and our boy toys,” she winked, “Hey, maybe (Y/N) and Meeks will even get together!”

“Oh shut up!” You rolled your eyes, throwing a cotton ball at her head. “We all know he has a thing for Sid anyway” you grinned. With all the trauma you three had been through, it was nice to laugh for once. For a second it seemed like you could forget you were being taunted by your classmates’ murderer.

And then the phone rang.

You and Sidney jumped, wincing slightly at the sound. Tatum stood up, “I’ll get it”. She walked over to your desk, picking up the receiver and holding it to her ear. Someone said something on the other end and she held the phone out so you and Sidney could hear.

“Having a sleep over?” The low raspy voice sounded from the receiver, “without me, I’m offended!”

“What do you want?!” Tatum shouted, more fed up with the situation than afraid.

“I don’t want anything from you girls, not tonight anyway. Don’t worry, I won’t be checking in on you. Besides, I don’t wanna put my Sid through too much in one day; where’s the fun in that?” he laughed.

“Fucking creep.” Tatum murmured.

“And (Y/N). That nail color looks great on you. Really makes your veins pop!” the voice laughed one more time before Tatum hung up the phone, ending the call.

“Tatum!” You grabbed onto you friend’s arm worried. “What if you made him mad?”

“(Y/N), Sid, don’t you understand this is exactly what he wants? He wants to scare you, he wants you to feel unsafe in your own homes. That’s why we’re getting the hell out of dodge this weekend.” She gave the two of you a reassuring smile. “It’ll be okay. Maybe they’ll even catch the guy before we get back.” You hadn’t heard back about the blood sample yet, but you were sure the police would be in contact with you soon.

As empowering as Tatum’s speech was, you couldn’t help but let the phone call rattle you. You spent the next few minutes vigorously running the blue nail polish off of your nails, all the while feeling like you were being watched from outside of your bedroom window.

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: August 8th

Well, doing big posts all together worked for a while but lately I’ve been putting it off because it takes a long time to get them done. I think I’m gonna try switching back to answering asks whenever I can fit it in and posting them one at a time instead of waiting until I’ve filled out one of these major collections.

But for now, here’s more ask answers! Thank you for the questions and for all the kind words along with them ^^.

Hello!! I'm here to ask if its possible to get  the game and its dlcs on steam and play it on android?

I’m afraid not. Steam doesn’t have Android builds on their own site and Steam is not cool with keys for other sites being given out for Steam purchases, so you don’t get the Itch version from buying on Steam.

Hello! Sorry to bother you but, I had a question, if we buy the Game on itchio do we get steam keys or would we need to purchase it twice? 

You would have to buy it twice if you want it in both places, I’m sorry. To repeat myself a little, Steam doesn’t like the key trading thing. Itch may support giving keys for another site, but the reverse isn’t doable with Steam and Steam doesn’t even really want you to get a Steam key for buying somewhere else either. So we just don’t mess around with that.

hey, sorry if this is frequently asked, but is step 4 free dlc or paid for? some of your sources are contradicting each other. 

It’s free! There’s a paid wedding DLC, but Step 4 itself is entirely unpaid.

Hello! I just had a quick question, for the Baxter and Derek DLC's will we be able to confess our feelings to them or let them confess to MC? or will it only be one way? (they confess to MC)

Both type of options will be available!

Hey there! I wanted to ask whether or not the Derek DLC is still on track to be released in August since on the steam discussion board it says it will be released mid 2021. I totally understand if it isn't, I'm just really looking forward to it! If you answer then ty! And keep up the amazing work :D 

It’s not, aha. Unfortunately, 2021 wasn’t easier than 2020 as we hoped so things are still slower than planned. It’ll come out late 2021 or early 2022.

Hi! Firstly I just want to say that I LOVE Our Life. I have played a bit of similar games but this one instantly wins for the best one! Everything about it is amazing! I just wanted to ask if Derek would ever lose feelings for MC, like if they make the deal and then MC gets with Cove would he move on? and even if you don't, after "losing contact" would his feeling fade or would he still like MC? 

If you don’t really keep in touch with him and clearly move on with your life, Derek will too and he’ll be over it. But if you are still close as best as you can be, he’ll still think the MC is special. Though, he’ll always support your relationship with someone else if that’s what’ll make you happy.

Hello! Sorry if you've answered this before but: 'How's Lee related to us? Though which momma? And does she share our player-chosen last names? Also, do you know if Noelani took Pam's last name or did it happen the other way round? 

She’s related to Pamela and Pamela’s last name is the one they use, so the MC has the same last name as Lee.

Will we be able to choose which (they or he) we tend to call Qiu by more often, or will it randomly change depending on the moment? 

Qiu knows which pronoun they’re comfortable with at a time and you’ll call them what they’re happy with. And it doesn’t change between lines, it takes multiple scenes or even full Steps for it to switch. So for extended periods Qiu will be totally a guy or fully agender.

Will Step 4 of OL2 have moments?

It’ll be an epilogue like it is in OL1, so it won’t have a bunch of different Moments.

Hello! Just a quick question, is Sunset bird from OL1 based on a real location? If so what's it called? I wanna visit it +_+

ps i love your games so much <3

It isn’t based on one specific town you can go to, but there are a lot of little coastal towns in Cali that have a similar vibe!

Heyaaa ( I hope you're all well ), umm… it might seem kinda stupid to ask but did Patreon members can have a key for the dlc's ( all the steps-released dlc ) even if they became a member this month or later ? (me? saying this cuz it's my case? maybe ;-;), and once again thanks for absolutely all the amazing works on all the games ! u-u 

You wouldn’t get the DLCs for backing there. The Patreon is for extra bonus content/early access, rather than being a storefront to purchase the normal DLCs. Rarely we give them out as a side gift, but it hardly happens and if what you want is the DLCs it’s best to ignore the Patreon and  buy keys for those directly from Itch or Steam. I’m sorry for the confusion.

Hey y'all, love what youre doing w/Terry. Trans rep outside of player customization is so rare and important to see more of so thank you so much. I do have a question and its that does he have a canon sexuality? I know Miranda was said to be straight ace but I dont believe anything was stated for Terry probably because he wasnt revealed to be a guy which changes things. Im also curious if well get answers on how long hes liked Miranda since he may have liked her in step 3 before she liked him 

Terry likes women and Randy likes men! And he did like Miranda back in Step 3.

Will the Wedding Dlc release at the same time as Step 4? 

They’ll come out separately with Step 4 releasing first.

I really love Our Life so much! I've spent over 20hours playing it even though I only got it a week ago! I was wondering if I could make a fangame for Our Life with a different love interest but same plot. Next-door neighbors romance, multiple steps, etc? I'll probably make it on Google Slides though- 

Sure! I hope you have fun with it and I’m glad you love the game.

How does Cove feel about poly relationships? 

He’s got nothing against them for the people they work for, but he’s 100% monogamous and would only be comfortable with a partner who was willing to be monogamous with him.

Idk if this has been answered before but will Step 4 include the option to advance your feelings towards Cove? 

Yep, you’ll be able to determine your feelings and what your relationship is.

In step 4 will there be a chosen to say we live with Cove even as just friends? 

Yeah, you can choose to live with Cove and that can be done when you’re friends.

I just played the game with the MC and Cove being best friends and omg it’s still so damn cute like the wholesomeness of it all is too much for my heart I swear ^.^  Now with that all said I was wondering can we still marry Cove? if we only love him as a friend like let’s say we’ve made deal with him similar to the one we can make with Derek because let’s real no one could compete with what the MC and Cove have even if they aren’t in love. 

It’s great to hear you enjoyed the friendship story! You can live with Cove, but you can’t marry him platonically. Cove has familial affection for the MC if they’re best-est friends. He wouldn’t think to marry someone he loves like family and even grew up with as though they truly were siblings.

Are you still going to be making a DLC for XOBD? :] 

Yes! We’re slowing adding voiced lines and fixing errors.

It makes me laugh that Shiloh's last name is Fields because that's what I put as my last name! So in Our Life when he talked about "Ms. Fields" picking him up I was extremely confused, lol. That dude mimics personalities so much that he stole my surname!

Oh, wow, that’s a very funny coincidence, haha.

hi !! i cant seem to be able to get the scene where mc is able to propose to cove despite being at the 'love' stage and telling him i'd want to get married, are there any other details that im missing out on? the options just dont appear at the end... 

Maybe you missed telling Cove you were in love with him even if you mentioned wanting to get married or you might’ve accidentally said earlier in the game that you don’t want to progress your relationship further with Cove. We haven’t removed them, so you can get the scene again. It’s just kind of easy to miss since there’s multiple requirements. You can read a little guide in the FAQ.

wait what di you need to do to be able to propose to cove? I've been trying but haven't had much luck 

You can check out the FAQ linked above!

does cove only develop a crush on the mc if the mc is also at crush/in love with him? 

Technically, yes. We treat the non-romantic relationship options as truly non-romantic since we don’t want to bait and switch people. But there’s nothing wrong with headcanoning that Cove does have feelings developing for the MC even before the MC has.

Is there a way to make/allow Lee and Baxter to date?

No, they just don’t have enough time together.

We also got a group of asks related to Tamarack in OL2, but I’m afraid the way they talked about people with larger bodies made me not want to post their words, even if the person didn’t say they’re trying to be hurtful. I will separate out the core question and answer it though, so people can know that info.

Does Tamarack lose weight in later Steps?

No, she doesn’t. As for the other questions included, to be honest, I don’t have to explain/defend having romance options of different sizes. I’m sorry if you’re dealing with unhappiness that’s connected to body image, if that’s where the negative emotions are coming from, but even so I can’t meet you on that level and pretend it’s a problem that needs an answer. A girl who simply isn’t thin being a main love interest is just not an unreasonable concept. Also, Tamarack isn’t a lesbian. Yes, she can date a female MC, but that doesn’t undo her actual sexuality, so I’m not sure where that one part at the end was coming from.

I wonder... can we "fight" with Qiu over leader status? 👀

Not really, haha. No matter how cool your MC is, they’re never gonna replace Qiu for the other kids around. So you can either partner up with him, follow him too, or not be a part of all that group politics stuff.

So when I play the game, sometimes I mentally call Cove “Covie/Covey” and that made me wonder, how does Cove feel about being nicknamed? Not like Romeo/Space Cadet/etc. but like pet names relating to his actual name

It’d depend on his age, personality, and your relationship with him! When he’s younger he’d probably be embarrassed, when he was grown he’d probably be more casual or happy about it.

will you be able to date baxter in step 3 while at crush with cove (but not dating him ofc) sorry if this has been asked already. i really love baxters step 4 design btw!! 

Yeah, you can be crushing on Cove and date Baxter if you weren’t already dating Cove. You just can’t be truly in love with Cove and then switch to Baxter.

I just got my friend into our life, and they adore shiloh and derek sooo will there be more of them in the second game? 

I’m afraid not. But you can see plenty more of Shiloh in XOXO Droplets/XOXO Blood Droplets, haha.

I see you haven't gotten any xoxo droplets asks recently but I'm still obsessed with these boys!! I was just wondering if Nate would curse under any circumstance? 

Yeah, Nate does use certain swear words (damn, hell, bastard) on very rare occasions.

Hi there! I have a question about the wedding dlc. Will we be able to plan a honeymoon during the planning stages of it or would it be something that Cove and the mc would rather plan later on? Thank you! Absolutly love the game by the way, definitely one of my favorite games! 

The focus will be on the wedding day itself. The topic of the honeymoon might come up a bit, but there won’t be any choosing of the exact location and such.

Hi! I have two questions and it's completely understandable if you only answer one/neither and I'm sorry if you've already answered either before! First, is there a set year in which OL:B&A takes place (ex: Step 1 being set in 2010 & Step 2 being set in 2016, etc.) or is it simply up to interpretation? Second, have you guys thought about doing a coming-of-age game where the MC has a tough home life or upbringing? (like one of their parents is an addict, a parent being transphobic whilst the player has the option to be trans, or having friends that are influencing them to do drugs, etc.) That's all! Thanks for making beautiful games. <3 

There is a set timeline!

Step 1: 2006 Step 2: 2011 Step 3: 2016 Step 4: 2021 

And we don’t currently plan on making a game like that. The Our Life series exists to be a safer environment for people to play around in and if we did do a brand new series that was harsher edged it’d be something more fantastical and/or plot-driven instead of a different type of modern day slice-of-life growing up story. I’m sorry.

i don’t know if you’ve already answered this, but do you have a guess on when phase 4 will come out? as well as ol2? i’m so excited for both of them, the inclusivity in this game is amazing, you guys should be really proud of it! 

Step 4 will be coming out very soon! OL2 is gonna take until 2023 to be anywhere near completion. But we might episodically release the Steps one at a time as they get done instead of waiting for three to be finished before launch like we did with the first game.

Hello, I was curious if there was an official or unofficial discord server for the game? 

We do have a discord! You can join by clicking this link HERE.

how long do you plan to keep ol's patreon running? 

Hopefully for at least a few more years.

Are you considering ever making merch? 

Yeah, but I don’t know when it’ll happen or what exactly we’ll make, aha. It’s something we want do, just nothing is set.

hi! i just found out about your game a couple of days ago on tiktok (so sorry if you’ve already answered this question) and i was wondering if y’all are ever planning to release it on iOS? 

I have no idea. It’s hard for a small group to get Apple approval and I honestly can’t say if it’ll ever happen or not. Maybe someday, though!

Hi, I love the art style of Our life and I would like to know if the artist has a Twitter? Also, could it be possible to fund more CGs for the game from him/her? So many times, I wish there was one like when the cutscene of the sunshower. 

That’s nice of you to offer. He doesn’t have a Twitter, at least not one that’s public enough to be shared with me. And I’m afraid not. The issue is that the CGs take huge amounts of time rather than there not being a budget for it. He’s gotta make CGs for Step 4, the DLCs, and new character sprites, too. There isn’t space in the schedule for even more. Sorry for that.

Hi, how are you?!

Are you planning on accepting new writers or is it always the same people who write your stories??

Thanks!!

Our Life: Beginnings & Always won’t be getting new writers, but we will be hiring a new team of writers for Our Life: Now & Forever eventually!

perhaps this counts as nsfw and I'm sure it has been answered before but what does Cove prefer, chests/boobs or butts? or perhaps both :3c thank you for this wonderful game (and the patreon bonus moment, it was worth all the waiting and more ♥) 

He’s a “chests of all shapes and sizes” kind of guy, haha.

i was wondering- did any of the writers actually grow up by the beach? as someone who's lived in a beach town all their life it really did feel nostalgic to play through our life 1 

I was born and raised in Cali! Though, not right by the beach. We still had to make trips out, but the setting is based on my own childhood memories of small beach towns we went through.

In Derek’s upcoming DLC, will we be able to reference the pact we made as teens? (love olba and xod/xobd so much btw you’re literally amazing) 

Yep, you will be able to talk about that!

Oh, sorry about the Cole being secretly L ask, then!

If you wanted context: Death Note is about this one guy who finds a notebook that kills anyone who you write the name of in there. The guy eventually develops a God Complex and starts mass killing criminals and stuff. L is the one trying to find out who is killing all these people.

Me and my sister first joked about it because I couldn't remember how to translate a word about the way Cove was sitting, so I just did the pose, and it looked a lot like how L himself sits! Then we just snowballed from there, with more and more nonsense connections.

That’s okay! Thanks for explaining. I’m sorry I didn’t know what you meant.

[reignof-fyre]

I'm writing for my GOT fanfic and doing some research into GRRM's lore & shit and watching YT vid's and I'M SO FULL OF RAAAAAGE AT THE SHITSHOW THAT THE TV SHOW EJDED UP AS DIVIWIAHVHE

CERSEI blew up the Sept yeah? Okay, okay. So, she killed the lawful Queen (Margaery), the Queen's dad, brother, her uncle Kevan (Hand of the King & Head of House Lannister) she was not only a Queenslayer and Kingslayer (HER ACTIONS LED TO TOMMEN'S DEATH U CANT CHANGE MY MIND), BUT A KINSLAYER AND MOFUCKERS FLOCK TO HER SLOBBERINF LIKE YAS UR MY KWEEN SIS

Randyll Tarley is a Targaryen loyalist. He FOUGHT AGAINST ROBERT IN THE REBELLION AND WON AT ASHFORD FOR THE TYRELL'S AND TURNS AROUND AND SAYS HE WON'T FOLLOW DANY BECAUSE SHES "A FOREIGN QUEEN"

ALL THE TARG'S ARE FOREIGNERS!!! THEY VALYRIANS!!!

OKAY. omg so mad.

Another thing. Why didn't Dany (the writers) offer for randyll to go to the NIGHTS WATCH? then again randy man committed treason against his liege (tyrell's) and sacked their castle and supported an unworthy, kinslaying, queenslaying, kingslaying bitch and deserved to die (penis didn't he was being a good son and following his pops word)

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Another thing that PISSES ME OFF

- tyrion's KNOWN AND PROVEN intelligence was yeeted into the fourteen flames of valyria

-sansa ISNT THE SMARTESR PERSON EVERICHAKXOVJWJD she trusted cersei and joffrey and betrayed her dad and kept the Knights of the Vale hidden from Jon (she wanted him and rickon ded af to b Queen of the North u can't change my mind) and CONSTANTLY questioned his words and ruling AFTER HE WAS NAMED KING in front of his Lords, making them mistrust him obvi

- dany said in astapor "the blood of my enemies, not the blood of innocents" and "I'm not here to be Queen of the ashes" then does a full 360 and goes all !!!!! Murderous !!!!

- ellaria sand in the books is the one to refuse revenge against the Lannisters after oberyn because "when does it end???"

-nothern independence is dumb and there's no way it'd be doable bc ???? They rely SO much on the other Kingdoms for trade, food, etc etc and any good ruler would say "OK u have ur independence but u can't trade to or from my southern 6 kingdoms" ????? Sansa u dumb

-notherners are racists cunts hah I hate them all

- Jon Snow lost ALL his personality

- Jaime’s arc was burned on the remake of the Field of Fire yuh

-arya. Just arya.

-Bran the broken!!!!!! Dumb!!! Mr. I can't be Lord of anything!!! YOU CANT VE LORD OF ANYTHING BUT U CAN BE KING WHEN U CANT EVEN HAVE KIDS BOY UR DICK DONT WORKKKK!!!

-miss "I'm never marrying again" Sansa is made Queen of the North bitch how u gonna have heirs????

-the foreshadowing about a jonerys baby being yeeted to asshai lmao what

[squidproquoclarice]

Yeehawgust Day 23: Tall Tales

February 1884

Council Bluffs, Iowa

A raw wind blew down the streets of Council Bluffs today, still full of snow after the blizzard, and they’d be a mucky, muddy nightmare even after.  There was frost on her window even now, and all the girls and women at Hattie McCormick’s, Hattie herself included, had bundled up in heavy winter woollens to help conserve the dwindling woodpile.  Seeing her fellow painted ladies in their sweaters and thick woolly socks, hair messy and eyes still crusted with sleep, rather than dressed to entice, Ruth Roberts knew it would be a quiet day, and a quiet night.  Men usually weren’t so desperate for a poke that they’d trudge through that kind of shit.  Just meant in a few days or a week when everything got cleaned up, they’d be back and even more eager for the delay.  But until then, she’d enjoy this little vacation.

She headed downstairs, seeing Abigail sitting on a stool at the bar while Uncle leaned on it, telling her, “...and that’s when they told me they’d trade me for this gold mine they’d found--”

“Filling her head with nonsense again, old man?” she said, but without much bite to the words.  Uncle was a lazy bastard most of the time, and nobody knew his real name, but he made a good bartender, and he’d proved oddly attached to Abigail.  Not in an alarming fashion, more in a pathetically incapable and cluelessly affectionate sort of way like a man with a puppy, but he’d followed Ruth and Abigail here from the Lamplighter and she suspected when she got too old for Hattie soon enough, he’d follow them too to wherever came next.  He’d assigned himself as Abigail’s protector, told Ruth that once, and sometimes she wanted to laugh, but sometimes she was touched by it.  Abigail was a girl growing up in this life, with nowhere else to go.  She’d probably be working herself far too soon, as much as Ruth wished with all her soul for her girl to have something different, something finer.  

To have a man who might have been as randy as any but who didn’t want anything from her could only do her some good.  It wasn’t as though she had a father around to give her anything more than that beautiful thick dark hair, whoever he had been.  And he didn’t try to get anything from Ruth either by his interest in Abigail, so she’d accept Uncle’s supposed help for what it was--not much, but certainly nothing harmful.

“Ain’t like there’s much else to do,” Uncle pointed out, nodding to the iced-over windows.  “Bad as that wind is with the cold?  Any man walking here today’s like to lose some toes or fingers to frostbite.”  He cackled, giving Ruth a knowing wink as he slid her a bottle of beer.  “Or maybe his pecker if he’s got a stiff one.”

She supposed there were places a little girl of nearly seven didn’t casually hear about things like stiff peckers, but growing up in a cathouse didn’t exactly allow for that, much as Ruth tried to keep as much of it from her daughter as she could.  It would be a losing battle eventually, but still one worth the fight.  Abigail piped up, blue eyes shining bright with glee, “Ma, Uncle’s telling me all about the gold mine he lost in a poker game!”

She sighed, shaking her head, but smiling all the same.  “Sure.  Go on with your tall tales, Uncle.  But don’t you be trying to sell her no gold mine neither.”  Girl’s got to know there’s more out there than this way, this life.

“It was only gonna cost her two cents to be my partner, Ruthie, I swear it,” Uncle replied, holding his hands up in mock surrender.

She took the beer and sat down, ready to hear whatever utter nonsense Uncle would tell Abigail.  Hell of a story, and probably not a grain of truth in it, though it wasn’t as though Ruth could read to tell her any stories of her own.  For a slow winter’s morning, tall tales and ridiculous yarns would serve well enough.

[danwhobrowses]

WWE Summerslam 2021 - Initial Reaction and Review

It's been a big week for wrestling in general, and now we have the Biggest Party of the Summer in the books, uncharacteristically airing on a Saturday.

It's been a while since I've run down a WWE PPV, time and apathy does have a bit to do with it, but since this is a big 4 and given what happened in Chicago there's definitely curiosity over how WWE would respond

Spoilers for Summerslam 2021 Below, I will be discussing the winners and moments so watch the PPV first

As usual I will indicate in the title who was the person I expected to win before the match started, but instead of Bold this time I'll put them in Italics with the whole match card being in bold

Kick-off

A long-ass kickoff was majority promo and interviews, not any contrarion drabble this time which was good. It was kinda sad to see Asuka on the packages but nowhere to be seen on the card.

I did like the sign guy of 'McAfee = Ratings' because he's kinda right, he has been great on commentary. I did not miss that dude in the Fiend Mask though, or the Lily Doll.

I will reiterate though that Sonya Deville is wasted right now, let her back in the goddamn ring, SD's Women's Division does need it and they make her look like a goof as Assistant GM.

Also apparently the Mysterios vs Usos aren't good enough for a promo package, not like it's a title match or anything... plus the disrespect still there, 'I wouldn't wanna work with my dad' they say like Rey isn't a multi time world champion with a huge wealth of experience.

The Miz and Morrison came in with a water truck to a mixed pop of cheers and boos, this moist gimmick ain't great but props for both guys being dedicated to it, it was short enough not to overstay its welcome too.

Ugh, Logan Paul is here...

Big E def. Baron Corbin (Pinfall via Big Ending) We had a new announcer from a Tiktok competition winner called Raine, and you know she was really good at it.

Corbin entered to boos hugging the MITB briefcase he stole, unable to afford entrance music it seems even though he's getting a PPV paycheck. To his credit he looks ultra disheveled, and when the ref had to pry the briefcase from him he looked super forlorn. I dunno why he's wrestling in a shirt though wouldn't that make it dirtier?

When the bell rings E does basically go right at Corbin, Corbin got a shoulder block in but then got caught in a belly to belly - despite protests - then a belly to backp. E missing the apron splash as Corbin senses a countout win, at 7 he leaves the ring to hit E against the ring post to try and eke out more time, demanding that the timekeeper keep the briefcase in his sights. E does return to the ring but his spear goes right is sidestepped into the ringpost, then thrown into them two more times, but only gets 2.

Corbin continues with some momentum with a sidewalk slam for 2, but his chokeslam is reversed into a rollup for 2 then a stretch muffler. He escapes and hits the Deep Six for 2, then 1.8, Corbin then stumbles to the briefcase, considering an exit before being hit with a lariat. E throws Corbin into the ring, but Corbin rolls right out, grabs the briefcase and tries to run around the ring only to be pounced into the barricade by Big E. The cat and mouse chase comes to an end, Corbin elbows E to get some room to roll to the other side of the ring but E catches him with that suicide spear he does, the briefcase is dropped and the straps are off: Big Ending for 3.

Shots of Logan Paul are hilariously met with huge boos as Big E finally reclaims his briefcase to a pop.

It was a nice little match, good palette cleanser and a nice and clean competition, Corbin had no chance in winning but it was a solid way to warm up the crowd for the main ppv.

Our final bit of the kick-off was discussing the UNI main event, though I feel like losing your job is a higher stake than winning your 17th world title. Also they had to force in the shucky ducky which was dumb.

Main Show

Raw Tag Team Championship: RK-Bro [Randy Orton & Riddle] def AJ Styles & Omos (c) [TITLE CHANGE] (Pinfall on Styles by Orton via RKO) Starting the night with some fun as Riddle comes out in a garish snake print outfit with a cerise pink lining, Orton didn't get the fashion memo thankfully but his hologram snake was cheesy. Riddle interacted with the crowd and had the multicoloured holo-doves while Orton mainly kept to himself. AJ and Omos came out together, though Omos had no theatrics, looking like a bouncer being invited to dinner still.

Orton and AJ started the match, Orton with the early advantage and tagging Riddle in for an assisted backflip for a 1 count, AJ rolls out the ring frustrated then tags in Omos, who just ragdolls Riddle; Shoulder Block, big clubbing blow then a delayed powerslam - an interesting glance over to Orton as well as they smile at each other, almost like Orton approved. Omos tries to deadlift Riddle with a wristlock but Riddle scrambles into a sleeper, but is flipped off then flattened in the corner. AJ tags in, platforming Omos for a Tornado DDT for 2, Riddle tries to fight out but runs into a backbreaker as AJ tells Orton 'you're next'.

During the rest hold, the crowd rallies Riddle back into the fight, AJ looks to have reclaimed an advantage and throws Riddle to his corner, but Riddle turns it into a dropkick on Omos, then dumps AJ out the ring. Riddle tries to tag Orton but AJ grabs him, enzugiri by Riddle allows Orton to make the hot tag. Clotheslines on AJ, a forearm to Omos - but it only stuns him, doesn't even fall to the floor, backdrop and another forearm to Omos that again fails to drop him. Clothesline to corner and a powerslam, this time Orton drops Omos out the ring by dropkicking the knees, draping DDT gets Orton feeling the RKO, but Omos drags AJ out the ring, then catches Riddle's dive to chokeslam him onto the apron. AJ stuns Orton with a jawbreaker on the ropes and gestures Omos to finish Riddle, but Riddle escapes the lawn dart and pushes Omos into the ring post. AJ though catches Riddle with his backflip reverse DDT on the outside, he misses the Phenomenal Forearm, but stands his ground against the RKO attempt, he rolls up for 2 and then lands into an RKO for 3.

It didn't last long but it was a fun opener, it was time for a title change and RK-Bro was a good choice. It's a shame Styles has to be the weak link but you can't be surprised that WWE continue to protect Omos.

Alexa Bliss (w/Lily) def. Eva Marie (w/ Doudrop) (Pinfall via DDT) The Lily hologram was fucking horrifying as Bliss carries the doll and puts it on the corner turnbuckle. Bliss weaves Eva effortlessly, she tries a waistlock but gets elbowed off. Eva gets a punch and a hair yank then...poses. She grabs Lily and starts slapping the doll, then slapping Alexa with the doll. Alexa then goes on the attack, clotheslines then a senton for 2, she puts Lily back as Eva argues with Doudrop. Alexa misses the Twisted Bliss and Eva gets 2 twice, a kick to the gut and a DDT finishes off Eva.

Post-match, Doudrop only looks smugly at Eva and grabs a microphone, announcing Eva as the loser, stealing her gown and walking away as Eva insists she made Doudrop.

This match didn't need to happen, in fact it could've just been a segment, but at least WWE were sensible in not having Eva Marie win against a former women's champion. They also didn't do any spooky shit and put the narrative mainly on Doudrop being free to hopefully be Piper Niven again, once again it didn't overstay its welcome.

Mario Lopez (who?) interviews RK-Bro on their title win, Orton cuts his normal promo but gets stumbled by trying to fit 'Bro' into his '3 most deadly letters in wrestling' catchphrase.

US Championship: Damian Priest def. Sheamus (c) [TITLE CHANGE] (Pinfall via Recknoning) Immediately after the interview Priest was already on the ramp, in blue gear with the USA and Puerto Rico flag on his tights, he did his archer pose to set off his tron. The Tron had a bit of an issue with Sheamus' opening, Sheamus wandered in with his face guard and coat. Sidebar, I still don't like the US Title design, it's better than the old one but not by much.

The two start by locking up, some solid chain wrestling shows that Sheamus has the power but Priest has the agility. After a pump kick, Priest hits a Falcon Arrow for 1, he has a bit of a nasty landing with his mid-rope flip senton out the ring, his heel clipped Sheamus' head but Priest's back had a hard landing on the floor, not easy to get distance when you step off the middle rope. Despite a flurry of kicks, Sheamus focuses on the back by throwing him into the ring post, belly to back and also an Irish Curse lead to a Camel Clutch, but Priest escapes that, Sheamus picks him up but Priest elbows out, so then he tries to powerbomb and Priest rana's out of that. Momentum is short though as Sheamus gets a powerslam for 2, a Dublin Smile and a Beats of the Bodhrán but he cuts the count short to slight the crowd's chant. His timewasting is punished by a Tornado DDT from Priest, they trade blows and a lariat floors Sheamus, a spinning leg lariat from the top rope only gets him 2.

Priest sets up the Reckoning, but is picked up for a rolling fireman's carry slam, Sheamus slowly climbs the turnbuckle, giving Priest time to look for a chokeslam, but Sheamus shimmies along the ropes and gets a massive rope-assisted jawbreaker, top turnbuckle clothesline and an Alabama Slam only gets 2. Sheamus angrily talks shit at Priest, Priest slaps him but Sheamus headbutts him back. He sets up the Brogue Kick but Priest gets the Big Boot and the South of Heaven, but it only gets 2. Priest tries the Reckoning but his back won't handle the weight, he tries a Disaster Kick but runs into a knee to the face, it's only a 2. After being furious with the ref Sheamus tries the Cloverleaf, but gets rolled up for 2, he catches Priest in a heel hook in the middle of the ring, with no ropes to reach, Priest reaches for the face guard, ripping it off of Sheamus. Madness in his eyes, Priest unloads on Sheamus' face, causing Sheamus to cover up and release the hold, a flapjack into the top turnbuckle stuns Sheamus for another spinning Leg Lariat and then a Recknoning for 3.

A nice technical match, had some creative spots in there and Priest winning was nice to see after the Miz/Morrison feud lasted forever. I do dislike that they said it was his first title 'in WWE' though, because he was NA Champion in NXT, which is still WWE Cole. I don't think I liked that the face guard is what undid Sheamus, the dude who likes to fight shouldn't really lose to insecurity. But third time's the charm with the Reckoning.

Afterwards we had a promo for NXT TakeOver. We got a backstage talk between Rey and Dom, Dom apologizing to Rey for the SD incident and Rey forgiving it immediately, noting to stay focused on the match right now.

SD Tag Championship: The Usos (c) def. The Mysterios (Pinfall on Rey by Jey via Splash) Immediately after the promo they left the curtain to their entrance, the yellow, white and pink was...a choice, kinda miss the comic book attires. The Usos came out with the Leis and their regular gear.

Rey and Jimmy started lightning quick, Rey setting up a 619 with a rana but Jimmy rolling out of the ring, eating a basement dropkick. Jey's intervening is stopped by Dom who drops him sluggishly into his brother before he's tagged in, Rey hits the baseball slide splash and Dom the crossbody. In the ring Dom's second crossbody gets 2, three amigos by Dom but he shifted Jimmy too close to Jey, who managed to tag a leg, meaning that Jey throws Dom off the turnbuckle when he tries a Frog Splash. Jey taunts Dom after hitting him into the ring post (who has had a lot of mileage already), gesturing him to try and tag his father before cinching a headlock, Dom tries to fight back but is thrown to the other corner, Jimmy is tagged in and they hit a Backbreaker/Ax Handle combo. Jimmy taunts Dom the same way, diving headbutt for 2, the Usos spend too much time taunting Dom in their corner as the younger Mysterio staggers the twins with elbows, his rush for his father is cut off by a very nonchalant uppercut by Jey (McAfee literally yelling HADOUKEN was amazing). Jey continues to posture after suplexes and more taunting, they look for the third suplex but Dom hooks his leg, reversing it into a twisting neckbeaker.

Rey gets the hot tag as Jey tags Jimmy, planting the Uso with a tornado DDT for 2. Seated Senton and a forearm to Jey on the Apron leads to Rey walking into a Superkick for 2. Both Usos stalk Rey, looking to do a pop-up Powerbomb, but Rey ranas Jimmy out the ring, Jey gets him with a superkick to the gut, then a superkick to counter Rey's springboard crossbody, he hits the Splash but it only gets 2. Jey looks frustrated and tags Jimmy to set up the double splash, but Dom cuts Jey off, he tries to suplex Jey onto the apron but Jey drops him with a front-facing suplex instead. The delay is sufficient though since Rey rolls away from Jimmy's splash, headscissors setup, 619 for a big pop, he goes for the Frog Splash but Jimmy gets the knees up. Superkick by Jimmy, tags in Jey, double Superkick, splash by Jey and 3.

*sigh* Can Rey stop being pinned? It's not like Dom doesn't know how to take a pin. It's, it's sucky really, I've said it enough times but Rey deserves more than this given his popularity and past title wins, WWE would not do this to the likes of Edge or Cena, Angle or Goldberg, hell they wouldn't even do this to Eddie and yet Rey gets this treatment as thanks for being full time. Granted, it took like 3 finishers to down him but come on, compare the light pop this match got when everyone knew the Usos were winning with the pop Rey's hot tag and his 619 got, he still has it and they won over the crowd, with more time and narrative to their match it could've been a classic. I'm just sick of seeing one of my faves lose so much you know, if the story is Dom's inexperience then surely he would be the reason for defeat, rather than Rey being ganged up on.

Tiffany Haddish (who??) interviews Priest on his title win, apparently Priest hates bullies and he's happy...not as cool as his NA title win in the hot tub though. Summerslam could've fit in a hot tub

Rick Boogs then shreds the guitar as he welcomes King Nakamura. McAfee is dancing like a goof again on the table and Nakamura's crown falls off, but he makes up for it by playing the IC title like a guitar with Pat. He's disappeared after the Belair/Sasha package though...kinda confusing why that was there.

SD Women's Championship: Bianca BelAir (c) vs Sasha Banks CANCELLED As Bianca enters with SD Women's Title prints on her gear, the announcer says that Sasha is unable to compete, so Carmella is fighting in her stead. A shame but obviously not intended.

Bianca BelAir (c) vs Carmella INTERRUPTED Props to McAfee for noting the collective disappointment. BelAir looks disappointed too and tells Carmella that she's gonna dish out her frustration on Carmella. The title is aloft but then

Becky Lynch is here

Cameras are not showing enough of her on her return as Bianca buzzes, the crowd is on their feet. Becky's got a thicker mane than I remember, maybe it's the curls, a new shirt of 'The Man's back in Vegas' is worn by Becky too as she soaks in her pop. When the cameras stop long enough to focus on Becky she is looking extra lean. She attacks Carmella and dumps her out of the ring, she tells Bianca she'll be right back and throws Carmella into the steps, before standing off with Bianca. She grabs a microphone and asks for a title match, BelAir mulls it, but eventually accepts.

Becky Lynch def. Bianca BelAir (c) [TITLE CHANGE] (Pinfall via Manhandle Slam) Both women are amped up, Lynch offers a handshake but the moment they touch, she socks Bianca, Manhandle Slam and 3. Becky celebrates as BelAir looks stunned and a little shafted, Becky does gesture no hard feelings but, BelAir does have hard feelings.

It's a big pop for Becky's return, though I would've rather seen you know, a match. I love Becky, she's been one of my favourite women's wrestlers in WWE before she was even The Man, and I am psyched she's back, but BelAir vs Becky could've been a good match. we didn't need the Carmella stuff either just have BelAir call an open challenge in Sasha's absence. Also as thin as the SD Women's Division was Becky probably would've fit more for the Raw Women's Title situation, since we last saw her vacating it and that shit's on heavy life support, plus I was kinda hoping that Bianca could beat Sasha but Sasha would win later down the line so we could build Liv Morgan for a title win, I guess October's draft could still open it up. But yeah, happy to see Becky back.

Wrestling Olympic Gold Medalists Tamyra Mensah-Stock and Gable Stevenson come out next, I know WWE have been hot on Gable but after the scripts' comments on Simone Biles it feels forced. Tamyra was at least happy to be here.

Extreme Rules promo is next.

Drew McIntyre def. Jinder Mahal (Pinfall via Claymore) Jinder comes out first, Veer and Shanky only able to stand at the ramp and go to the back. Drew comes with his sword to summon...smoke? You can see how dull that sword is too.

Drew starts the match strong by throwing Jinder in the corner, kicks and chops followed by throws, he motions for Claymore but Jinder rolls out the ring, cutting him at the legs. Jinder's attempt to regain momentum is countered with a belly to belly, so next he tries to appeal to their past friendship but Drew isn't having it. He tries the Futureshock but Jinder kicks him in the face, stunning him for 2. Knee drops and knee chokes are followed by clubs to Drew's head and a choke, but Drew powers out and hits a Glasgow Kiss (which they called a Glaz-gao kiss, it's not that hard to say Glasgow), some more Belly to Bellies leads to a Futureshock and a kip up, 3, 2, 1, Claymore, 1, 2, 3.

McIntyre stepped over Jinder as he celebrated, Veer and Shanky tended to Jinder and then Drew grabbed his sword and started swinging...like the face he is trying to murder these dudes for tending to their boss.

Okay. Easy pop having squashed Jinder, did this need to be on PPV? Probably not, this and Bliss/Eva could've been done on Raw, rather than steal time from Usos/Mysterios and a potential Becky/BelAir banger. Nobody really got over or elevated with this.

Raw Women's Championship: Charlotte Flair def. Nikki A.S.H. (c) and Rhea Ripley [TITLE CHANGE] (Submission on Nikki by Charlotte via Figure Eight) Uncharacteristically, Nikki came out first to nothing, not a pop or a boo, it kinda sounded like fake crowd noises when we had one pop. Rhea got a mini pop next, but loud woos for Charlotte? Don't buy that especially given how she's meant to be the heel. She's in kinda Thanos gear too. The pops were louder for Rhea when her name was announced, Nikki's was mixed and Charlotte had some boos.

The bell rings as Charlotte shoves Nikki, telling her to get out the ring. Rhea shoves Charlotte but Nikki dumps Rhea out the ring, a Monkey Flip to Charlotte then a Rollup on Rhea for 1. Charlotte dumps Rhea as the two tussle, Nikki coming back to boot Charlotte off the apron as part of a bulldog on Rhea. Rhea keeps trying to keep a hold of Nikki but Nikki keeps rolling her up. Charlotte throws Nikki into Rhea like a spear then lariats Rhea and exploder's Nikki. Rhea and Charlotte trade advantages around the turnbuckle, Charlotte fights off a Nikki crossbody and powerslams Nikki onto Rhea, she tries the moonsault but Rhea gets her feet up, Nikki rolls her up but Rhea pulls her off, tries the Riptide but Nikki shifts her weight to splash her. Nikki headscissors Charlotte but is booted by Rhea, Charlotte then boots Rhea and taunts her, Rhea then starts finding energy, a Northern Lights for 1 but Charlotte then regains momentum, a huge big boot to dump Rhea out the ring, but Nikki then tornado DDTs Charlotte for 2. Basement Dropkick to Rhea gives Charlotte time to catch Nikki but Rhea german's them both, Missile Dropkick to Charlotte by Rhea only gets 2 as Charlotte flees to the outside. The two trade blows on the outside, to be flattened by Nikki's crossbody.

Pulling Charlotte in the ring, Charlotte resists the suplex, but Rhea comes in to double up on Charlotte, only for Charlotte to reverse it to a double DDT, Flair chops are suppressed but Charlotte still manages to fend off Nikki and Rhea, Corkscrew Moonsault on the outside takes the two out. She drags Rhea in but Rhea gets a boot, Nikki tries to roll up Rhea but only gets 2. Rhea's limping a bit but still kicks Nikki and cinches in her Inverted Cloverleaf, she dodges the Big Boot from Charlotte (perhaps inadvertently) and locks it into Charlotte, but she rolls through and gets the Figure 8, which is broken by Nikki's knee drop. Nikki hits a Purge but it's broken up by Rhea, she sets another Riptide but again Nikki counters this time with a Reverse Tornado DDT, dumping Rhea out the ring. Nikki sees Charlotte prone, setting up the Crossbody, but she misses, Charlotte locks the Figure 8 and taps.

Abrupt finish, it was a really well-worked match selling the chaos of the triple threat. But I never felt like Charlotte was in danger of losing, Nikki wasn't working because they rushed her new character without getting her over, so of course WWE were gonna fall back to ye olde Charlotte title win. The narrative didn't help either, she seemed like the babyface and again, didn't feel threatened, I never saw the opening for Charlotte to lose. In a vacuum it was a good match, as a whole though, since Rhea won the title at mania nobody's gotten over, they made an absolute hash of the Charlotte feud to the point where we didn't even feel invested in Rhea getting a win back, then we fast tracked a cash in. The only one who profited here was Charlotte, who got to add 2 more title reigns to her name on paper, had Becky came here to make it a 4-Way and won, it'd probably have been more hopeful because now, who is next? Asuka's AWOL, Shayna's buried, Alexa's on spooky shits, Rhea's broken, Nikki isn't getting over, who can Charlotte face at this point?

Edge def. Seth Rollins (Submission via Crossface) Dressed like some aristocrat, Seth entered first half smug half focused, it may've dragged on a bit long. Edge didn't come out to Metalingus, but instead he came out in the fires of the Brood, with the dark sunglasses, fire and the elevated platform to boot, but then Metalingus came out to give the people what they want.

The bell rings but there's a long pause to soak in the crowd investment. Edge has the early advantage with a swift punch, every time Seth tries to lock in on Edge he hits back, annoying Seth as he mulls outside the ring. He tries the Pedigree but is again dumped out the ring, this time Edge follows and throws him around the barriaces, Rollins returns to the ring but is knee'd out, but gets some advantage by dodging the Baseball Slide and driving Edge into ye olde Ring Post, then against the steps. Neckbreaker only gets 2 as he continues to focus on the neck with chokes, stomps and slingblades, another neckbreaker leads to another 2 as Seth taunts Edge about it.

A diving knee by Rollins gets 2 as Seth kicks around Edge, he tries another neckbreaker but Edge reverses into a backslide for 2, Flapjack and a tackle into the turnbuckle, Seth fends off Edge at the turnbuckle though and hits the Frog Splash for 2 but for the second time Edge rolls into the corner to avoid the stomp. Rollins pulls Edge to the turnbuckle, but Edge hits him with a top turnbuckle spinning neckbreaker, Flapjack onto the top rope, Edgecution for 2, Rollins stuns Edge by driving him into the Turnbuckle, but he misses his knee strike into an Head Yank for 2. Edge goes up top but Rollins turns it into his Superplex/Falcon Arrow combo for 2, he sets up the Stomp but misses, tries the Pedigree but Edge wriggles out, Glam Slam by Edge for 2, nice homage for Beth there. Seth gets back the momentum though, Jawbreaker on the ropes then a neckbreaker on the ropes, Edge dodges the stomp on the apron though and throws Seth into the ring post (not ye olde ringpost though it's a different one) and then a spear through the ropes into the outside. A bulldog into the apron LED only gets 2, but now Edge is setting up the spear, but Rollins counters into a Pedigree (Pat mustn't have watched Roman vs Seth before because he said he has never seen that counter) but it only gets 2.

Rollins climbs up top looking for the Phoenix Splash, he lands on his feet and rolls away but walks into a spear, 1, 2, No. Edge now looking for the Killswitch but Rollins clubs then kicks Edge in the back of the head, he tries the Stomp but Edge rolls and catches the boot, turning it into an Edgecator, Seth reaches for the ropes so Edge tries to pull him back, but in releasing the hold he gets rolled up for 2. Edge then tries the Crossface, rolling to the center of the ring, but Edge slams his head into the mat and reapplies it for the tapout.

A nicely worked match again that managed to showcase a lot of Edge's past bag of tricks. The second I was wrong about too, I expected Seth to get some momentum to try and challenge Roman like he had been teasing before this feud (on that note, where's Cesaro? Miss that dude), but it was definitely something for the fans to cheer about. The narrative of avoiding the Stomp was also good for the storytelling, Seth doesn't lose anything in defeat either, he's took 2 spears, 2 crossfaces, Edgecator and the Edgecution.

MITB 22 is announced on 4th July at the Allegiant Stadium, Vegas (the same venue as tonight). Expect there to be a Murica match in there. In addition attendance today is 51k. We scope back around to Miz and Morrison's kickoff thing, mostly getting a jobber entrance. The moist jokes were worst this time around as they marketed the 'Drip Stick 2000' which neither had. Who did have it? A very wet and long-haired Xavier Woods with a cocktail stick in their mouth and a 'New Day Order' shirt. Woods convinces the crowd to rally into shooting them with a water gun, though it didn't really get a pop in the act, dumb shit really but whatever Woods' new look is I dig it.

WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley (w/MVP) (c) def. Goldberg (via Ref Stoppage) Lashers out first...no sanctity it seems. He's walking into the ring with purpose, his pose has no pyro though, kinda a lukewarm smoke that'd make Revolution 2020's explosion smirk. Goldberg does his usual entrance, lots of quick camera switching again. Dude looks a bit top-heavy tbh, skipping those leg days. Lashley paces across Goldberg's periphery, it doesn't look like there'll be underestimation in this fight.

They lock up first, a bit of strength testing, Goldberg tanks a shoulder block, grounding Lashley with a flying shoulder block, then a body slam. Goldberg is keeping the advantage with corner attacks and clotheslines but Lashley clubs at the back. He sets up a Jackhammer for insult to injury, but Goldberg keeps his leg hooked, he tries to lift Lashley but can't follow through and gets hit with a flatliner. No sympathy from Lashley as he clubs at the back of the head before uncharacteristically going up top, which Goldberg punishes by throwing him down, Goldberg looks for the Spear but MVP yanks Lashley outside, only for Goldberg to spear him on the outside anyway.

Goldberg sets up a second spear, but as the ref focuses on Lashley rolling out the other side, MVP thwacks Goldberg's knee with his cane, distracting Goldberg long enough to be chop blocked. Chokeslam makes Lashley look for the Hurt Lock, but he can't connect the fingers, as Goldberg escapes though he gets chop blocked again, causing Goldberg to leave the ring. Lashley follows, lifting him up and charging him knee first into the ring post twice. Struggling to stand, the Ref throws the match.

The match is over but Lashley continues to attack the leg with a steel chair. Gage Goldberg attempts to jump but gets wrenched with a Hurt Lock. MVP tries to assure that Lashley wouldn't have known that he was attacking Goldberg's son but it means little, Goldberg insisting he's gonna kill Lashley, meaning this feud isn't over.

The heat was right, the delivery was wrong. We've seen people beat Goldberg clean, I don't see why Lashley, who has beaten people who have beaten Goldberg clean, couldn't do that himself? Needing MVP's help flattens the statement made.

Camera work got a bit wonky there when promoting the Main Event

Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c) def. John Cena (Pinfall via Spear) Cena's the first to come out, sporting a Super Mario-esque shirt showing his 16 world title reigns, the reigns also shown on the tron, they actually mentioned Ric Flair this time. The Bronze Statue hologram for Roman is still tacky, but he comes out flanked with his cousins and Paul, smoke again instead of pyro - I wonder if they weren't allowed to pyro. Heyman whispers the Usos to leave Roman to walk the ramp. I spotted an 'Anyone but you Roman' sign in the crowd, before McAfee makes me smirk again by calling Roman an 'absolute stud'.

Roman's a little ginger about locking up with Cena, but is goaded into it, winning the shoulder block. A second lock up leads to a Cena roll up for 1, trying to call back to the go home smackdown, another schoolboy for 2 but Roman laughs it off. Roman doesn't lock up again, kicking and clubbing at Cena while mocking the crowd, a lariat is reversed into another rollup for 2 but gets him back with a reverse lariat (he used the back of his arm, like a chop lariat), a Suplex by Roman leads to a 2 count, then the rest hold. Cena tries to break but Roman smacks him, another suplex for 2 then he dumps Cena out the ring, Cena blocks the punch and tries to flurry back, but is whipped into the steel steps. After some posturing Roman smacks Cena headfirst into the steps again, then posing with the belt as he claims that the crowd needs him, he saunters to the ring but walks into another schoolboy for 2, leading to another punch.

Roman insists that Cena can't win like this, but in his gloating Cena almost lifts him for the AA, which Roman counters into a DDT for 2. Roman almost looks bored, telling the hard cam that he's not apologetic about hurting Cena, Cena once again tries the forearms but when he tries the flying shoulder block he runs into an uppercut. Roman mocks Cena for having only five moves, but again it's a rollup for 2, this time Roman counters with a sleeper, Cena tries to fight but Roman puts his body weight on him, he tries again and Roman uses his weight again, only this time Cena launches him into the corner and follows up with a clothesline. Then come the shoulder tackles, the twisting front drop, but as he tiredly goes for the 5 Knuckle Shuffle, Roman snaps in the Guillotine, Cena tries the Jackknife pin for 2, the hold is broken but this time it's a Superman Punch. Roman wastes too much time though and his spear is countered with a kick, this time the 5 Knuckle Shuffle hits, AA, 1, 2, No. Heyman's having heart palpitations ringside but Cena's locked in the STF, Roman makes the rope to break the hold and leaves the ring, but as Cena looks to follow he's hit by a Drive By.

Roman looks to put Cena away with a Spear on the outside, but Cena counters it with an AA through the Announcer's Table, he drags Roman back into the ring but only gets the 2. Cena goes up top, looking for a dropkick maybe, but he's caught into a powerbomb for 2. Roman seems to be prepping his Superman Punch, but Cena rolls for 2, picks up for the AA but can't lift him all the way, allowing Roman to hit the Superman Punch for another 2. Roman is getting irritated now, Cena's been in his head after all, he goes for the Spear but meets ye olde ring post. Cena pulls Roman up for the Avalanche AA, he lands it, 1, 2, No! Cena taunts Roman this time, quoting his entrance theme then mocking the Oooowaaah, the Spear is cut off though, instead they trade blows, one Superman Punch, two Superman Punch, Roman declares he is WWE and lands the Spear, 1, 2, 3.

Roman stands over the prone Cena, but then the noise is heard. Brock Lesnar is in the building, and he still has the hipster look. Cameras lose control again as Heyman finds a conflict in interest, dude is absolutely jacked though. He approaches Roman in a staredown, but Roman just leaves the ring to close the night. Apparently off-air Lesnar then attacked Cena.

You know what would've made this match better? If the conclusion wasn't so forgone after Smackdown. Did anyone actually think that WWE would let Roman quit? At least before Roman's career was at stake there was a 10% chance Cena could leave as the winner, which would've made the nearfalls much more believable.

As for Lesnar, well, Vince always wanted Roman/Brock to be the main level feud and he's always getting his way. It'll draw, but it only puts paper over the submarine window that is the problem.

Conclusion

A good PPV though. I don't think there was any match that was awful. And that's kinda saying something with Eva Marie involved. Some segments and matches were, legless perhaps, stuff you could've be done with or even just put on Raw which is a shame because that took time from matches, as I said I would've liked to actually see Becky and Bianca wrestle and the Mysterios get more time.

The returns were good, I suppose Chicago definitely had nothing to do with that. But I'm not gonna be sad about seeing Becky Lynch again.

My main problem is probably how despite the big card, there was no doubt, I mean I got all but a couple of matches right on this card and it was because the matches were all built so obviously, those two frankly I predicted because I expected a bit more swerve. Part of it could be the fatigue of all the good wrestling we've seen so far but compared to other PPVs where I've felt on the edge of my seat or shaking in my ribs I just felt cosy, like it was a casual watch.

It was certainly not bad, definitely a good outing with good wrestling, but there is room still to improve on the narrative, and camera work like seriously learn to linger, immediate snap cuts throw people off. New directions are ahead to fulfill that so hopefully WWE can find a course to get back on.

[sir-subpar]

Welcome Home (Rave/Ruave Oneshot)

*Henry Stickcat au this time. I've never really written a fic from the point of view of animals, so I'm giving it a try. Enjoy!*

   Terrence walked through the forest. The light rain wetting the ground as well as his dark fur. He wanted to go home, back to Randy, and out of this misty rain. The two of them lived in an old, abandoned, cabin. Terrence found it originally when he was cast away from his old pack. He literally became a lone wolf. He was alone for years before he met Randy, a runaway poodle. When the two first met, Terrence wasn't sure how he felt about Randy at first, his fur was dyed brightly, he didn't know how to hunt, he was loud, and he clearly wasn't used to being on his own in the wilderness. But now, he didn't want to live without Randy in his life. Over time, the two grew close. They learned from each other. Terrence taught Randy to hunt, and Randy taught him about humanity. The silly little poodle made him happy, he was a light in his otherwise dull and lonely world. He was his mate, and Terrence wouldn't trade him for the world. 

   Terrence stepped carefully, and walked slow, not wanting to slip on the wet ground. He used his nose to find his way. Always trust a wolf's nose. The rain started falling harder, agitating Terrence. He let out a huff, he was about halfway there. He'd be fine.  Terrence tried to walk under the cover of trees as much as he could, they provided little shelter from the rain, but they'd have to do. He climbed over stray logs and fallen beaches that blocked his path, the wood cracked beneath his paws. He got past the pile of wood, continuing his tedious trip home. He took another few steps, then stopped when he heard a sound. He stood still, his ears twitched, trying to hear the sound again. The rain made it difficult to focus, but he could manage. Terrence closed his eyes. He could hear each drop of water crashing into leaves, soil, rocks, and whatever else surrounded him. Focus. He needed to focus... Suddenly he heard something! A distress call. Definitely from either a small or young animal. Terrence opened his eyes. If he was lucky, he could find it, and bring it home for himself and Randy. Terrence smelled the air, trying to pick up on its scent. Then he heard it again, to the right. Terrence crouched low to the ground, ready to ambush his potential prey. He could hear it getting louder as he crept into some bushes. He was getting closer. He continued through the bushes. Ready to pounce.

"..mew!.." 

Huh?

"..mew!.."

Terrence emerged slowly from the bushes, his curiosity causing him to drop his hunting position. Reaching a clearing in the brush. Once he fully crawled out of his hiding place, he saw it. A cat-no, a kitten. It was small, with white fur. Terrence moved closer to it, no, him. Upon closer inspection, Terrence noticed something. The kitten's eyes were closed. He hadn't opened them yet, meaning he was most likely under a week old, and yet he was out here alone. Terrence looked around. No one else was in sight. No mother cat, no other kittens, no father. Nobody. "Mew…" the kitten cried again, making Terrence focus on him again. The more he looked at it, the more his heart sank. He was alone, in a world he couldn't yet see. His family abandoned him, with nothing. He was just left there to die in the cold. Left alone, unable to do anything but cry out in vain in hopes that someone, anyone would come to his aid. Terrence stood there, gazing at the poor creature before him.

This wasn't right. He couldn't leave him. Not like this.

   The wolf eventually took action. He had to. Terrence bit into the fur of the kitten, carefully avoiding the kitten's flesh, and lifted him off the ground. It wasn't hard, the kitten was tiny. "Mew!... Mew!" The kitten cried out, frightened and confused by the sudden lack of ground beneath him. Terrence continued his journey home, now moving faster. They had to get out of the rain. Hopefully Randy would understand.

…

  Terrence ran with the kitten in his grip. His home now in view. The kitten's cries had gradually quieted. Now barely audible. Terrence reached the porch of the abandoned log cabin he called home, the overhang blocking the falling rain. Terrence crawled through the "doggie door" as Randy called it. Speaking of, said poodle was laying on the couch. His head perked up upon seeing his mate back home. "Terry!" Randy jumped off the couch, running to greet Terrence. His pace slowed when he noticed the tiny feline Terrence was holding. The poodle tilted his head curiously; Terrence placed the kitten on the floor, it shook from the cold, and meowed. "I found him outside alone. He's cold." Terrence stated bluntly. Randy lowered his head to the distressed kitten and carried him to the couch. He placed the white ball of rain-soaked fluff on the couch cushion with him. He kept the kitten close, using his own fluffy fur to warm the baby feline. Terrence was surprised by Randy's lack of needing any persuasion, but thankful for it nonetheless. "Did you see any other little kittens outside?" Randy asked. "No, I didn't see anyone else. No parents or siblings. He was just alone." Terrence replied bluntly, but his tone had the slightest tinge of pity in it too. "Poor little guy.." Randy commented sadly. Terrence shook the water from his own body, wringing out his fur, then joined Randy and the kitten on the couch. "I'm kind of surprised Terrence, I never thought you'd bring home an abandoned kitten. I figured you'd just leave it or hunt it. It's sweet of you to bring him here out of the rain." Randy noted, looking at the grey wolf. "I just… I saw him out there crying for help and I… I just couldn't leave him there. Not like that." Terrence replied, his pointed ears drooping, he knew the feeling of loneliness all too well.

 "So… we're keeping him?" Randy asked. Terrence stayed quiet for a bit, then replied with his own question. 

"Can we?" There was a slight pause between them.

"Yeah… let's try it!" Randy replied, slightly excited. He wagged his tail. 

"What should we name him? Have any ideas Terrence?" 

"Hmm…" The wolf pondered as he looked at the kitten curled up against Randy's fluffy pink fur. "I've always liked the name Henry." Terrence stated, waiting for Randy's thoughts. "Henry... I like it." Randy replied. Terrence's ears perked up. "So it's settled then." Terrence leaned over to nuzzle his nose on the kitten's head. 

"Welcome home… Henry."

Terrence and Randy laid parallel to each other with Henry curled up between them, that way they could keep him warm.

"Yep, welcome home." Randy added. The two canines rested their heads on each other, and eventually fell asleep with their new feline son, who had finally stopped shaking, and was sleeping as well. They all enjoyed the warm embrace, and slept blissfully together, as a family.

[dusksmote]

Is there any background info you can give on characters in WTSAU?

Like any cool hc you give the characters?

okay i have SO MANY 😩 but i can’t say all the best ones until later cuz they involve SPOILERS

so i’ll try to say all the ones i can with the information given:

Style:

- Kyle’s had feelings for Stan since he realized he was gay, which was in middle school. When Stan came out as bi he told Kyle first, before Wendy, even though they were dating at the time. Kyle’s insecurities prevented from acting on his feelings even after they broke up.

- Wendy has pegged Stan in the past, but Kyle is the first guy Stan’s ever been with. Wendy has come around to support their relationship since the events of ETL chapter 4.

- Stan is always the first one to say ‘I love you’.

- Kyle was the last one in their big friend group to lose his virginity, but he has one of the highest sex drives of the guys. He and Stan switch off being top almost equally, but Kyle prefers to top and Stan prefers to bottom. they fuck daily.

- When they want to have a hard, passionate fuck Kyle tops. when they want to have slow, emotional sex Stan tops. Kyle has slight sadist tendencies (inflicts pain) and Stan has masochist tendencies (receives pain). Stan is especially into breathplay (choking, face sitting, crushing, etc.) and assplay. he’s the best ass eater (so call him a bottom feeder 😂) and Kyle’s superior in the blowjob department.

- Stan has hyperhidrosis, meaning he sweats more than the average person. this is why their rooms/the truck/anywhere they fuck smells so strong. there’s a few hints for this in ETL/WTSAU, he keeps antiperspirant in his locker and in the truck, he gets really sweaty whenever they have sex. Stan also has asthma and acne, which Kyle’s been helping him treat. Kyle loves popping his zits for him.

- Conversely, Kyle is super hygienic and always tries to keep himself clean and dry. when Sharon comes into Stan’s room in chapter 1 and describes the smell, the gym locker scent is Stan, the Old Spice is Kyle, and the ‘inside of a rubber balloon’ is their latex lubricant. 

- Everyone at school considers them the obnoxious, overly romantic couple. they hold hands, cuddle, kiss, and dirty talk in front of everyone. they think they can get away with it without people noticing but they’re chronically conspicuous and not stealthy. the working title for the fanfic was actually ‘Ain’t Slick’ for a while before it changed to What They Say About Us!

- they’re fucking devoted to each other and are exclusively monogamous. Stan is especially protective of Kyle and Kyle is fiercely possessive of Stan. 

- Kyle applied as a math major in his college applications, and will eventually get a PhD for logic and set theory. Stan’s a bio major and wants to go into physical therapy.

- Stan doesn’t smoke weed out of principle (because of his dad) so Kyle also doesn’t smoke in solidarity. 

- Kyle is a type 2 diabetic, and doesn’t need to always take insulin. his weight gain began with the World of Warcraft episode and was maintained instead of lost like in the show. his weight is a cyclical feedback loop of: genetics (mom’s side of the family), too much insulin (when using insulin therapy), and diet. this led to him developing lordosis (excessive weight warps his spine) so he didn’t grow as tall as he would have, and makes his weight appear more exaggerated. short stature, weight, and body image issues led to quitting basketball which in turn contributes more to his weight. this impacts his self-worth which leads to stress eating. his biggest fear is that he’ll never stop gaining weight and will end up as big or bigger than Cartman.

- Stan has gained a few pounds since he started dating Kyle, while Kyle has lost a few.

Cutters/Bunnyman/Kenrietta:

- Kenny is straight, but has voluntarily sucked dick before. he and henrietta have hooked up a few times in the past after running into each other at poetry slam events which Kenny takes Karen to. 

- Butters and Cartman are exclusively gay, and think girls are fucking gross. they’ve only every slept with each other.

- Kenny, Cartman, and Butters are all best friends and do pretty much everything together. even though Butters and Cartman are dating, Kenny never feels like a third wheel because they rarely act romantic in front of anyone (including him). however, when Style start dating and Cutters come out about their relationship, Kenny begins feeling like a fifth wheel.

- Butters lives almost entirely at Cartman’s house. His parents actually don’t mind because they enjoy not having him around. Liane is 100% the cool mom from mean girls who asks them if they want snacks or a condom. Sometimes all three of them crash at Kenny’s house for variety (or when he has to watch Karen because his mom is drinking/out of the house).

- Kenny wants to study psychology in college and become a family therapist or social worker. he’s taking a gap year to save money then going to community college. Cartman and Butters applied to the same schools and plan to stick together long-term.

- Butters and Cartman’s relationship started as experimenting with each other as their sexualities developed, and began after Cartman confided that he had sexual feelings for Kyle. Cartman and Butters have also developed genuine feelings for each other, and overtime their relationship transformed into what it is now. because of how their relationship started, they’re very open about any sexual feelings they have for other people and have a ‘hall pass’ for friends they’re allowed to fuck if given the chance, without it considered cheating.

- Butters is a huge gossip. he will promise to keep secrets and then immediately turn around and tell Cartman--which totally happened after Kyle said he thinks Stan has a crush on him in ETL chapter 2. Butters and Cartman keep nothing from each other, and the only secrets they won’t tell are the ones about each other. 

- Kenny is the easiest of the larger friend group to confide in, and keeps every secret he’s given. he’s known Cartman and Butters have been together since the beginning, about Cartman’s crush on Kyle, and Kyle’s crush on Stan. People naturally come to him for advice and to vent. The least likely person to confide in him is Kyle, who’s more likely to curl in on himself instead of expressing his feelings.

-SO much shit about Cartman and Butters’ relationship I can’t say yet because it comes up in the fic 😩 please ask me about these two again later when i can say more!!!

Creek:

- Tweek is a dom top and Craig’s his catamite. they try to get away with sex anywhere they can and have gotten very stealthy because of it. Tweek also has one of the highest sex drives of their friend group, and Craig will let him do whatever he wants anywhere, anytime. 

- Tweek is constantly high on stimulants (cocaine, meth, adderall, etc.) and Craig experiments with him in certain settings. this is what gives Tweek his boosted self-confidence and flippant attitude. 

- Pete Thelman (hair flip goth) is their coke dealer. Tweek trades him his ADHD meds for it, which Pete resells to posers. If Tweek doesn’t have enough to cover the cost he and Craig make up the rest by giving Pete sexual favors. sometimes they have threesomes for fun too.

- Tweek and Craig both think Kyle is hot and would fuck him given the chance. being open about this with each other makes them feel closer and strengthens their relationship. they have roleplayed as Stan and Kyle in bed before while high out of their minds.

- they're deeply in love and would do anything for each other. Craig could get Tweek to stop taking drugs if he wanted to but right now they enjoy experimenting with them together. in the words of everyone who know them, ‘Tweek and Craig are perfectly fucked up for each other’. 

Kyle’s family:

- Sheila’s biggest regret as a parent is letting Kyle get fat, because she was also overweight as a kid and dealt with the same issues he does now. It’s the same reason she feels obligated to help Kyle’s cousin overcome his weight dilemma (by trying to get him and Stan to hang out).

- Ike is an eboy who loves lil peep. He, Karen, Tricia, and Firkle all make tiktoks together and complain about their gay older brothers/friends.

- random fun fact: If Ike and Karen get married that would mean Kyle and Kenny are brothers-in-law, which would mean the main five all end up as extended family to one another.

Stan’s family:

- Sharon has plans to divorce Randy but is waiting until Stan leaves for college to not uproot him from school and his friends.

- Grandpa Marsh is still kickin’ in the old folks home and Shelly’s off in college.

- Randy’s a narcissist who lives vicariously through Stan’s accomplishments in sports. the easiest way to explain it is: Randy’s not as proud of Stan for being a successful athlete and attractive jock as he is proud of himself for producing one. Stan’s ability to get laid with (he presumes) hot girls makes Randy feel like he has game too. one of the reasons he’s disgusted by Stan’s relationship with Kyle is if Stan’s fucking some big fat guy it doesn’t align with his narrative. 

-

this is just the stuff i could think of off the top of my head, i’ll probably come back and add more to this as i remember it. ask me again in a few chapters!!! i have so much i want to say about bunnyman, cutters, the future for style, and their families that i can’t say yet!