#for audio recording! because I’m gonna do more of those! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cripplecharacters · 4 months ago

Note

Hello! Your blog has been incredibly helpful for me, thank you for doing what you do

Disability is a core theme of the stories I make, so accessibility is one of my most important goals. For reference, I write books but my main project is a show that’s sometimes semi-animated and sometimes similar to visual novel style dialog.

Some of the things I’m doing now are subtitles and narration that’s baked into the show itself, sticking to a simpler style of writing, and making it free to watch. It’s one part practicality and one part frustration at being told these things “ruin the experience” for others. Now they’re a core part of the experience.

But those are just the things I find personally helpful, I only have my own viewpoint. My question is what are other things I can do to make my story more accessible?

Specific things I’ve been struggling with are showing nonverbal communication (The narration covers a lot of this, but not enough) and conflicting needs. I know some things will help some people but hurt other’s experiences (ie, subtitles) which is a really hard thing to navigate! So advice on that would be helpful

Thank you!

- @interroblog

Hello lovely asker!

So I'm gonna throw out some ideas here at the start and these are in no way me saying "You have to do this". No, just me tossing some ideas out and maybe they hopefully help! 😁 Let's try this.

First off you also mentioned that it's part of your style in the way you're animating as well. I think if it's your style that you shouldn't have to change that either. It's both something that is unique to how you choose to do things and it also aids in accessibility. You shouldn't feel pressured to change it because some people find subtitles or Narration annoying. It ultimately comes down to how you want to do it, so again here are some things I could think of.

So if the site you're hosting your show on allows you to have toggle on subtitles and audio descriptions I would do that. If not what you can do is when you put your animation through you can have multiple. Kinda like with certain shows or movies you have a version in its original language and a version that's Voiced over with another language. If you want to accommodate your audience perhaps you can have a version:

Without any subtitles or audio descriptions

With subtitles

With audio descriptions

With both the subtitle and the audio description

Granted going this route may be more work than just doing it all together (I'm not 100% sure, I don't know animation very well) but it's certainly an option. I think the process of rendering and saving it at the end (having to do it multiple times) and in regards to space may be an issue.

Another thing you can do is write up a description transcript for each episode so that people can look at it for reference. Some people use screen readers or braille displays that read over this information for them if you're worried about the text itself. Here's a good example of one done from a DeafBlind film done in the 60's at Perkins [Warning for typical 60's language regarding disability]. It usually includes what an audio description would just typed out.

Another thing you can do is see and look around for anyone who is fluent in the local Sign language that your show is in and see if anyone could record and interpret it for you too, if you want to have that option for people as well.

You could also do kinda like comics and Manga do where they mark the sounds/actions on the panel/animation it self.

[Manga panel from the Manga "Shino-chan can't say her name"]

For instance in this manga panel there's no dialogue but the author gives us multiple cues which the translator also translates as well. There's the foot steps with the text getting bigger and bigger letting us know that the sound is getting closer and the direction, then in the next panel we have two exclamation points letting us know she's alarmed and aware. The text of the foot steps is now darker and bold and we see the streaks around the characters hands letting us know that she hurriedly wrapped up her box. Then we have the word "Sneak" in bold lettering against the wall where the character is pearing over.

Now I'm not sure what type of nonverbal communication your using so I'm gonna go over things a little vague.

Sign Language [Mostly in ASL because that's the sign language I'm most familiar with and can understand the most]

Here's two animations by @scoliwings and they're both in ASL and the way the person made them is with captions into the animation (also they're very cute and lovely). The show ThisClose also does this with their entire Pilot episode but then only does it with their ASL scenes moving forward in the series. The people who wrote and produced the show note that while they made the show surrounding the deaf community and about the deaf community they wanted the show to reach their hearing audience.

This scene that is with a translator has no captions whatsoever. While this scene between the two main characters using ASL does have captions. Then this one does have captions that go away when the characters communicate verbally.

This is a constant thing of multiple different medias is they kinda choose between which audience they want to pertain to. And whoever they choose, it usually ends up leaving the other out or not 100% involved usually at the fault of accessibility on streaming services/wherever the media is being hosted.

If someone Deaf/Hoh wanted to watch this show and there's no captions available on whatever platform is hosting it then it wouldn't be accessible to them. And if they are fluent in ASL, those parts have captions all the way through. For instance those videos on YouTube, not all of them are accessible because they don't have the toggle on Closed Captions. So the moments where there's characters who speak English and don't sign ASL, especially if the camera isn't on them when they're talking, it's just not accessible.

In the episode "Into the Mystic" on Supernatural, they introduce Eileen's character. This is the only episode that she uses ASL by itself, every other episode she is in uses SimCom and she code switches or uses English. Again captions are in the episode Everytime ASL is used except for scenes where she's signing in the background for instance this scene. From This Gifsets by @winchestergifs

[Gif of Eileen from Supernatural. She's sitting across from an older woman on a couch and she signs in American Sign Language "You" while pointing at the older woman, then she forms her fists into a 'S' shape one on top of another and moves them to the right, she then finger spells "Bait".]

It's never translated, not even in the script or the transcript. Even while this show is targeting their hearing audience they still gloss over things like this. (I also want to note that me and Mod Rock spent a while trying to figure out the second sign and came up empty handed as well 😅)

Now when it comes to Audio Descriptions, it's usually "[Character name] signs [dialogue in Verbal Language]". If it's the first time introducing the character or the character is switching languages, then specify what Sign language off the bat, ASL, BSL, ISL (SEE, SSE,) etc. It's the same as in writing that you write the character dialogue followed by "[pronoun/character name] signed". The shows that I know of that have characters using Sign language and have Audio Descriptions is The Boys (kimiko's scenes), ThisClose also has them, Bridgerton (episode 1 scene in s3, it's one scene in BSL but it's there!), and I'm pretty sure Echo does too (it should, I'm looking at you streaming service) but I've yet to watch that last one. Listening to them might help you with getting a grasp of writing them if you have any signing characters.

Ex. Eileen signs in ASL "You sure you don't want both?"

Another thing with Sign language though is body language and expressions and even things like story telling are there also. So describing an action can give a lot of context of feeling and what is going on in the scene. Here's another ASL animation that is in the works and they go more in detail of how they are animating body motion, face expressions and such. Craig of the creek is an animated kids show that also has BASL and ASL in it (and I love how they go about the characters dialogue, the signs are so well animated, and the friend translating and the others learning for him too.)

There's also Pro-tactile & Tactile Sign language. Granted I've never seen or do I know of a show/movie/short with pro-tactile in it or Tactical Sign Language but if anyone were to do that the audio description would probably be like "[Character A] puts their hands over [Character B]. [Character B] signs [dialogue]". That would be for the Hand over method which is Tactile Sign Language.

For Pro-tactile, this involves other forms of communication such as back channeling, mapping, haptics. It should be translated much the same I believe because these certain elements of the language are used to portray emotional tone, contact/interaction, as well as directions.

Here's some examples of pro-tactile and tactile sign language since I know it's not largely known: (all ASL)

Pro-tactile: Video 1 (Captions & No Voice Over), Video 2 (Captions & Voice Over) and it goes further into specifics of Hand placement, Back channeling while Standing & Sitting, Video 3 (Voice over & Captions). Here's five vlogs in PTASL also, no captions or voice over so Fluency in ASL is needed.

Tactile Sign Language: I was having a hard time finding videos (for some reason) but Here is a segment in a video where they show it. Here is another short video too!

Of course you don't want to describe every movement when it comes to Sign language but you want to describe the base movement. If someones Tracking, (this is where a person holds the wrist area of the other person who is signing so that it's in their field of vision) you might describe that before the dialogue. "[Character] puts their hands over [characters] wrist" and so on and so forth.

Haptics/Mapping may also be very similar but they're mostly used in describing the layout of an area someone is in, directions to somewhere, how to navigate the surrounding area. This is gonna be just explaining how they are moving. The same can be said with Visual Vernacular. It's movement to describe something or to tell a story it's not Sign language but a movement of general understanding. Here is a video where an interpreter details Visual Vernacular alongside ASL. Here's the one without the voice over as well.

AAC

The movie Come Play is a horror movie centered around a non-verbal boy with autism who uses an AAC app on his phone. His device is the one where speech is generated from the different buttons that correlate with the words he clicks. I couldn't find an example of an audio Description for this movie anywhere but it might be similar to the next example.

The Boys again also has scenes with Kimiko where she uses her phone to communicate and such. And the audio description usually sounds like "Kimiko types on her phone, it reads [dialogue]". The only difference in Come Play would be that the Dialogue wouldn't be narrated because it's already done so by the AAC device in the movie, but subtitles would be needed.

Speechless gives a lot of examples between low-tech and high-tech examples. This scene in particular where all the characters are in one scene. The main character (JJ) uses a laser pointer and a word/alphabet board with the assistance of an aid. In this instance the aid reads aloud everything that JJ communicates. If you're one on one though, much like with sign language, you wouldn't really read aloud everything they say especially if it's a private conversation. Instead the pov would probably show the characters AAC method they use whenever they communicate. For the audio description it might be something along the lines of "[Character] points and says [dialogue]".

I've never seen other types of AAC in media so it would probably be the same when it comes to Audio Description when describing another method like print on palm. it might be something like "[character] grabs their hand and writes [dialogue]".

In the show In The Dark the scenes with braille are described as "[character] runs their fingers over the braille, it's read [dialogue/text]". And on that topic, In the show All The Light We Can Not See, it has a really (really really really) good basis of what an Audio Description should be like. It also has multiple featurettes and an audio introduction with it that goes more in depth to explain the costumes, settings, the characters, and other visual information that is often important but left out in the audio descriptions due to the pacing of the show/film.

Immersion was the goal, much like with the production of Romeo and Juliet in PTASL that was performed. Introducing your characters and settings in a little short animation before hand or at the begining as a little segment may be something you can do/consider.

This video details some other forms of communication that I may or may not have left out (Auslan & Voice over). Finger Braille (Video of one handed with translator), Lorm Method, Touch Glove alphabet Method, and some other methods I think can all be described relatively the same. You want to describe the base action of what they're doing (writing, pointing, typing, grabbing, lifting, touching etc) and then focus on their dialogue.

Also I don't use any form of AAC to communicate so if anyone who does finds error, please correct it. Or even if there has been a discussion on this before among the community please reiterate or link to it so we have first hand experience and voices as well.

Known problems with audio Descriptions

Here's a Small history and more in depth article written by someone who needs audio descriptions. They primarily talk about its lack of rush to be used in cinema and primarily the UK.

Describing everything but the characters race: I've heard that this is an issue specifically for Netflix that the audio descriptions are good but they never mentioned the race of the character which some people have made note about. (I don't know much about this I will say just I've heard it around here and there)

Here is a post that goes more into detail about Audio descriptions as well by @accessibleaesthetics. And here is an all around really Good source as well called The Audio Description Project.

Forgetting character entrances & exits: This is important because people need to know what characters are in the scenes. Much like in a play with stage directions you need to know who comes in and when they exit.

Over describing/under describing: I read a debate about the use of over describing and under describing when it comes to AD's. The example given was when describing facial expressions. Option one is to just say "[Character] is surprised". Option two is to describe the facial expression in all its little details "[Character] opens their mouth, their eyebrows raised and eyes wide". Under describing in general seems to be a issue but when it comes to things like body/facial expressions it's best to keep it simple and to the point for another reason that I list down below.

Forgetting small details: the audio descriptions of All The Light We Can Not See, and The Boys do a fantastic job of small details. For others some things are glossed over but then don't make sense later on in the scene. For instance, if the character picks up a knife and this isn't narrated but then the part of them stabbing another person is then, it's kinda like "Oh well I guess the character picked up a knife at some point" but the exact moment isn't specified. In this article, the person who makes Audio Descriptions tells that he had described someone as Smoking a cigarette when he was in fact smoking Weed. He says the reason he realized the difference is because these are two separate substances that change the perception of the character. The little details matter because of the implications and importance to who is doing it and why, when gathering all the information and understanding a character.

Misnaming/mixing up characters: The same article I listed right before also says how mixing up characters is an issue sometimes too.

For audio descriptions in general I think listening to a few different ones might help with getting a grasp on how to do them/better do them. AudioVault is one place that if you can't find audio descriptions of your shows or movies, they might have it there. In this instance, maybe listening to your favorite movies or shows with the audio descriptions on might help you. Most shows/movies that are original to Netflix have them, the same with other streaming services like Peacock and Amazon Prime.

I don't use audio descriptions a lot because my tinnitus makes it difficult but I sometimes turn them on (when available) to understand scenes that are confusing to me. Certain actions and how the cameras frame them don't make sense to me sometimes, or even I can't see because of the lighting of the show or movie and so I need to know what's going on. This brings us to that beside people who are low vision or blind, many other people use Audio Descriptions for different reasons too. The same points can all be made for people who use Subtitles/closed captions as well.

Issues with captions/Things that need to be more common with captions

Names: Some captions have the names of the characters next to their dialogue. A lot don't do this. I think it should be done because of many reasons but mainly it makes it easier to follow along for everyone who uses captions.

Tonal Cues: As I mentioned before Tonal Cues in Captions would be so very helpful for a lot of people.

Don't censor: Don't censor swear words, slurs, anything, write it as it's said. Unless it's actually censored in the audio (which is usually done for comedic reasons) then do that.

Lyrics/music/background sounds: So not only making sure to include the songs that are playing over certain scenes but also making sure to include the soundtrack and background music that is playing. Almost every movie and show uses music as an indication for tone, often times characters or certain situations have their own theme too. These are all important to note when writing captions. The caption writers of Stranger Things did amazing when it came to background noises, writing every creak and bang is important especially if it's being heard and reacted to by either the characters or the audience.

Include language changes: This has long been an issue when you're watching something in one language and then when they switch languages it just says "Speaking in [language]". Instead write out what they said in that language. So instead of "Speaking in Spanish", actually write out "Sana sana colita de rana". If the character knows what they're saying because they speak the language you can also put another set of subtitles under it translating it. If you're doing a sorta comedic scene where the audience needs to know what is said but the character doesn't, then do the same, write it out in the language "Ay dios mio!" And then under/above it put the translation "Oh my God!".

Include different speech patterns: If the character has a stutter write it, if they're slurring their words together write it.

Auditory/Visual Learners: Some people just do better retaining and understanding information when it's in an auditory form. For some people, they're able to retain information more by reading it rather than hearing it as well.

People Who Have Trouble With Social Cues: Okay so a continuation to the "Over Describing/Under describing" bullet points above. For people who have trouble reading body/facial cues, the audio descriptions help by describing it as The character is happy, scared, shocked, surprised etc. This is part of the reason why it's best to use those words instead of describing every movement that goes into a person's expression/body language. Like wise Closed Captions with Tonal Cues would also help and serve much of the same purpose but those are rarely ever seen (in my experience).

Help People Learn The Connection Of Words And Actions: a lot of people are always learning new languages and being able to connect the word to the action helps with the understanding of new languages. Again the same for closed captions, being able to look at how words are spelt while listening to them helps grasp a better understanding.

Overstimulation: For some people looking and listening to something at the same time can be too much and it becomes overwhelming. I know I often turn off the sound to a lot of movies I watch and just use subtitles because sometimes commotion/yelling especially in like action movies is a lot. For some people, a lot of visual movement and constant rapid actions can be overwhelming as well.

Dark Screens: As I mention, especially more recently in the media industry, things are a lot harder to see nowadays. The same can be said with dialogue and why a lot of people may opt-in for subtitles and captions because things are just so hard to hear now.

The Busy Bees: Some people just like to multi-task and much like an audio book, you can do something (chores, crafting, homework etc) while listening to the show and not miss any visual information. Multi-tasking also helps some people concentrate better on what they're working on too much like music helps some people.

People With Other Medical Conditions That Make Viewing Screens Inaccessible: If your having a migraine or headaches, a screen is the last thing you want to look at, and for some people, noise is a trigger for them. They're also a known trigger for many people with epilepsy/seizure disorders. People who have photophobia also may AD due to the light sensitivity. People with ADHD, autism, Prosopagnosia, Processing Disorders, and many many other things that I can't possibly list them all, all may use Subtitles or AD's for multiple different reasons.

Okay, that was a lot, got a bit long, but hopefully I covered everything! Things could be more organized but it works so hopefully this helps! I'm not very familiar with animation so anyone who is, please feel free to add on in a reblog to share a few tips and tricks!

~ Mod Virus 🌸

#mod virus #and a very thank you to mod rock with the translating and helping with describing the AD on PTASL #writing descriptions #interroblog #writing audio descriptions #nonverbal representation

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sibillascribbles08 · 7 months ago

Text

Babysitting

Morning, I actually wrote a HypnoWarren fic, sort of. They're already married by this point so

Note the fic also established Jasonnie so if you can't stand that uuuuh sorry bye

Hypno let out a sigh as he sunk into the giant, plush sofa in the living room. He had half a mind to turn on the TV, but after a morning filled with the joyful screams of children at the nearby kindergarten, he preferred the silence. Besides, the light was on over Warren’s door which meant he was currently recording. The less noise the better.

The silence kind of made him want to nap. Maybe just a quick one. He did have to wake up early to get ready, after all.

But just then he heard the faint creak of a door. Hypno glanced down the hall to see one of Warren’s doors open, the light up top going off.

One of his doors, because two smaller ones were built into the main door.

When Donatello built this apartment complex, he took great care to renovate all the flats to accommodate whatever mutants wanted to move in. So for the worm’s bedroom—in which all the furniture was designed for his small size to the point it was practically a house—had a door up top for him to hover out of, and a door on bottom for him to crawl out of.

The upper door opened this time, and Warren hovered into the hall on the little hover scooter that Donatello also built. The worm mainly just used it to get around the building. Otherwise he just sat on Hypno’s shoulder.

Warren looked like he was going to head to the bathroom, but then his gaze met Hypno’s and he smiled.

“You’re home earlier than I thought.” The scooter shot across the room and stopped next to the sofa. “How were the kids?”

“Eh, could have been worse.” Hypno didn’t hesitate to pick his husband up and put him on his shoulder. The hover scooter gently drifted down onto an empty cushion. “Got the new episode recorded?”

“You bet.” Warren beamed, hands on where his hips would be if he still had them. “I was excited to get to work on it this week. Breaking news, famous chef making a comeback with a new restaurant for mutants and yōkai alike.”

Hypno’s ears perked up. “Oh gosh, is the opening next week? We gotta go down and tell Rupert congrats.”

Warren waved a hand. “Way ahead of you. We can tell him on opening night, I got us a reservation. A romantic date and a chance to do a follow up report with a review. The listeners are gonna love it.”

‘Listeners’ referred to the hundreds of mutants and yōkai who tuned into Warren’s weekly news podcast. Not the same as being an anchorman, he often insisted, but it was familiar enough that he enjoyed it. He had fans again, and a means to earn them some extra income.

Plus, mutants and yōkai in the city had been complaining for a while about their lack of personal news outlets. It’s where Warren got the idea in the first place.

“I’m just proud of Rupert.” Hypno leaned back against the sofa. “Took him so long to give up all that crime stuff.”

“Yeah, well, even if Orange Boy hadn’t enticed him with that deal, I’m pretty sure the power houses those turtles turned into would have changed his mind.”

No kidding. Hypno was glad he and Warren started going on the mend years ago. After ruining Leo’s first magic show and having to work at a bagel shop to pay it off, the slider actually did something nice by giving Hypno some work recommendations. With a far more reliable and legal source of income, he and Warren didn’t have to stress too much about a living space.

And when Donnie built this first apartment complex, well, that just sweetened the deal. No insane rent costs. As long as you paid your portion of the utilities and for any damages you caused, the rent was rather low.

He supposed the owner of a very successful tech company didn’t really need the extra money.

“So, what’s the plan for the rest of the day?” Warren knocked Hypno’s top hat off and climbed up on his head. His tiny fingers played with the hippo’s hair. “I need to get to editing that audio, but I can do it tonight. Should we go to the park or something?”

Hypno thought about it for a bit, and was going to fire back a reply, when someone knocked on the door. He immediately turned his head to the right, forcing Warren to look that way as well.

“Who could that be?” The worm muttered. His tone obviously frustrated that they were interrupted.

Hypno got up. “Possibly just a neighbor who ran out of something in their spice cabinet.” It happened more than once. Especially considering that while mutant sightings were common these days, going to the grocery store was still an ordeal.

Hypno didn’t even peek outside before opening the door. He was a bit surprised to see Donatello standing there, but not by much. The turtle lived just a few doors down.

“Oh thank goodness you’re home.” Donnie's eyes looked absolutely exhausted as he closed them and clasped his hands together.

“Sure are, Flapjack,” Warren said. “Need a favor?”

“I know this is extremely short notice. But could the two of you watch Holly this afternoon?”

Now that did surprise Hypno. He knew Holly, of course. He’d seen the infant turtle more than once—mainly because her dads could not stop showing her off—but baby sitting?

“You sure you want us to do that?” Hypno pointed to himself.

Donnie groaned. “Look, Draxum is at work. Holly Blue and Jason are also at work and stuff has gone absolutely off the walls there. They need my help. The sooner I get over there the better so trying to drag one of my siblings over to watch her isn’t an easy option. You guys live right over here.”

Hypno didn’t know if it was worth bringing up their history considering they hadn’t fought in, what, a decade at least.

Still, “I don’t know all that much about infant care.”

Donnie kept running his hands over his face. “Not a problem. She doesn’t act like a typical infant. It’s super easy, I promise, if you guys are free at least.”

“Well—”

“We’re not doing it for free.” Warren mumbled.

“Warren.”

“What?”

“No, it’s fine.” Donnie waved a hand. “If you do this, I’ll waive your water bill for the month.”

The hippo balked at that. Not having to pay for water? That meant he could take as many long soaks in the tub as he wanted. He usually tried to limit it—despite how badly his skin needed it—due to, well, how much water he had to use per bath.

Warren must know exactly what he was thinking, because the worm snapped his fingers. “Deal. Show us what we’ve gotta do.”

“Sure.” The turtle nodded. “Grab anything you think you might need and meet me over there.” He turned and left.

Hypno wasn’t sure they’d need much, and they could always just hop back over here if they did, but Warren insisted they grab a couple of those canned coffee drinks just in case. He also insisted Hypno change out of his work clothes.

Yeah, that was fair.

Now with a much more casual button up, Hypno carried Warren and the coffees over to Donnie’s apartment. The door was propped open so they let themselves in.

Always so surreal how different it looked despite the similar floor layout. Where Hypno and Warren’s apartment was decorated wall to wall with posters and had silly nicknacks and props in every corner, Donnie and Jase’s apartment looked far more sleek. The fancy TV and speaker system, the massive massage recliner chair, and all the purples made it feel like something on a sci-fi themed cruise ship.

But as they followed Donnie to Holly’s room, the entire vibe shifted. At present, the tiny turtle baby mostly stayed in a personalized tank. Not that it was small by any stretch of the word. The tank was custom built, taking up half the room. The entire thing was built in a U shape—likely so you could reach her from anywhere while giving her plenty of space to move around. While some areas looked like a traditional tank, with sand, plants and water, the other half looked like a tiny bedroom. Blankets, pillows, and toys were scattered all over it.

Hypno wondered where the child even was, but the smallest squeak alerted him. He finally spotted her pressing her hands against the glass wall as Donnie reached in and picked her up.

She was definitely bigger than the last time Hypno saw her, but still tiny enough to fit in the turtle’s hand, and therefore Hypno’s as well.

“Okay,” Donnie began, eyes unfocused. “You guys know Holly. Holly, this is Hypno and Warren.”

The baby turtle didn’t even look in their direction. Her attention was completely fixed on her father.

“Good news, you don’t have to bottle feed her. She knows how to drink water and eat solid food, though I recommend you chop it up small for her. There’s a number of containers in the fridge labeled for her, just pick what you like.” Donnie pointed to a pair of bowls in one part of the tank, then a bottle that hung from the glass. “She has water in more than one location, food goes in that bowl.”

“Kinda sounding more like pet sitting than babysitting,” Warren mumbled.

Hypno gave his shoulder a sharp shrug to jostle his husband.

“What?”

“No, you’re right,” Donatello sighed. “But truthfully, even if the mechanics are different it’s not that far removed from raising a human baby. Moving on.” He pointed at Holly, more specifically at the cloth wrapped around her bottom half. “Diapers. We have to custom make them and they’re all cloth. We keep clean ones in that drawer.” He pointed to the dresser that was barely visible over the array of fabrics. Were those just the ones not yet cut up? “Used ones go in that hamper.” He pointed to what looked more like a trashcan than an actual laundry hamper. Probably for smell reduction. “Any questions so far?”

Warren asked, “Do we just leave her in the tank?”

“Pretty much. She’s allowed to wander around this room but only this room. We haven’t baby proofed the rest of the apartment.”

“So why call us?”

“Because she eats. A lot. And she can also get bored pretty easily. And also I just worry a lot about something going incredibly wrong if one of us aren’t around.” His eyes went so wide they looked like they might fall out. Then one of them twitched.

Hypno would suggest the guy take a nap, but that would probably be rejected immediately.

“It’s just the afternoon.” Donnie lowered Holly back into the tank. She let out a few high pitched squeaks of protest. “Jason and I should be back at six at the latest.”

Six? That was more like the whole day considering lunch hadn’t even passed.

But this did seem like a fairly low stress task. Make sure she didn’t hurt herself, toss around some magic to keep her entertained, order some delivery for them to eat?

And also, no water bill for the month.

“We’ve got it.” Warren answered. “Go do what you need to do.”

“Right.” Donatello nodded and went for the door. “You have my number if you have any questions or there’s an emergency or—”

“We’ve got it.” Warren insisted. “Go help your husband out.”

Another nod. Hypno peeked out into the hallway to watch Donnie leave. The turtle gave him a few looks, one more curious and the final one deathly serious. As if to give a brief warning of, “Nothing better happen to my daughter or else.”

And yeah, Hypno knew that. In fact, what worried him the most about this was if something did go wrong, Donatello could blast him and Warren into the next country.

It’d be fine. Low stress.

Hypno went back into the room and sat on the floor. At least there were plenty of cushions around here to use. Holly was already moving about her tank. She went straight for the big pool of water and dove right in.

“Yeesh, four-month old is already swimming.” Warren slid off Hypno’s shoulder and onto his lap. “I bet she’ll be walking in another month.”

Quite possible given that the turtle was already crawling.

“Did you put those coffees in the fridge when you came in?”

Hypno shook his head and got up. “Nah, let me go do that. I’ll locate the food too while I’m at it. Make sure I know where to find it.”

He found the cans still sitting on the small table in front of the sofa where he left them. Hypno picked them up and went to open the fridge. The frigid space was far more organized than his, but not to the point it looked unnatural. Donnie wasn’t kidding either, multiple containers had Holly’s name tapped on the top. Hypno picked up a couple to glance at the contents from the bottom. Looked like sardines, ham slices, and even peeled shrimp.

Hypno put them back and returned to the bedroom. Warren managed to pile some of the cushions together for him to climb up to look into the glass of the tank. Holly pressed herself against it as well, staring at him with her tiny eyes.

“Keeping her entertained, Love?” Hypno stood behind him.

Warren smiled when he looked back. “She seems to be enjoying the silly faces, at least. Why don’t you see how she reacts to some magic?”

Well, why not? Hypno leaned over the top of the tank. Holly almost fell over when she tried to look at him, appearing a bit more nervous.

Then Hypno reached into his sleeve and plucked a flower out of nowhere. The child didn’t laugh or clap, like most children did, but those small eyes widened. Hypno lowered the flower into the tank and she instantly reached for it. Her little fingers wrapped around one of the petals and then she tried to bite it.

Only to quickly reel back and stick out her tongue.

Hypno and Warren both chuckled and he pulled the flower back out. Just in case eating it wouldn’t be good for her.

“Man, this is gonna be the easiest job of our lives.” Warren snapped his fingers.

Hypno shook his head. “Don’t count your rabbits, Love.”

—-------------------------

Well, at least so far it was going well.

The kid really did get bored easily. She needed as much stimulation as some of the toddlers Hypno would do tricks for. And he mainly took the charge for that, on account of the fact he could summon tons of colorful flowers, sashes, and even balloons. He did make the mistake of popping one, however, which resulted in Holly hiding under a few pillows for a solid ten minutes.

Warren lured her out with a snack. She seemed to really enjoy the peeled shrimp.

The biggest problem came from diaper changing, but that was mainly because Warren had to do it with his smaller hands and he had to complain about it the entire time.

Hypno could see right through him, however. Especially after the anchorman washed his hands and picked the kid up to return her to the tank. Her little hands touched his face and she squeaked and the worm melted in an instant.

Maybe it was just due to the rare occurrence that Warren met anyone smaller than him these days. Even human babies were typically larger.

“News flash.” Warren posed as he held her. “The most handsome man in the world spotted with the most adorable child in the world. Ron, take a picture.” He waved his free arm.

Hypno chuckled and took a few shots. “Let’s not turn her into a photo op, Love.”

“Are you kidding, she was built for the camera.” Warren held her up and she giggled.

But not long after that, the kid got wiped out. Hypno placed her in the tank where she immediately curled up in a nest of blankets. The sight of it was so cute, Hypno took another photo. He sent that one to Donnie, just in case the guy needed some reassurance. A miracle the turtle wasn’t spamming them with texts asking if she was safe.

Donnie replied with a heart emoji, then a thanks, and then a message saying that Jase appreciated it too.

Hypno added some details about how well it was all going.

“Well, with her asleep we should take a break.” Warren scooted toward the door. “How about a snack and those coffees?”

“I’d feel bad taking their food.” Hypno stood. “I think I’ll hop back over to our place to grab something. You good with getting to the kitchen?”

Warren rolled his eyes. “Oh I can get to the kitchen just fine. Getting to the coffees… might be tricker.”

Hypno chuckled and opened the door. “I won’t be long.”

And he wasn’t. They hardly locked their doors in this building so it was simple to grab a couple of apples for himself and a bag of Warren’s favorite chips.

He returned to Donnie’s apartment and got the coffees out of the fridge before placing them and his husband all on the table. They ate and drank and chatted about weekend plans.

Only about thirty minutes later, when they finished up, Hypno went back to the bedroom to see the door open.

“Warren, did you not shut this?” He glanced at the worm on his shoulder.

His husband crossed his arms. “Why should I? Kid is fast asleep and she can’t get out of that tank anyway.”

Hypno’s ears went back as he went inside. “Better safe than sorry, you know?”

“Come on, Babe. The kid is right—” Warren pointed down to the blanket nest, but it was empty. “Er…”

Despite the stab of panic, Hypno didn’t let it consume him. The tank was huge. The kid could have gotten up and wandered somewhere else in it. But after searching back and forth in there—and turning over every pillow or other large object she could hide under—they found nothing. Hypno even dug into the sand at the bottom of the pool.

“Did she get out?” Warren shouted. “How?”

Hypno darted over to the door to shut it. Just in case the kid was still in here. “It doesn’t matter. Start looking. If Donnie finds out we lost his daughter we are going to get launched to the next state.”

“Donnie?” Warren raised his voice even higher. “Are you kidding? You think Donnie is the threat here?”

For a second Hypno wasn’t even sure what his husband meant.

Then he immediately recalled the short lived mess where Donnie got kidnapped by some business rivals. He recalled the look on Jason’s face when he left the building that day. And he recalled the news report less than an hour later of a massive dragon tearing a warehouse down to nothing but scrap.

Hypno put his hands on his head. “Jase is gonna have his dragon rip us to shreds.”

“Just start looking!”

Hypno did. He let his husband focus on the floor while he checked everything else. He didn’t rule out the shelves, cabinets or even the drawers. He tossed aside every piece of clothing, every box, and even tipped over the empty water pitcher just in case.

They still found nothing.

“I’m going to start looking outside.” Hypno tossed the door open and went into the hall.

On the bright side, all the other room doors were closed, including the bathroom. So that meant Holly had to have crawled into some place in the living room or the kitchen.

Hypno crawled around on the floor, looking under the sofa, the chairs, and even peeking under the rugs. Then he checked the TV stand, every shelf and behind any of the blocks of machinery. Still nothing.

Eventually Warren came out to help. Hypno hoped that his much smaller husband would have an easier time checking out the more cramped areas, but it still didn’t work. Damn it, Holly was so small. Could she have fit into the ventilation. Oh no! They’d never be able to get her out of there.

“What do we do?” The panic was definitely getting to him now. “Warren, what do we do?”

“I don’t know.” The worm snapped back, just about as good at dealing with stress as he was. “Wait. Wait! Newsflash!”

“What?”

“The shrimp.” He pointed to the fridge. “She loves that stuff. Pull some out, maybe we can lure her.”

A brilliant plan as any right now. Hypno got out the container and gave a piece of the shellfish to Warren who sneered at the smell of it. Still, he began to crawl around, waving it.

Hypno did the same, though in the kitchen this time. He was still on the floor, praying that the tiny child hadn’t found a way to climb up on the counters or something. There were knives up there!

As he moved closer to the fridge, he heard a squeak.

Hypno’s ear and then his face turned toward the noise in an instant. “Holly? Is that you, Love? Come here.” He waved the piece of shrimp closer, hoping the smell was strong enough.

Another squeak, a bit louder. Then finally the tiny turtle wiggled her way out from underneath the fridge.

Just how did she get under there? When?

Hypno snatched her up in an instant. Holly squeaked in surprise and even struggled for a second.

“Warren, I got her.”

“Oh thank goodness.” The worm shouted. “Let’s get her back.”

Hypno headed in that direction, but then realized just how much dust and grime Holly had picked up on her little adventure. “Maybe we should give her a quick wash first.”

“Fine, but make it quick.” Warren reached up. “We need it so her dads have no idea this happened by the time they get home.”

Hypno agreed. He handed Holly the shrimp—that she kept reaching for—and then put his husband on his shoulder. He carried them both to the bathroom where he plopped Holly in the sink. Donnie didn’t give them any bath instructions, but there was a tiny basket on the counter with some light soap and a soft brush.

Warren handed her the other shrimp and turned the sink on. “I hope she doesn’t splash a lot.”

Hypno chuckled. “Don’t count your rabbits.”

—----------------------------

One messy bath later and a lengthy dry off—which was mostly Warren trying to fix his soaked shirt—the pair returned Holly to the tank.

Upon which her method of escape soon became clear. As soon as they left her in there, Holly stepped away from the glass only to take a running leap at it. She tried to grab the edge, but missed it, smacking into the glass instead.

“Hm, Donnie’s going to have to make the walls higher.” Warren pointed to one of the pillows. “Kid is too smart. Prop one of those up so she doesn’t bruise herself.”

Hypno did. And it sort of worked, with Holly crashing into the plush material instead.

“How does she still have energy?” The hippo sighed. “No wonder Donnie looks so wiped out.” Even he was feeling it at this point.

Thankfully, after a few more failed jumps, Holly gave up. With a tiny yawn she fell back asleep on the blankets, and this time Hypno kept watching her to make sure she stayed there. Warren climbed onto his lap as he sat, also flopping over like he’d take a nap.

Hypno began to doze himself, but then he heard the front door open.

The hippo sat up straight, jostling his husband in the process. Warren complained, but didn’t protest as he got picked up and placed on Hypno’s shoulder.

He opened the door right when Donnie got to it.

“Hey,” the turtle didn’t look any less tired. “Everything good?”

“Yeah,” Hypno gave a nervous laugh. He waved at Jase who came up behind Donnie, then stepped aside as the guy came into the room to kneel next to the tank. “You guys might want to raise the walls a bit though. Seems she’s learning how to jump out.”

“What?” Donnie groaned. “She’s barely grown two inches since she’s hatched but she’s doing this?”

“Are you really surprised?” Jase carefully lifted his sleeping daughter out of the tank, cradling her in his hands. “Your dad did say you guys were escaping into all kinds of places as babies.”

“Yeah, but he didn’t have a custom built tank.”

“We’ll just put a few extra inches of cushioning to block her.” Jase shook his head. “Thanks for babysitting, guys.”

“Yeah, of course.” Hypno smiled and glanced at the two of them. They both looked beyond exhausted. “Anytime, actually. You guys look like you could use the break.”

“Probably,” Donnie admitted. “But we knew what we signed up for.”

“Still,” Jase added. “We could probably allow someone else to watch her for a bit by this point.”

“After I adjust the tank.”

“Of course.”

Hypno chuckled at their usual banter.

“Well, this was fun.” Warren snapped a finger. “But I’m hungry. Have you guys eaten?”

“Nah,” Jase sighed. “Came here right after work.”

“Oh, let us go get Chinese then.” Hypno slipped past Donnie. “Our treat.”

“Our treat?” Warren scoffed.

“Well, they are paying our water bill this month.”

“Fine, fair enough.” He waved a hand.

Hypno looked back at his neighbors. “Is that good with you guys?”

“Well I definitely don’t want to cook,” Jase said. “So yeah. Just get our usuals.”

Hypno gave them a thumbs up and headed out of their apartment and toward the stairs.

Warren was oddly quiet on the way down the steps. Usually he loved to ramble after such a chaotic event.

Hypno shrugged his shoulders to nudge him a bit. “Something on your mind?”

“Hm?” His husband blinked. “Well, no, maybe. Mostly tired. Just made me think um…” He kept looking up as he tapped his chin. “Did you uh… ever want to have kids?”

Hypno’s ears went up. “What brought this up?”

“We just babysat one.”

“I know but… did you want to have them?”

“Not really?” The worm cringed when he said that. “I mean, I guess I wouldn’t hate it, but it’s not something I really want to do either. But we still haven’t talked about it even though we got married years ago so…”

“Ah, I guess that makes sense.” Hypno opened the side door and stepped out onto the street. “Can’t say it’s something I really want to do either. Sides, I think helping look after that little one will be more than enough.”

Warren chuckled, a genuine smile on his face as he leaned against Hypno’s head. “Yeah, you’re telling me.”

#rottmnt #scribbly fics #hypnowarren #hope that's the right tag F #they end up baby sitting Holly often enough they become her unofficial uncles #A while back I saw a clip from an article about #how some softshell turtles will do running leaps to escape their tanks #so you have to make sure they're tall enough lmao #posting this early idc

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absolutebl · 1 year ago

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Hi ABL!

I was wondering if you had any posts about the use of sound effects in BL - the slide whistle for checking people out/boners simply gets me every time.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve watched so much American produced media and tuning out the same concept / soundscape since I’m so used to it.

I’m also always surprised that with this love of sound effects, there hasn’t been the classic echoing noise that’s heard across oceans when they open lube!

Anyway I love your blog! It’s been an incredible resource in appreciating BL in all its glory :)

Hi!

Why All those Sound Effects in BL RomComs?

I don't have a specific post. I mention it in some of my guidance and warning posts about Thai and Taiwanese stuff in particular, in general I am not wild about it... but I have grown accustomed to it. It can certainly be off putting to new watchers.

One of the worst offenders was Lovely Writer. I think I docked a whole point off that show because the sound was SO intrusive and jarring within the context of the drama.

These days the more comedy and the more pulp, the more likely and frequent the sound effects. Also Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Japan are the biggest offenders.

It's simply a comedic tradition. I think of it as similar to panto or commedia dell'arte. It's certainly true that a lot of ancient Greek and Roman plays likely had sound effects, as indeed would have Shakespeare. No to mention Kabuki theater. In fact, it's like throughout the history of stagecraft, sound effects were more common than not.

However, it's not particularly common or popular in American modern cinema out of Hollywood because it's associated with children's performances and clownishness. Like the voice overs, cartoon sound effects now are seen as somewhat clumsy and childish, not to say old fashioned.

There is an element of mistrusting the actors not to convey the correct emotion. Like the actors need audio help to do their jobs properly. But also like the audience can't be trusted to understand and so we feel "talked down to" by the sound effect. At least I do.

Yes I am aware this is a personal hang up.

Instead I think it's meant more as a communal nudge, like "we all together are responding in a certain way to this." Isn't it funny?

I also wonder if it's the influence of anime et al. (I'm really not an anime person partly because of the soundscapes. But then I don't like cartoons. Or Disney. Just not into kid's stuff. Never have been. Even when I was a kid.)

Here's someone else's perspective on Thailand's use of sound effects.

And Japan's.

I would say I'm accustomed to it now, but I still don't ever enjoy it. In fact, I often appreciate the "gritty" drama BLs like The Eighth Sense or I Told Sunset About You or Eternal Yesterday BECAUSE at least high angst means no sound effects.

Also less likely to sing.

All hail dark BL's good side? The silver lining.

For the record and to show my "history of BL creds" I'm gonna give a shout out to the SINGLE best use of a sound effect in a BL-adjacent piece of media....

THE BEST BL SOUND EFFECT EVER AWARD!

drum roll please

THE POP SOUND

Made by Pree pulling out of Ram's ykw just just after railing him.

Series: What The Duck

(can't remember if it's season 1 or 2, and I will never rewatch that cray cray)

Country: Thailand

I am aware I am being crass but this moment was honestly, truly, hilarious. It's a very sexy scene and then that sound. So funny.

I expect a comment from those few of you who remember this moment.

(source)

#asked and answered #sound effects in bl #why such terrible sound effects in thai bl #sound effects in japanese bl #sound effects in taiwanese bl #lesst in korean bl these days #cartoon noises in BL #thai bl #what the duck #lovely writer

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girlreviews · 8 months ago

Text

Review #293: Last Splash, The Breeders

FUUUUUUUCK I love this record, but it permanently damaged the hearing in my right ear. I caught their show at Blackheath Hall in 2005. I put myself right at the front because I really loved them that much and I wanted — no, needed — to feel the heaving guitar in my chest, it felt like, to even continue on. I was seventeen so you know, everything felt a bit extra. I might as well have been hugging the PA system. Anyway, I didn’t anticipate what would happen during the part in Cannonball where Kim sings (yells) “WANT YOU, LITTLE CUCKOO” into the harmonic mic with all that distortion. Yeah, it’s loud. It’s so loud. My eardrum burst. I’ve had tinnitus ever since. My poor left eardrum suffered the same fate two weeks later at the Reading Fez (RIP), during a Mew show. Respectable, but so much less cool than its audio peeper partner in crime. Wear earplugs my friends. It’s not a joke.

Kim Deal founded The Breeders while The Pixies were on hiatus. Well that’s not true, she had been doing both but never able to focus on The Breeders, until 1993 when went Frank Black abruptly announced The Pixies hiatus live during an interview without informing the other band members first. The hiatus was kind of due burnout from recording three albums in two years and touring the hell out of them. Really though, Kim was not getting along with Frank. Here’s the thing — nobody really gets along with Frank. I love the Pixies. I do. But I will get into a fist fight with anyone who wants to insist that they’re better than The Breeders. They’re not. And the thing is, everyone has listened to The Pixies, while most of those same people haven’t given Kim and her band the same time of day. And you know why that is? Because they’re women who are playing heavy rock music. That’s all there is to it. I won’t hear anymore about it, I won’t say anymore about it and I’m not gonna fucking argue with you or anybody else about it. I’m right. Frank Black is a man, he fronts a band, so he gets paid more attention and listened to, and his shitfuck behavior gets dismissed as creative genius. The songs are great but that doesn’t mean you’re not an asshole, Frank! I’ll die on this hill but I’ll also throw hands before I do. Come at me.

I present to you, No Aloha, which actually, beautifully illustrates my point. It is also both beautiful and knockout punch effortlessly cool. It’s dreamy, and also like “we’re here to fuck shit up”. How can I express that it’s lovely and also ass kicking in its vague but biting commentary on being a woman in the music industry, and trying to make it in a band made up of all women (I think they’ve had a dude drummer in their line up from time to time to be fair, but still). It’s about how people that gave her the time of day during her Pixies tenure don’t give a shit about her now “No bye, no aloha, gone with a rock promoter” and how the perils of womanhood impact her creative output “motherhood means mental freeze, freezeheads, no aloha”. Think about what no aloha means. No hello. No goodbye. The disrespect. Ugh. Fuck yes to putting this out there unabashedly.

Obviously, Cannonball, the song that exploded my right ear, is iconic. If you don’t immediately recognize its bassline then I regret to inform you that you need to brush up on your general pop culture knowledge and you stand literally no chance of ever placing at any kind of trivia night. But most importantly, where have you been, and what have you been doing? And are you okay? Genuinely, you’re missing out. The whole thing about them is that musically they are just making some NOISE, and rocking so hard, but Kim’s voice is also so gentle and smooth. Like warm molten wax, or thick maple syrup and butter soaking into a perfect pancake. And she’s harmonizing with her own twin sister, who has the same voice? It’s too many textures but they’re polar opposites. It overwhelms and soothes at the same time. It’s quite an experience. So get it in your ears already.

There are some really lo-fi dulled down tracks, that are really tender and only a band of women could make them. Do You Love Me Now? Literally a low energy bass-led ballad earnestly asking someone if they want to get back together. It’s heart on sleeve girl bravery: I still love you and I don’t care if this doesn’t work out for me, I’m gonna say it. Such a poignant question, followed by a command:

“Does love ever end?

When two hearts are torn away?

Or does it go on?

And beat strong anyway?

You’ve loved me before

Do you love me now?

Come on come on come back to me

Right now”

It finishes with this cascade of harmonies. And I adore it.

My favorite track, and favorite story. Drivin’ on 9. A little ditty! Who doesn’t love a ditty? Again I need to talk about Kim’s voice. It’s like. It’s like. What is it like? When you toast a marshmallow and then squish it between a graham cracker and melted chocolate. It’s like, a smooth whiskey, probably (I don’t like whiskey). It’s like a tiny bird just landed on your hand for the briefest moment. It’s so delicate and precious and you don’t know how such a voice comes out of anyone’s mouth, but especially not hers, because she’s so tough and cool. The strings in the song make me want to die in the best way. Like when people say they died and went to heaven. They pluck it AND they use the bows. Why do I love it so much? Probably because it’s a song about driving and thinking. That’s my favorite thing to do.

“Drivin’ on 9

Lookin’ out my windowsill

Wonderin’ if I want you still

Wonderin’ what’s mine”

I last saw them play at Cannery Ballroom, and the most wonderful thing(s) happened. Firstly, they played this track, so I was happy to begin with. But there was some issue, like one of the violins was missing or broken or not able to be mic’d up correctly or something, I forget. So, Kelley Deal SANG the violin solo. And got it dead on. I cried. These women are just the coolest to ever do it.

I write these reviews because I fundamentally have a problem with the makeup of music critics being made up of men. And I notice looking back how these records and tracks are interconnected with trash men who have acted trash to me or others. I have things to say. I take issue with how they’re written as though their subjective opinions are gospel to be consumed as objective fact. This dynamic can make or break someone’s career when it’s their art and creative output that they’ve poured their heart and soul into. It’s no coincidence that music overall, but rock and alternative music in particular is made up of majority white men, too. Some with self-proclaimed “good taste” can just label it good or bad when it’s not necessarily made for someone that looks like them. These reviews are my experience and my opinion and it’s okay with me if you do or don’t agree, if you love a record that I hate, or if you hate a record I love. But more voices are important and remembering that they’re subjective opinions is pretty fucking important. Hearing someone’s passion (or lack of) about a record is more valuable than hearing their self-importance or gravitas. The Rolling Stone Top 500 is fundamentally flawed in how it’s compiled because of who it’s compiled by, and so I’m deconstructing it one review at a time, noting that as a white woman, the addition of my voice isn’t the full answer or even a big part of the answer. But like I said, I have things to say, and I hope if you have things to say, whoever you are, you’ll share too. But here we are: it’s just proving my point. I’ll be writing one review of The Breeders, but two for The Pixies.

I’m just doing what Kim did when she got sick of the bullshit with Frank Black and The Pixies and decided to do it her way. Nowhere near as loud, nowhere near as cool, and I expect your eardrums will survive my reviews in tact.

Signing off with these words from my favorite “girl” band:

“I see a boy I know

His hair's on fire

The whole world I discovered

If you're so special, why aren't you dead?

I just wanna get along

Wave bye bye

Cus it ain’t never coming down now”

#album review #music #music review #rolling stone top 500 #the breeders #last splash #kim deal #the pixies

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sakurachan7734 · 11 days ago

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This is a audio recording between Reacher [REDACTED] and Dr Saturn audio log after scp xxxxxs host had recently died due to the treatment of a meltdown that SCPXXXX cause

Begin log

Saturn:* whispering and messing with the voice recording* is this thing on?..oh it is? Good

So Dr [REDACTED] are you sure the electric chair is a good enough treatment to claim SCP xxxxxs host whenever the host has a meltdown?

Dr [REDACTED]: well so far it’s the only thing we have to claim the host down because SCP xxxxx is controlling

Saturn: I know but the host has been getting very severe electric burns which could end up killing them witch makes SCP xxxxx find another body then the cycle all over again

Dr [REDACTED] can be heard writing something down and mumbling something

Saturn: what was that?

Dr [REDACTED]: nothing

Saturn: well back to SCP XXXXX I feel like there should be a better way to treat the host whenever they have a Bruno influenced the meltdown

Dr [REDACTED]: nothing else worked and you know this

Saturn: but there has to be another way we can’t just tie it down and electrocute the host like it’s an animal

Dr [REDACTED]: you’re looking too far into this like always dr. Saturn

Saturn: well what if Bruno possesses a child, teenager or an elderly person?, We’re still gonna electrocute the host?

Dr [REDACTED]: well we might tone down the amount of volts being used but that’s all we can do since those three age are more vulnerable to be injured

Saturn: well we still need find a way that isn’t pretty much torturing them

Dr [REDACTED]: what do you want us to do? Give them the SCP 106? I’m sure he’ll find a way to deal with them

Saturn: no the old man is just gonna end up killing them

Dr [REDACTED]:* sigh* then what do you want us to do with it?

Saturn: something that isn’t punishing the hosts over something SCP xxxxx is influencing

Dr [REDACTED]: fine i will talk to the 05

Dr [REDACTED] gets up and leaves the room and Saturn can be heard shuffling through papers on the table

Saturn: finally someone listened to me i’ve always felt bad for Bruno‘s hosts pretty much being torture just because Bruno influenced a violent meltdown……. Wait this thing still on? FUCK!

The recorded ended with what sounded like a Dr Saturn trying to turn off the voice recorder and shot me after that conversation took place Dr [REDACTED]had try to talk to the 05 but was denied multiple times due to them being very busy

End log

#scp foundation #scp #scp containment breach #scp doctor oc #dr saturn

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dukeofdelirium · 28 days ago

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Imagine working your whole life to be remembered as the greatest artist of all time and you’re forced to be remembered as the most infamous pedophile of all time. That’s a damn shame.

It’s fucked up what they did to Michael, but we can still advocate for his innocence even though he’s gone, now. Truth and Justice shouldn’t die when you die. That’s why it’s important that we still fight for him. If we don’t, no one will.

Michael dedicated his life to helping children and saved millions of lives through his humanitarian efforts. Over 500 million donated in his name, and that was just publicly. He did more anonymously. His nephew said he easily doubled that number. MJ didn’t draw attention to his charity work. He felt it was wrong to do so, and a lot of the stuff he did for others didn’t become known until he died.

He was an amazing artist, yes. The greatest to ever live. But under that, he was an amazing human being. He was a good man who truly cared for other people. He was not like other celebrities who just say they love their fans and shit to keep up an image. Michael truly did love his fans, genuinely.

He hung out with his fans. He kept in communication with his fans and knew many of them by name. His security guards even commented on how shocked they were when they’d be out somewhere and MJ would point at fans and tell them their names and when he’d met them, etc.

He would bring food and blankets and pillows to his fans that camped outside his hotels and shows. He even let fans come up to his hotel rooms and sleep in there. He also let fans come to his house and hang out at his house. He ran Neverland Ranch for a loss of over 3 million each year. There were regular, almost daily trips from make a wish or other programs that helped sick or dying children who wanted to spend the day with MJ or at his ranch as a last wish. He had bus loads of underprivileged kids brought to the ranch too so they could experience a zoo or amusement park because these children were too poor to do so otherwise.

He would walk around on the street and just give people hundreds of dollars in cash. He would also have his ppl drive him around and donate to the homeless very regularly. And he always made a point to especially help the homeless women.

Every city and country he visited, he would go to orphanages, hospitals, nursing homes etc. He would pay for everyone’s treatment and would continue to pay for their treatment for years afterward. He would also buy tons of presents for the kids at these orphanages and hospitals. All the money he made from tours, he also donated. While on tour, actually, he decided to build a burn ward for burn victims bc he himself was one.

For his last tour, what would’ve been This Is It, all he talked about was building a children’s hospital…. There are audio recordings of it that his murderer recorded very soon before he killed Michael. In these recordings, MJ is heavily drugged, but even while being drugged against his will, he was still talking about what he could do for others.

“When people leave this show, when people leave my show, I want them to say ‘I’ve never seen nothing like this in my life! Go! Go! I’ve never seen nothing like this. Go! He’s the greatest entertainer in the world!’ I’m taking that money, a million children… children’s hospital. The biggest in the world. Michael Jackson’s children’s hospital. Gonna have a movie theater, game room. Children are depressed. The- in those hospitals. No movie theater, no game room. They’re sick because they’re depressed. Their mind is depressing them. I want to give them that. I care about them, them angels. God wants me to do it. God wants me to do it.”

He continues with “That will be remembered more than my performances. My performances will be up there helping my children and always be my dream. I love them. I love them because I didn’t have a childhood. I had no childhood, I feel their pain.” And “I feel their hurt, I can deal with it. ‘Heal the World.’ ‘We Are the World.’ ‘Will You Be There.’ ‘The Lost Children.’ These are the songs I’ve written because I hurt, you know, I hurt.”

It breaks my heart what they did to this man. He was the closest thing we’ll ever get to an Angel. And they killed him.

#humanitarian #michael jackson #mjinnocent #mjjinnocent #MJ #mjj #mj innocent #mjj innocent #anon

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kylodendron · 1 month ago

Text

We all have our fun out here on the interwebs and even with the perceived safety and anonymity sitting behind a screen provides us, when that shit bleeds over into real life, it’s rude and disrespectful at best, and can become downright dangerous at its worst.

None of this is news, fandom is always gonna fandom. Unfortunately I had to experience it first hand this weekend while seeing Hold On To Me Darling. And it wasn’t pretty.

I’m not gonna put anyone on blast by name, but I’ll just say this as a general PSA based on the behavior I experienced:

Don’t push people to move out of your way.

You chose to sit at the front of the theater in the middle of the row, and when I turned around to say something like “please stop pushing me, I can’t move even if I wanted to because there are people in front of me” as we were leaving, you were already catapulting yourself over the first row seats and pushing your way up the aisle.

Don’t record the play.

I know lots of people aren’t able to make the trip and see the show. It’s a privilege to be able to do that, especially in this economy. I am incredibly grateful that I had this opportunity to experience something I never dreamed would be possible. But recording a show, even if it’s just audio, is not only rude and disrespectful to the actors and the audience but it’s also a crime:

“New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law § 31.01: Prohibits photographing or recording a performance without the written permission of the theater management. Offenders may be ejected and face damages and other legal remedies.

New York Penal Law § 275.33: Prohibits using a recording device in a live theater or movie theater without the permission of the theater operator. This is considered a crime and can be charged as a violation or a felony.

New York Penal Law § 275.20: Prohibits making or selling an unauthorized recording of a performance.

Penalties for illegally recording a performance can include jail time and large monetary fines.”

If anyone really needs to hear Adam put on a southern accent, they can watch Logan Lucky. But hooray for you and your internet points I guess. Congrats on the validation of internet strangers blessing you and calling you legend or queen or whatever.

You’re not as anonymous as you may think you are.

This is a very general point and good practice for anyone, but be careful and think twice about what you share online, especially on Twitter or facespace or whatever. I don’t know you. But it wasn’t hard to figure out who you are when you posted pictures from the stage door and I am in them, or from the illegal recording you posted because I can hear my own laugh.

This is a good reminder that the internet is not an invisibility cloak that lets you do whatever you want because No OnE wIlL eVeR kNoW wHo I aM. There are a lot of people out there who would not think twice about doxxing - and that is a dangerous thing for everyone.

Aside from this post, I’m not gonna say or do anything else. I mind my own business and prefer to cherish the otherwise wonderful experience I had both in watching this performance and at the stage door. I had thought to maybe share that experience but now I’m thinking twice.

And so I’ve deleted everything. My stupid little videos I made during lockdown because I couldn’t possibly have made more banana bread or that terrible whipped coffee, my illustrations, my minifigs, my remixes, photos, whatever. There’s a reason I don’t really engage in fandom - I don’t want to be associated with this type of behaviour. I’ve tried to find a little place to share my silly little things for whoever may happen to stumble across it and maybe it’ll bring them a little bit of joy. I don’t care about popularity or likes.

There’s more that I could share but I’m really not trying to get into any fandom drama bullshit. If you’re offended by this post perhaps you need to take some time and reflect on your actions and how they affect those around you.

Adam is very kind and gracious to even come to the stage door and engage with fans. He doesn’t have to do that and no one is entitled to anything from him or anyone else, except respect for others - no matter how much you paid to be there.

As a general rule, do the things that make you happy and bring you joy! Be a fangirl, support your faves. But please be respectful of others and try not to do any illegal shit while you’re at it.

#adam driver #adamdriver #hold on to me darling #stage door #fandom #reylo #public service announcement #reylo fandom #twitter

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year ago

Text

The Lost Cause prologue (part 2)

On October 7–8, I'm in Milan to keynote Wired Nextfest.

My next novel is The Lost Cause, out on November 14; it's a hopeful tale of the fights we'll face after we address the polycrisis. Bill McKibben called it "The first great YIMBY novel":

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865939/the-lost-cause

As with my other books, I've had to produce my own audiobook for this one. Amazon won't carry any of my audio, so I make my own and pre-sell them through Kickstarter, along with ebooks and hardcovers (including signed, personalized hardcovers). The Kickstarter's going really well, and there's still time to back it:

http://lost-cause.org

Yesterday, I kicked off a serialization of the book's prologue, which jumps straight into the action:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/06/green-new-deal-fic/#the-first-generation-in-a-century-not-to-fear-the-future

And now, here's part two:

He was so surprised he fumbled the sledge, then squinted at me. I held the flash under my chin, squinting. “It’s me. Brooks. Palazzo. Richard’s grandson.”

That was when the siren blatted down on Verdugo, blatt blatt, two toots, and a crackle of PA. “On the roof, this is Burbank PD.” He did drop the sledge then, said, “Fuck,” and produced a water pistol from the suit’s marsupial pouch. He handled it with extreme care, shedding a glove to delicately peel away a big blob of some kind of plastic or wax over the business end. His hand shook.

I knew what it was. Hydrochloric acid. It was the weapon of choice for one-on-one white nationalist killings. It worked great, because even if you didn’t kill your victim, you’d leave them with skin melted and fused like cascades of melted rubber, a reminder to everyone who saw them that even if President Uwayni took away everyone’s guns, the American resistance was still armed and fucking dangerous. Gramps and his buddies would sometimes make jokes about Medicare for All, and how it was gonna go broke paying for acid burns when the big one came. I’d always found those jokes incredibly gross, but I learned to tune them out. They were coming back to me now. I took a step back and his hand jerked and I cried out, flinching in anticipation of the stream of acid that didn’t come.

“Dammit, boy, don’t scare me. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I don’t want to be hurt. Mr. Kennedy—Mike—you know my gramps. He relies on me. He’s getting old and frail. I’m all he has.”

I was crying now. A drop of clear liquid fell from the squirt gun’s business end and sizzled on the roof. I whimpered. “Please. Just put that down, we’ll go get the cops and—”

“I’m not going anywhere. Listen, kid, turn off your camera, okay? I gotta say some things to you.”

“Mike, please—” I was crying harder now. His hand was really shaking, and his finger was on the trigger, and the gun was pointed right at my face.

“Just do it, okay?” He pointed the gun at the ground, and I found I could breathe again. I pretended to turn off my screen and triggered the sound file I had of the “Recording paused” announcement.

“All right, kid. Straight talk. I don’t expect to survive this. I knew that was a chance from the start, and it was a sure thing once you got here and sounded the alarm. I made my peace with that possibility a long time ago.” He took some deep breaths that the voice- shifter made into the sound of a wind tunnel. He pulled the ghillie suit’s mask down and exposed the rest of his face. His lips and chin were shiny with wet sweat in the reflected flashlight beam bouncing up from the roof.

“God dammit, I’m not gonna kid you, this is a stupid thing to die over, but I was gonna die eventually. But you don’t have to. You can get out of this in one piece. You can carry on the struggle.” His real voice was hoarse with emotion.

Something about his real voice and his real face made me more scared, not less. Gramps’s friends were usually just . . . sour. But there was often this undercurrent of violence in them, a bowstring tension that sometimes snapped. Usually that just meant yelling or throwing something or storming out and slamming the door so hard the whole house shook. But every now and then, it turned into punches, and everyone in the room would pull the fighting men apart, and once or twice there had been blood on the floor before they were separated.

I had never been in a fight, not since grade school anyway, and had never thrown a real punch. I found the idea of punching someone literally unimaginable. But I was finding it incredibly easy to vividly imagine this guy punching me.

“Mike, you don’t have to die, we can talk to the cops. This is Burbank PD, not LAPD. They’ll negotiate. They’re not gonna shoot you. Not if you don’t give them a reason to. Why don’t you put down—”

The roof was flooded with blinding light and the roar of a quadrotor as a BPD drone rose up over us, floodlights set to max. We both staggered back, hair blowing in the rotor wash, and squinted. Mike involuntarily squirted a small stream of acid that arced over the roof, then got his gun under control.

“THIS IS THE BURBANK POLICE DEPARTMENT. PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS AND LACE YOUR HANDS OVER YOUR HEAD. COMPLY IMMEDIATELY.”

He swore fiercely and pointed his gun at the drone.

“No!” I shouted. “Jesus, Mike, do you want to fucking die?”

He stared at me. His eyes were wild and unhinged. His mouth worked soundlessly, and then he shouted, “What the fuck does it matter to you?”

“Because—” I almost said, Because I want to fight on your side and we need you. I could have sold the line, even though I didn’t believe it. Even though he was a terrorist kook whose cause was both idiotic and terrible. I could have sold it because I’m a good actor, even by Burbank standards, where the star of the school play might be moonlighting from their job as an A-lister for one of the studios. But I didn’t say it. I didn’t want to lie to this guy. “Because there’s enough stupid death out there. Because I don’t want to explain to Gramps how I saw his poker buddy blown away by BPD on my high-school roof. Because it’s a stupid way to die. Because it won’t accomplish a goddamned thing.” I found that I was angry. God, why did people have to be so stupid? Why was I sitting around with this idiotic person having this idiotic argument, waiting for the cops to storm the roof and maybe kill us both?

“Fuck this,” I said. I stalked over to him. The drone dipped toward us, making him flinch, and I was able to grab his stupid water pistol full of acid and wrench it out of his shaking hand and send it skittering over the smashed solar panels. “There,” I said, and turned to the drone. “I’ve disarmed this goddamned idiot. Don’t shoot him. And don’t shoot me—I’m a bystander.”

The drone’s PA clicked back on. “That was really stupid, kid.”

Mike looked like he wanted to cry or punch me.

“This whole thing is really stupid,” I said. “But it doesn’t have to be violent, too.”

“We’re coming up. Lace your hands behind your head.”

Mike opened his mouth.

“Just do it,” I snapped. “I just saved your fucking life, asshole. Do what the nice policewoman says.”

They burst through the roof door a minute later, and we both laced our hands behind our heads. They cuffed and searched both of us, relieving Mike of a long hunting knife and what I took for hand grenades, but which turned out to be flashbangs.

After patting me down and conferring, they uncuffed me and led me away from Mike, who was looking miserable and scared.

They took a statement from me in the cruiser, tapped my ID to their scanner, conferred a while longer, read messages on their screens that I couldn’t see—the cops all had polarizing privacy screens on their devices—and finally let me go.

The cop who opened the back of the cruiser for me was a big, jowly guy, someone who would have looked perfectly at home with Gramps and his pals, rocking a red trucker cap and complaining about “illegals.” But he was tender with me as he helped me up and asked me twice if I needed help getting home. I pointed out that I lived a ten-minute walk away—he knew that from my ID, of course—and that I hadn’t been hurt.

There had been six Burbank PD SUVs on the street when they led me down, but by the time they let me go, there were only two. The other one had Mike in the back, behind reflective windows. Even though I couldn’t see him, I could feel his eyes on me as I turned and started to walk home. It was 3:27 a.m., and I was both completely wired and completely exhausted.

I let myself into Gramps’s place by the back door, made my way back to my bedroom, stripped off, and pulled the covers over me.

Who was I kidding? I wasn’t going to sleep after that. I rolled over and hit my screen. I had a notification that my livestream had been archived and that I could toggle it private if I wanted to, but that it was also going to be subject to FOIA requests because I’d used the 911 option and it had gone straight to Burbank PD.

I reviewed the footage. It was crazy of course—the dark night slashed with my flashlight beam, the screen’s night-sight flicking off and on—but the audio was good and once things stabilized, the image was clear enough. I jumped it up to 3X and listened to Mike Kennedy in chipmunk mode spouting his crazy Maga Club garbage. Even at that speed, I picked up on stuff I’d missed, little bits of inflection and vocab, and most of all, how scared he sounded. He’d been more scared than me. I guess that made sense, because he was so sure that he was going to die. Look at it that way, I had saved his life.

And as soon as I looked at it that way, I knew it was true. I had saved his life. I’d saved a man’s life the night before. A man who had been ready to kill me. Or if he hadn’t been, he’d said he was.

The realization let something loose inside me and I started to yawn. I pasted a link to the video into my feed and dialed the syndication wheel all the way open because why not, it was freaky and everyone shares freaky stuff wide as possible.

I tapped out a message to the Burroughs High attendance office letting them know I was going to be late for school, then I put my screen down, thumped my pillow, and, amazingly, fell asleep.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/07/met-cute-ugly/#part-ii

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a hopeful novel of the climate emergency. Amazon won't sell the audiobook, so I made my own and I'm pre-selling it on Kickstarter!

#pluralistic

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popcornforone · 5 months ago

Text

JUNE

From the Marcus Pike Fan Fic Diary

Master List

May

I’ve written (well I say written) I actually spoke this because I wanted it to properly sound like an audio recording that had been converted into word for the diary. It was really random to do, so it’s not my best writing but I think it works for this situation.

Synopsis:- your on a girls holiday, when one night your trip takes an unexpected turn.

Word count:-1000

Warnings:- DONOT READ IF YOU ARE UNDER 18! Swearing fingering public displays of affection, piv sex, lots of moaning, alcohol.

Yea this isn’t my usual style & I don’t think I will do it again but It was a good learning curve. Thanks for the read peoples

Audio description for diary when I return home from the girls holiday in Florida, day 5.

One of the girls called me out today. Clare realised I’m sneaking off once every couple of hours to record this for my diary. She asked

“you doing a diary?” & I was like

“yes well you know why not?”

“How long has it been going on all year?”They went.

oh but at least we’re gonna find out how good this time of our lives was I mean this is month five so far

Oooh Tara got off with Sam from that other bar & Vicky well you didn’t want to see Vicky this morning oh my God.

But yes, so far it’s going good. The tan is topping up. & I am on my second cocktail of the day as I lie by the poor reading the girl on the train.i can’t wait to see what happens next in the book, it is so full of suspense.

Oh God we are going to Michaels tavern tonight apparently it’s a 90s bar oh that means fancy dress doesn’t it? I’m not looking forward to it. I don’t do fancy dress unless it’s Halloween. Well I guess I just gotta make the girls happy & it is laylas night to pick what we do & she loves a bit of Backstreet Boys so I’m not gonna argue.

my nights coming up on night seven. I’m looking forward to that. That will also mean that there will probably be no more hangovers after night seven & then on night 12 we return home I get to get into my comfy bed & not have to share it with a girlfriend with cold feet & random snoring.

& I’ll have my Marcus to spoon me all night. oh I miss Marcus so so so much. I miss his kisses. I miss Little hugs

oh I should probably get out of the bathroom now, the girls are gonna wanna get in there next aren’t they? & I’ve got an outfit to prepare.

Wow. That was a right turnabout for the books oh my God

I am on a turning dancefloor busy reaching for the stars like S Club 7 all those years ago & suddenly I see this group & in they walk these lads, I say Lads men obviously, but they are all busy flirting their way through bar & I recognise one of them. It’s Jackson. I just shake my head. No I’m hallucinating I’ve had too much drink, oh God.

I’m saying this in the bathroom of the bar phone I’m sure you can hear the drum & based behind me. I went to the bathroom put some water on my face & head back to the bar & I go to the bar and I asked for 10 slushpuppy vodka shots in hope. that’s when I felt his arm go around my shoulder, I recognise that hand, so soft & large & it stroked my bra strap down & I just looked up at him & he looked down at me & we did the five shots each in unison & got to the last one & then the words escaped his Lips

“I miss you and I love you baby. “

Oh, you’re here & you ravaged me, the way your tongue flowed through my mouth hands caress my hips the way you held me close as my friends all cheered as we made out at the bar & they even turned on the sprinkler above us which the barman does when people are getting a little bit too intimate to break it up but didn’t Obviously. your hands went underneath my schoolgirl T-shirt & the way you made sure that I was being more than satisfied, damn, every single kiss every single toungue that invaded my own my tonsils feeling every inch oh Marcus oh Marcus. (Someone bangs on the bathroom door & Marcus shouts go away).

Waking up to you kissing my neck knowing that I ached knowing that you wanted some morning sex even though it was already noon. No way am I gonna be heading to the beach today because you are here in Florida spur moment with your friends because they got bored because we weren’t at home & now now you’re just… (muffled noise not picked up) Marcus, Marcus please oh you wanna you want some (gasp) oooh fuck yes oooh more baby oooh you missed this? Fuck oooh fucking fuck baby, more please please fuck baby, more (unable to detect the moaning) fuck yea like that just like ooooh fuck like that baby…

Marcus has just put on his shirt on, his holiday shirt obviously, they literally have come down here for Saturday & Sunday to make sure that we all remember all our boyfriends are like it’s a bit awkward for Tara but I’ll oh I never wanna leave Marcus side again the way in which he just made me cum so hard three times in a row he knows I’ve not bought anything with me to look after myself. oh, I’m gonna be thinking of nothing but his cock & the way in which he came, & the way that he sucked my nipples for the rest of the holiday I’m really looking forward to ripping my underwear when we get back next week & the way in which I will be laid on that bed & I won’t be able to go to work for next morning even though I should be there after having a few days off on holiday because I won’t be able to walk. Marcus it was a nice fly by drop in to make me feel good but now I’m lining for you more.

Yea diary that was last week when he arrived to make my trip memorable, I can’t believe it picked up some of our moans from the sex we had.

July

#pedro pascal #fanfic #my fics #smutt #no minors #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal cinematic universe #over18 #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal character fanfiction #pedro pascal universe #pedro pascal fan fic #pedro pascal fic #pedro pascal fandom #marcus pike fanfics #marcus pike fan fic #marcus pike fanfiction #marcus pike #marcus pike fic

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cakeofthepan · 2 years ago

Audio

The whole Charleston Chew bit is one of my favorite things if only for the Anthony’s laughter after Will says “that’s complex”. Plus some bonus talking dads for all of the Oakson shippers out there.

[Audio Transcript:

[Don’t Bring Me Down by Electric Light Orchestra Plays]

Matt: And I grab one of my secret stash, and I unwrap a piece of my secret stash, and I hand it over to Gartok. I say—

Darryl: Take a chew of that.

Anthony: Okay. He puts it in his maw and it’s like [chewing noises], he’s like—

Gartok: When is this done?

[all laugh]

Gartok: It just kinda keeps going.

Matt: I put one in my mouth and I smile and watch him chew his. I just go—

Darryl: Yeah, it’s pretty good, right?

Matt: And I start the engine.

Gartok: It’s kinda—it’s like a challenge, this [gnawing noises].

Will: I can hear them talking, right?

Anthony: Yeah.

Will: Okay.

Henry: Oh, can I have some of that Charleston Chew?

[all laugh loudly]

Darryl: [startled] What? What are you talking about? What?

Henry: You guys are eating that Charleston Chew up there, the one you were eating earlier?

Darryl: Hey, Henry, can I talk to you really quick?

Henry: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Darryl: Just mano e mano in the back of the van?

Henry: What’s up?

Darryl: So I noticed that you saw my little dirty secret…the box of Charleston Chews.

Henry: Oh, I thought you meant the fact that we just killed someone’s son.

Darryl: Yeah, that’s pretty tough too but uh—

Henry: But you’re more worried about the fact that I saw your candy bars than the murder we just did?

Darryl: Look, man, I’ve really been… I told Carol I was gonna lose weight and I’m not supposed to be having these—

Gartok: [yelling in the distance] Just go!

Darryl: But here’s the thing, these were my dad’s favorite candy and—

Henry: That’s complex.

[all laugh]

Darryl: I want you to take them because I don’t want to disappoint Carol, but I don’t want you to throw them away. Will you just give me one whenever, I don’t know, whenever I do something you think my dad would be proud of, maybe you could give me one of these Charleston Chews.

Freddie: Jesus Christ.

Henry: You know what? I think your dad would be very proud of you right now, so here’s a Charleston Chew.

Freddie: God.

Matt: He goes uh-

Darryl: Hey, Henry.

Henry: Yes, Darryl?

Matt: I toss you the keys.

[Henry gasps]

Darryl: Why don’t you drive the beast, maybe? Make sure your boys are alright?

Matt: While he’s driving, can I do a sleight of hand check to try to steal some Charleston Chews since he’s distracted while driving?

Anthony: Yeah, go ahead and do that with advantage. Sleight of hand.

Will: I do not see the theft of the Charleston Chews, but I will—I would like to say for the record that I have been keeping count of the Charleston Chews. So the next time Henry checks the books, he might sense something is amiss.

Matt: I grab one and I start pulling it and I go “ehhh” and I go for another one.

Anthony: Ooh, what. This is a dark day for you.

Matt: I got a 19.

Will: You got another 19? [rolls die] I got a natural 20.

Henry: Darryl! I thought you wanted me to drive because I’m having a tough day.

Darryl: Just keep driving!

Henry: You, sir, have an addiction to chocolate that you need to deal with. And I will not have my trust undermined by the likes of you for some Charleston Chews! You get those when you earn them, sir.

Will: And I snatch it out of his hands.

Will: Okay. I pull up to the bleeding elf.

Anthony: All right.

Will: And I unroll the window.

Darryl: No, don't give them any money!

Will: And I say—

Henry: Hello, sir. Bleeding elf.

Bleeding Elf: Hello. Alms, please? Alms?

Henry: Well, I’m fresh out of alms, but I have one of these for you.

Will: And then I give him the Charleston Chew while making direct eye contact with Darryl.

Bleeding Elf: [gasps] What is this?!

Henry: This is a confectionery that maybe will help you in your travels, ’cause it seems like you’re having a tough day, sir.

Bleeding Elf: Ooh!

Henry: And maybe you could appreciate this and so other people could learn to appreciate not taking these things for granted.

Bleeding Elf: I’ve had a very tough life indeed; let me partake of this confection?

Anthony: And he starts, like, unwrapping the Charleston Chew with his bloody fingers and it’s all slippery. He’s like—

Bleeding Elf: This could take a bit.

Anthony: And then he opens it and pops it in his mouth and starts to chew and goes—

Bleeding Elf: Ohhh. Delectable.

Darryl: [sighs] Yeah.

Bleeding Elf: The most delicious thing I’ve tasted in a fortmonth.

Will: All right.

Darryl: Sorry about that Henry.

Will: I glare at Darryl, and then I pull out another Charleston Chew and I throw it into the pit.

Henry: You’re down dos today, buddy!

Anthony: You hear a voice go—

Orgy Participants: Oooh delights of many varieties today!

[music fades out]

Matt: Yeah when Will, when Henry takes away the Charleston Chews and then like, and my stomach comes back

Will: Yeah, like that’s pretty kinky. Like that who- the Charleston Chew thing is a lot of like Henry like, dominating Darryl. Like, it’s very intense.

End transcript]

#honestly tho this whole bit is such a good distillation of Darryl in the beginning of szn 1 #like I love him v much but wow the issues #anyway please enjoy #also I am once again thanking DADGUT for the transcript etc #dndads #dungeons and daddies #my audio #long post

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gelukart · 10 months ago

Text

I’m very bored tma + good omens avatar hc

Thinking about Magnus archives while listening to the good omens audio book 😭

I had the wiki open for reference idk if that helps with anything

The four horse men of the apocalypse

Death: The End

Goes with out saying lmao, I mean they pretty much are one in the same less that death is an avatar of The end and more they just are The End

Pollution: The Extinction

I was debating on also going with the slaughter maybe because of like pestilence, and also how they kind of throw other people under bus when messing with the oil rig and other organizations it made me connect it to the “unmotivated violence” idk rather just make it simple so the extinction

Could also see an argument for the corruption but I feel that’s more individual where the extinction is more all encompassing soooo

Famine: The Flesh

A lot of the imagery associated with him is pretty body horror-ie also a lot of manipulation of food

War: The Desolation

Honestly I feel like this one was the only one for the four horsemen where the war choice just doesn’t fit in my mind, like her being an avatar of the slaughter… nahhhh. The way she acts and tries to corrupt and start infighting on a individual level… like the whole scene in the show where she stop the peace treaty by just being there was very cult of the lightless flame of her… also she has red hair and fire imagery soooo (jk)

Humans

Agnes Nutter (also maybe just the entire device blood line tbh): The Web

Girl controls all of the device family via her predictions and knows how everything that’s gonna go down could maybe say the eye but the eye doesn’t predict the future also Agnes and Anathema are cunty enough to chill with Annabella I think

The them: The spiral??

Idk Adam has the ability to make reality bend the way he wants it and the rest of them are kids exploring their imagination maybe there’s something’s there about illusions also in the book ley lines start to spiral and converge in Tadfeild so boom whatever

Shadwell: The hunt

Bros been witch hunting his enitre life like

Nina: The Corruption

Unhealthy relationship whomp whomp

Maggie: The Burried

Idk maybe smth about feeling trapped with a record shop no one comes to and not enough money to find anywhere else to be that’s doesn’t really make sense tho cause she love the records shop and love Nina so I mean idk help

Demons

Crowley: The Eye

Honestly this was the post that inspired this while i do agree like woe is Crowley sad lonely demon, MF is so curious! Alway asking damned fool questions he just wants to know stuff so bad to the point of his own damnation like….

Hastur: The corruption

Bug (could also be avatar of the hunt)

Beelzebub: The corruption

Bug (that one’s lazy ik okay) I can see arguments for the slaughter (wanting for their to be a war or just in general being the over seer of torture) or the stranger( for like 2.5 second in season 2) but I will not be one to make those arguments (even though that’s whole point of this blog post)

Dagon: The desolation

Very bitey give me very big manipulator vibes waiting for mfs down fall (could also see them as an avatar of the hunt for the same reasons!!)

Shax (and furfur tbh): The Hunt

She got that dawg in her climbing the corporate ladder praying on bitches down fall very girlboss

Angels

Aziraphale: The lonely

Unironically the hardest one for me like idk I could maybe see the eye because of the bookshop but I think it’s less of like desire for information and more about the actually act of collecting and the enjoyment of reading for him like yes he still has a curiosity about and seeks information but idk it’s more restrained (then like Crowley) and limited to whatever humans got going on I think

Idk this is the one I’m the most wishy-washy about some one else could probably find smth better but I decided to go with the lonely cause he very much enjoys his solitude with his books, but then it’s also like no he has and loves Crowley! But At the same time tho there’s that whole mention in the book where he like hints at Crowley when to get the fuck out of the bookshop so he can go back to reading. Idk out of all the fears this is the only I think he would most likely to be an avatar to (also gotta keep up the lonely + the eye parings right lmaoo)

Metatron: The stranger

Bro is so secretive about everything and literally changes his mannerism when trying to get Aziraphale back to heaven, definitely could also see the web since he is “the voice of god” but I feel like that’s just another face he puts on and he has not been actually able to speak to good since like job or smth. I think he just has a general outline of how things are supposed to happen but what god actually has planned is well ineffable so

Gabriel (Honestly also applies to the other Archangels tbh): The Desolation

They want war, they want to end the world before it has the ability to see its full potential

Jim: The spiral

Because…

Muriel: The lonely

(idk I need to seem some mentorship and Muriel becoming her own person in season 3 Kay bye)

Thanks for reading my ramblings if you got this far please feel feed to add your own opinions and ideas to this lmao

#the magnus archives #tma #good omens #good omens headcanons #tma headcanons #good omens aziraphale #crowly good omens #go headcanons

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thechanelmuse · 2 years ago

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California Reparations

The conversation on the centuries overdue debt of US lineage-based reparations owed to Black Americans is still going strong from state bills and conferences to articles and panels. Federal reparations is the top goal, but the state ones are being sought as well. The unfinished business of Special Field Order No. 15 plus interest. “Wouldn’t that cause the US to go bankrupt?” Nope.

I was gonna wait until the final Cali report is released on July 1, 2023. (If you haven’t read the full 400+ page interim report, it’s here. I’ll plug the audio version when it’s finished.) But since there’s a definite number for one aspect, here ya go:

The California Reparations Task Force for AB 3121 — who are leading in the first, pure reparative bill to redress the state-sanctioned terror, genocide, discriminatory laws (Black Codes/Code Noir, Jim Crow), stolen wealth and land theft — are recommending each person to receive $223,200 for housing discrimination ($559 billion - the nation's biggest restitution effort ever…so far). This is only for Cali.

Shit like this is just...

Reaping the benefits in your house and the bricks your ancestors laid...

When you get into the liquid assets...

There’ll be protective policies in place and more because after all...

There’s 5 steps to reparations under international law:

Cessation/Assurance of Non-Repetition - like structural and institutional policies

Restitution - like the account for stolen land, property and labor (real or intellectual)

Compensation - like cash

Satisfaction - like a formal apology

Rehabilitation - like free medical care, free education, free legal and trauma services

Kamailah Moore, Esq., who is the Chairwoman of the AB 3121 California Task Force, breaks it down in this 1 minute 37 second clip from a Revolt Summit panel on held Sept 2022.

Whether you live in Cali or not, if you’re the descendant of free people or enslaved people who were subjected to US chattel enslavement of building this country from scratch and (re)classified under the US caste system as Black or Mulatto, later reclassified as Negro to Colored to Black again to Afro American to African American to Black/African American to “Black or African American” currently, do your genealogy. Prepare. This is not that damn spit test. Get your documents together.

There are a lot genealogical websites. I use Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. The latter is thorough than a mf and great for cross verifying what pops up or you trace on Ancestry.com. Also, the Card Catalog option on Ancestry is key. Both headquarters are in Utah. You can physically go to the FamilySearch Center, if you choose.

Many of us have family members who don’t fuck with the US census or haven’t done it in decades, so the birth certificate and death certificate paper trail will be the route to go leading back to the census record docs. Dig into the National Archive Catalog. Touch those microfilms if you can. We are well documented. The United States governmental corporation is obsessed with us. They keep them receipts like a serial killer keeps mementos. It’s there. The farther back you go, be patient and take breaks. Also, check that old bible. Make note of everyone from safe kept obituaries. Talk to your fam, especially the elders.

SN: I have more research to do, but one day I’m want to break down the Negro and Mulatto part of caste system because that shit is nothing but a bag of trickery and confusion the farther you go back in records. The complexity of paper genocide in classification that you wouldn’t be privy to unless you crack that 1870 wall and keep going back. (I haven’t just traced mine; I’ve been assisting others.)

Certain words don’t have the same meaning as what we would consider them today. Mulatto, for one, meant more than someone who was half and half. The answers sit in plain sight within centuries back state laws. When I get around to writing it, I’m starting from the most recent one with ol’ Jesse “Cherokee Indian card” Jackson head ass loudly calling for a reclassified people to be yet again reclassified by a misnomer — African American — that we didn’t ask for and looks like an immigrant status. The problem is more than obvious today. Everyone who has differing homelands being classified under the same label as if we’re a monolith...one big nigga 🙃. This is being straightened out.

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lostnfounder · 1 year ago

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[The following is a transcript of an interaction that took place between Lostfield Reporter Ruth Shirbon and Jasper Rush, God of the Dead, Demon King.]

R: Alright, I think it’s… yeah, it’s recording. Here. You take it. I’m driving. Huh- Oh, bye Chase! Yep. Okay. Ready?

J: I’ve never been in a car before, but sure. If lying down is fine to do in these.

R: I- I was gonna say you can have shotgu- okay, and you’re crawling into the backseat. Alright. Let’s go.

[For a second any other sound is drowned out by my car starting, but I did catch Jasper startle from the sudden movement, tail hitting the door hard enough to make him wince before he seemed to ignore it or recover quickly from whatever pain might have happened.]

J: You forgot I have the inconvenience of a tail that makes seats my personal enemy. The wings would have potentially made it worse, what are these straps for?

R: Wha- Wait, yeah, the wings aren’t… what happened to the wings? Those are seatbelts, stop pulling them out that far, they’ll break.

J: You have torture straps in cars? Odd. Oh there’s the buckle thing, I see, it’s like a safety of some sort, like a less useful harness.

R: Yeah. Uh. It’s to make sure you don’t go flying through the windshield if we crash, or something. Anyway, Are you ready?

J: Yes, I am. And ah, my wings. Well... I suppose you could say that, I came to accept my bird being gone, and my letting go of the spirit as tight as I had been, let the last of it disperse. It... certainly hurt a great deal to do, but the weight is gone.

R: Oh… That’s. It seems like a bit of a bittersweet thing, but. I’m glad you were able to move on, dude.

J: Yeah... Maybe I can contact the ghost more reliably now, but I haven't tried yet. Maybe later.

R: I have an ouija board in my closet somewhere if you need that, though, uh. I imagine demons have more effective methods of contacting the deceased.

J: Demons don’t, I do, it’s only really a power that the god of Death has. Demons would have no need to contact anyone dead. Uh, it’d take a lot more than a little... board thing... to summon a demon. Ghosts of dead people can't leave the afterlife once they’ve entered. I suppose a ghost who got lost and stayed on Earth would be able to, but not well unless it wasn't the first time ever interacting with one.

[The audio gets a bit funky for a few seconds because he used the recorder to tap his chin as he thought. It was unpleasant to listen to on the play back.]

R: Ah. That… would explain why none of my seances have ever worked. Damn.

J: Sorry to disappoint, I’m sure you had a great deal of curiosity for some ghosts. I noticed when I arrived you seemed... like someone hiding in a blanket for some reason. What prompted such a response?

R: … Ah. Uhm. I just haven’t had a good week. Saw a… Nevermind. What, uh, kind of shops do you think you want to go to?

J: Just... a store, generally? Food and things, whatever place might have a nice basket thing for food, and something softer then a picnic blanket. I doubt those are comfortable on a hard surface. Are there not stores that have everything?

R: Oh. Yeah. I guess there are. Sorry. I’m… a bit brain fogged.

J: Hmm, did you hear the sirens in the forest a few days before? They were quite loud, I imagine very close they could contribute to such.

[Nonverbal input registered: A quiet scrunching sound, almost like someone is tightening their hands on a steering wheel.]

R: Yeah. That’s… That’s why. I couldn’t sleep, that night. Because of the sirens and for no other reasons.

[The silence is replaced with a curious hum I hadn't heard at the time from Jasper]

J: You were in the woods, weren’t you? Were you doing your investigating research thing, and ran something that scared you? Like a bear, or maybe my friend Argus?

R: No, no, it- it wasn’t alive, man, stop asking.

[Silence for a bit, with some grumbling from Jasper, but he doesn't say anything more about it]

R: Uhm. We’re almost there. You wanna go to… Walgreens? They might have picnic baskets.

J: I suppose, I don’t know anywhere that’s better currently. Do you want me to take this in with us when we arrive, or return it to you?

R: To be honest I’m not sure they’ll let me record in there. I, uh. Don’t exactly have the best track record with… the staff here. Uh. Long story short one time I was convinced one of the patrons was actually a vampire. So. They kinda keep more of an eye on me.

[Laughter from Jasper]

J: What caused you to believe so, don’t tell me it was due to something about sunlight, or garlic?

R: I. I don’t know, to be honest. That was back when I was more into vampire conspiracy than demons, so. I guess any remotely alt-dressing person would be on my suspicion list.

[He looked obviously amused, grinning as he chuckled]

J: Hmm, so I suppose you know what a proper vampire is now then yes? Well, sort of, anyway. I always thought it was funny, the whole stake to the heart thing. That kills anyone, it isn’t special to vampires. Not that it’d kill a vampire, when they are already dead and don't have beating hearts.

R: Yeah, I always kinda figured that was bullshit. Same with the silver bullet thing… Wait, shit, is the garlic thing true?

J: If the vampire were allergic, perhaps. Or had a silver allergy.

R: Huh. Maybe they think that because one guy killed a vampire that just happened to have a garlic allergy. … Ah, there’s the Walgreens.

J: Oh good, it does look big, like something that would sell quite a lot of things. How do I turn this thing off?

R: Uh, you should just be able to press the red button in the mid-

[Transcript end.]

{Final notes: Immediately after he pressed it, he commented that usually, for him, a red button would set off explosives, and he was seemingly relieved that I didn't have an active bomb just… on me that was in danger of exploding. Which is… odd. I don’t know who he’d be around that has that much immediate access to dynamite.}

#showfall ask blog #encoreverse #encoreverse blog

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