#god the footage is absolutely miserable...

[juergenklopp]

DAYCARE SHENANIGANS feat. JT

BRYSON STOTT 4 for 5, 1 RBI, 2 R @ Tampa Bay Rays (July 5, 2023)

[misshugs]

₂The Cameragirl² || snc

After an eventful night in the haunted asylum, you and the guys began looking at the footage, only for you to start making cocky remarks that might've set a spark you weren't expecting.

contains: just fluff and reader trying to be funny (but failing miserably), cheeky comments from reader, cursing, slight flirting? idk i suck at it

a/n: "part 2" of The Cameragirl, no need to read the first part though! but for context: you got choked by a ghost and you almost died but colby saved you by giving you mouth to mouth

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

word count: 2.3k

[u n e d i t e d]

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You don't exactly remember when you fell asleep, you're just sure that right after you fell on your bed you were knocked out.

It wasn't something that happened often, but boy you were tired due to last nights events. Beause of that and because of your commonly terrible sleeping habits, Sam and Colby didn't even want to bother you much.

They did however check on you after they woke up hours later, making sure you were still breathing. The experience has somewhat made them paranoid about what could happen to you.

Although they cleansed you before returning, they'd much prefer to be one hundred percent sure you were alright.

The problem was, you were a light sleeper. After they finished checking up on you, your eyes opened up slightly. Groaning a bit from the ache in your body from the fall you had a couple of hours prior. You stretched yourself nonetheless.

Yawning, you sat down and rubbed your eyes. Taking your phone from your nightstand, you looked at the hour. 01:17 PM. Sighing softly, you stood up and fixed yourself up before walking out of the room.

Looking around, you heard mumbling from the other room. It was the office. You walked inside and saw them both looking back at the footage.

You furrowed your brows. Usually, you were a part of this process. Why did they begin without you?

Since they haven't noticed you yet, you started walking closer without making any sounds. As quiet as you possibly could, you basically stood behind them, watching the footage.

"What're you doing?" You asked, gaining a scream from Sam and a jump from Colby, almost falling off the chair. A smile grew wide on your face after that reaction.

"Fuck! You scared me!" Sam exclaimed, putting his hand on his chest.

"Oh my god, my heart." Colby said, hiding his face in his hands.

"That's for beginning without me." You said, crossing your arms on your chest.

"You were sleeping so soundly after all that happened, we didn't want to disturb you. And... we were curious... sorry." Colby admitted. You sighed.

"It's alright, I guess. What's this part?"

"We just started watching the part where... it happened." Sam said, looking at you.

"Ooh, okay. Then go back, my head's a little fuzzy, I can't remember clearly what happened, I want to know." As you said that, they nodded and ran back the video.

You didn't miss much anyways. They rewined right when they began arguing about it not being a good idea and whatnot. They haven't seen the whole night or anything, they just skipped right to the end.

After the arguing and the preparation for everyone to go into their respective corridors, the challenge began.

They paused the video. "Even though it made sense, it was still strange for you to be so persistent about it, was it not?" Colby said, looking at you. "Also, can you please sit down? There's a chair right there. You're stressing me out."

"No." You quickly answered.

"Why?" He asked.

"I don't want to, it's my fight or flight mode. It's easier to run while standing up." You giggled softly, which gave them both a sense of peace that you couldn't even imagine.

You were their everything, and thinking that their everything could've ended up like that made them so overprotective that they would've absolutely slept with you that night... to keep you protected, of course.

"Also, my legs feel numb, I don't want to cut the circulation again, it felt weird last time." You admitted.

Sam quickly stood up, concerned. "Are you okay? Do you need an oxygen mask again or something?? Water?"

"Wha- no. Calm down. Jeez." You said, grabbing his shoulder and making him sit back down. "Anyways, about the video. Um... I do remember having this urge to do it. I don't think it might've been anything bad, but I did have this... feeling, I guess."

"Maybe it wasn't you?" Colby said, raising a brow. "Maybe something was making you feel that way, just so that you were left alone... like it happened." You thought about it.

"I... guess it's an option." You shrugged.

"It could've also been a possession. It is said that people tend to quickly switch emotions when one is possessed." Sam continued. "Or... it could've also been the fact that you were so indifferent about it all."

"I'm just used to it, it's not like I don't believe."

"Yeah, but since we were making our reactions so... extra in comparison, maybe the spirits were trying to target you?" Colby added.

"...yeah, it does add up. Well, continue. Let's see what truly happened. I genuinely can't remember." They nodded and the video rewined.

As you began walking through the corridor, you began to speak on the video, it was almost automatic when you heard your voice that you started whining. "Oh, fuck no. Nevermind. This is so cringe. I remember this."

They started laughing and kept on watching although you pleaded for them to skip it. You tried to stop it yourself but Sam quickly held you back, hugging you and your arms, unable to move.

You didn't have the strength at the moment to try and get out of his grasp, but you tried anyways.

Not like it mattered. Not like you minded, actually. In the way he was holding you back, he basically let you sit on his lap while watching.

You didn't mind at all.

"You guys know I suck at youtube, I was trying to be funny, it didn't work." You laughed a little bit while your voice also seemed on the edge of breaking, mainly fake crying.

"What do you mean? You did great." Colby said, hiding his smile underneath his hand. Listening to your cute attempts on making jokes. It melted him.

"I can see you trying not to laugh, Colby." You fake cried again.

"Whaaat? I would never." He said. Sam didn't hide anything. His smile only giving away how much he was actually enjoying this version of you. If only you were open enough for them to be able to record and replay more of this.

A couple of minutes into the video, you started panting, heavy breathing could be heard. It was when you began to explain that you could barely breathe. "It feels... hard to breathe." You said in the video, your lips visibly shaking.

As you began walking faster, you could see through the video that you stopped on you tracks. Blinking your eyes as you looked at, what you remembered to be, a figure.

You tried to breathe.

"Holy shit. Holy shit! Did you see that?" Sam said, letting you go and pausing the video and quickly going back a couple of seconds. You stood up from his lap to let him search quickly.

"What?" Colby asked. Confused, you got closer. He started playing the video once again, this time, slower. You could see the light on your neck moving.

"Holy fuck. Look at that. It looks as if something is like, pushing on your neck. Like pressing onto as if you're getting choked." Sam explains, pointing at the marks on your neck where there seemed to be a dent suddenly forming.

"Oh my god." You said as you touched your neck, remembering what happened barely a couple of hours ago. Colby had his mouth wide open after watching that.

"That's... that's poltergeist activity right there. It's undeniable." He said, looking at the both of you. You nodded, shocked at how much power this entity seemed to have. "We need to get you properly cleansed, we can't be having another demon up someone's ass." He contined, looking directly at Sam, who seemed offended. You chuckled.

As they continued the video, they heard the soft 'help' that you could barely spit out, your voice breaking in the midst of it. The quick movement of the camera as you turned around only to be thrown to the floor. Seconds later, watching as you tried to crawl back but your body seemingly giving up as quickly as you tried to do so.

It broke their hearts, even more so knowing you tried to scream for help. And so, the camera kept rolling for what felt like an eternity.

"How long did it took for you guys to come look for me?" You asked, seeing as the video kept going.

"So far, it's been five minutes..." Sam said softly, painfully watching the screen.

"Oh my god, I was dead for five minutes?"

"Don't say it like that." Colby looked at you, almost sad. Fear went through his body at the thought of not have gotten there on time.

"It is true though... oh, there are my heroes." They smiled softly as you said that. As you heard the conversation they had while you were unconscious, you scoffed. "You guys thought it was a joke?"

"Hey, listen. We've had our jokes and giggles with extreme pranks before, it could've been a possibility." Colby put his hands up in defense, looking at you truthfully. "Honestly, I was wishing it was."

"Sam. Call 911. This is real." Colby said on the video. Before you could completely understand what was going on, you saw him kissing you.

Well, saving your life, but touching lips nonetheless.

Your cheeks started switching colors. You obviously don't remember much, but your brain didn't thought about the fact he had to give you some oxygen back.

Your fingers touched your lips softly as you were watching. They seemed to be immerse on watching what happened, thankfully. You don't think you could handle their stares right now.

Trying to calm yourself down, you saw yourself waking up. No further from that, you saw as Sam helped you up for a split second before the camera was turned off.

"And that's the footage alright. Wow." Colby sighed and looked at Sam, and then at you.

"That was... something. I can't believe we caught that on camera... it's proof, yeah, but... you were seriously hurt." Sam says, looking at you. "Are you... okay with this?" He asked, you looked at him, confused.

"What? You mean for posting it? Oh yeah, I don't mind. Don't worry about it. I'm safe and sound anyways." You said, smiling as you put your hands on your hips.

"Just making sure you're okay with it." He said and you nodded, understanding his kind gesture.

"So..." You began, gaining the attention of them both. "Are you gonna keep the part where Colby kisses m- uh, gives me mouth to mouth?" You quickly correct yourself, trying to act cool. Not leaving your stare from the screen.

"What?" They smirked at your sneaky comment.

Fuck.

"What?" You asked back looking at Sam, seemingly ignoring their cocky smile as much as you could.

"What did you say?" He asked.

"If you're gonna keep the mouth to mouth on the video."

"Not that, when you stuttered." Colby obliged, making you nervous.

"...I said Colby?" You raised an eyebrow, looking confused although you perfectly knew what they were talking about. They shook their head.

"You know what we mean." Sam says, reclining back on his chair, getting comfortable as he looks at you, amused by the situation. Mimicking Sam's actions; Colby lied back, a hand underneath his chin, smirking back at you.

Like Gods. They looked like Gods.

It was driving you insane.

You sighed, "I'm just saying. A bit upset that that was my first kiss with any of you- I mean, not like I was... waiting for one anyways, of course. Ahem." You started mumbling at the end, looking away while scratching the side of your neck.

It wasn't anything strange for all of you to have some sort of stupid flirting in between conversations, but usually they were extremely noticeable jokes.

These? Oh. These weren't jokes. These were genuine mistakes.

And a part of you hated these silly accidents. Mainly because they knew.

"There seem to be a lot of mixed signs in what you're saying." Colby said, smiling at Sam then looking back at you. "I'm a bit confused in what to believe here."

You shrugged. "Believe what you want to believe, good sir."

"It's just that I don't know if we're on the same page, you know?" Colby continued, looking at Sam. "I only know he's with me."

"Oh, for sure." The sexual tension only filling the room even more. Usually, the jokes were seemingly too overboard and hence, you could tell they were that, plain jokes.

Usually.

Just like your silly little mistakes, these weren't jokes.

"And what does that mean?" You raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, we know what we want. We don't know if it is what you want though."

You sighed heavily, seemingly loosing yourself for a moment as you whined. "Dear God, why are y'all so hot?" You looked up, dozing out of existence after thinking about their looks, their positioning, their everything.

.

.

.

Wait.

Wait.

WHAT DID YOU JUST THROW OUT OF YOUR MOUTH?

You accidentally said your thoughts out loud.

How does that even happen?!

When you realized what you've done, your eyes went wide, quickly looking at them. "Oh. Fuck. I didn't just- oh God." You didn't even wait to see their reaction as you began walking away. They quickly stood up, and you quickly sped up.

You started laughing but you were absolutely dying inside out of embarrassment. "Come back here!" Sam yelled as he got a hold of you and hugged you from behind, quickly throwing you over his shoulder.

"Let me gooo!" You yelped, moving your legs as you laughed purely by reflex. He held your legs in place. You were blushing hard.

"Nu-uh. We're gonna have a chat, young lady." Colby said, crossing his arms as you looked at him with a pout on your face. Sam turned around and slapped your ass, walking back to the room. You yelped, not expecting the sudden movement.

"A nice, long chat." Sam said as you sighed.

Oh boy. It's gonna be a long night.

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how do you guys like the banner? i got creative(ish)

also pls tell me what you thought about the fic, cause i don't really know if i did good with the idea, i did want them to review the footage but i also wanted a bit of tension or something extra to make it spicy, i'm not sure if i did a good job tho...

thank you for reading!

-nikkõ

smol taglist: @lemonnightmare @yourfavoritefangirl @stardollswrld

[polyhexian]

Okay so obviously one of the stupidest funniest things about the Pregnant Belos AU is how Belos truly is stuck in this social and political nightmare just as much as Hunter and Jasper are, but like, the more I think about it the more ridiculous it gets.

Like sure, okay, Hunter never wants to be successfully "rescued", obviously. Jasper never wants Hunter to be successfully "rescued", even more obviously.

BELOS ALSO DOES NOT WANT HUNTER TO BE SUCCESSFULLY "RESCUED".

The stupid Belos-Jasper stalemate cold war ONLY WORKS because neither of them makes a move against each other. They're both hoping to keep this rickety peace that they've never even negotiated with each other and they're constantly hoping that the other one won't escalate the situation. Belos decides the effort to take down Jasper isn't worth it unless Jasper is actively working against him, and Belos is well aware that if Hunter gets "rescued" there is a 100% guarantee that Jasper will immediately actively work against him by making him dead.

So like. Belos is ALSO sabotaging the Coven Heads' attempts to rescue Hunter, is what I'm getting at here.

Like, Lilith excitedly outlines her newest Grand Plan to save Hunter and capture Eda, and Belos nods and immediately has a meeting with Terra where he drops hints about what Lilith is up to and Terra uses this information to go crash Lilith's mission and try and grab the glory for herself and that's how the two of them end up getting regurgitated by Hooty a mile away from the Owl House.

Belos has been scheming and plotting and manipulating for centuries, but Hunter is a big blank bubble of DO NOT TOUCH in the middle of his plans because Belos knows the second that kid is in his grasp, everything he's worked for goes to shit. So he's constantly trying to keep track of all his Coven Heads' and other officials' Super Secret Prince-Rescuing Master Plans and strategizing who is best to pit against who to make sure no one makes any progress in this whatsoever. It's absolutely galling because the Day of Unity is SO CLOSE and he REALLY should be focusing on preparations and coven recruitment so he can effectively murder these people, but nooOOOOooo, everyone's obsessed with his undercooked Grimwalker and he has to make sure the little brat NEVER ends up in the castle, because even IF Belos survives Jasper, his miserable excuse for a government probably would not, and he does NOT want to spend another few centuries starting this whole plan over from scratch, and also this is the last eclipse the Boiling Isles will see for DECADES, he CAN'T mess up this timeline and if he needs to spend any longer in this hellhole than absolutely necessary he's going to go insane.

So here he is zoning out in meetings, doing mental math on who is capable of beating who without beating them so hard that they end up dead and Belos has to find a new Coven Head, because that's ANOTHER thing he can't afford to mess up right now.

He wakes up one morning to find Perry Porter on the CB reporting on a disasterous overnight secret mission at the Owl House led by Kikimora and Belos just stares in horror because HOW did he not know KIKIMORA was planning this?? She actually managed to take them by surprise? Oh god, how close did he just come to Jasper-induced death? He watches the footage of Hooty eating scouts while Eda uses Owlbert to smack Kikimora away like a baseball and is just thankful that his enemies are competent enough to not let their little brat get captured.

And like, idk how much Jasper is gonna suss out, but he's not stupid and at the very least he'll realize that hm, okay, Belos isn't coming after us as hard as I know he could. He doesn't know the specific criteria in Belos's head that will make going after Jasper worth it, but clearly the current state of affairs means it's NOT worth it, so Jasper will just stay the course and keep it that way. He still thinks Belos might be doing all this for the greater good anyway, so it's no skin off his back to keep the emperor's secrets and not join a rebellion and ignore Raine everytime they try to pry information out of him.

The Boiling Isles equivalent of Dr. Phil is constantly trying to invite the Emperor and the Golden Guard onto his CB show to talk through their issues for the good of his ratings the empire, and every time Belos and Jasper burn the invite and pray that the other one is doing the exact same thing.

The Collector doesn't get it. Belos tries to explain the situation without getting overly frustrated and the Collector's just like "This sounds like a really stupid game" and Belos is just like "IT IS THE STUPIDEST GAME" and the Collector's like "I think I can see why everyone's playing it though, you're super mad all the time and it's HILARIOUS."

Belos and Jasper are just stuck in a really weird edition of the Prisoner's Dilemma and are doing their best to keep it that way.

Then Hunter is successfully "rescued" just before the Day of Unity and Belos stares at the kid in absolute horror that he manages to disguise as parental shock and relief. He frantically wonders if there's some way he can turn the boy loose, but no, the scouts are seriously upping security around the newly-rescued prince. Fuck. Maybe he can manipulate Luz again, get her to come re-kidnap the prince, it shouldn't be hard to convince her she has to stop the dastardly plans he doesn't have for Hunter, and Belos will give her the entry codes to the castle vaults and everything. (PFFFT what if Hollow Mind in this AU is literally just Belos dragging Luz around his mindscape like "Yes, yes, I'm Philip Wittebane, get over it, listen, I need you to kidnap Hunter.")

At some point he's desperate enough to stare at his scroll and consider sending Jasper a text message like I swear I didn't mean to capture your kid, it just kinda happened, he's fine, please don't kill me?

Caleb Wittebane's Hallucination Ghost somehow got ahold of Ghost Popcorn and it is NOT HELPING.

Like he is close, he is SO CLOSE to cleansing this perdition, he just needs to stave Jasper off a liiiiiiittle longer, he just needs to hold it together until he can get the draining spell started and then he'll never need to worry about Jasper again.

In the days before the eclipse, he downloads one of those dumb Countdown To The Day Of Unity! apps and obsessively checks it every hour.

ITS SO FUNNYYYYYY

Like the stand off... I think jasper is also on the same page that like. Jasper is powerful and he has a staff and he knows the damage he can do. And maybe he can't kill Belos. He isn't sure. But he can expose a LOT of dangerous secrets. He can kill a lot of people. He can REALLY fuck him over. But he doesn't want to because that could be bad. He could definitely die. Hunter could get killed. Not worth it. And also, jasper believes that even if Belos is A Monster. He still is trying to save the Titan from dying and he's the only one who can. So he doesn't WANT to fuck that up.

Neither of them want to fight because it's going to cause so much damage to everything they'd be fighting over. both of them would prefer no confrontation. And as long as no one starts anything... No one has to finish anything. It's just.... So funny.

The idea of Belos texting jasper "please come take him back and go home I don't want him" is so fucking funny. I suppose it's more realistic that at that point he's going to be holding hunter at the TIGHTEST possible leash like. He has to literally have him at his side at all times. He can't sleep, he has to be holding a knife to hunters throat at ALL times to keep jasper from jumping into action. The second he looks away jasper is IN there fucking shit up. Maybe it's right before the day of unity and Belos has to be incredibly sleep deprived and paranoid carrying around an angsty antagonistic sixteen year old boy while a man people think impregnated him is stalking him waiting for an opportunity to Kill and still trying to get everything to come together and Also there's this fucking human girl here wrecking shit and Oh My God Everything Is Terrible

[crystaldwightsworld]

"I'm definitely catching a cold..."

So, in the recent Game Informer footage of Resident Evil 4 remake, you can hear Ashley say "I'm definitely catching a cold!" after her and Leon have escaped from the Church. It's pouring rain, probably chilly. Now, I know it's myth that catching a cold from the weather isn't really a thing but what if they BOTH got sick during the trip from Spain, and being forced to stay in isolation together.

-They're both being held in isolation either way, Graham wanting to be absolutely certain that any traces or remnants of the Plaga had been eradicated. Leon agrees to it only under the circumstance that 1. he gets to eat, 2. he gets a shower and 3. someone needed to go to his apartment, grab him some clothes, his medication, his laptop and to check up on his cats. "Graham, Sir, if you're gong to keep me here, I need to be comfortable. Ashley too, she's gone longer without food than me!"

-Hunnigan's there on location and is entrusted with the task of retrieving Leon's things. Leon has to tell her exactly where everything is, embarrassing enough that she was going to have to pick out underwear for him. "I hope you're okay with cats. Oscar is friendly but Millie is skittish. Just, you know, make sure they have enough food and water."

-Ashley's pissed, absolutely having none of it. "This is how you treat the agent that saved your daughter's life! I'd be dead without him! And what about me?! My word isn't good enough for you?!"

-So many tests done, so... many... even blood drawn. Ashley nearly passes out during her draw while Leon showered. They have them in a custom built ICU, wanting to keep surveillance on the both of them for the next 24 hours, heart rates being monitored on the constant. They both have their own section of the room, a bed brought in for the both of them. Ashley politely requests a tv.

-Leon can already feel it after the shower, that icky, not so great feeling as he dried his hair. He mentions it to the doctors on site. Sure enough, a few hours later, he's developed a fever, sore throat and body aches that keep him up most of the night despite how tired he is. Graham grows very concerned but the medic assures him that this was nothing more than the common cold. "He could have already been carrying a virus when he arrived in Spain. Maybe caught something on the airplane, from one of the pilots or staff. Happens all the time."

-Leon is miserable. He wants nothing more than to go home, to the comfort of his own bed, cocoon himself in his blankets and sleep. At least the bed wasn't too uncomfortable, the coffee wasn't bad either. He's been awake for an hour, coughing his lungs out and working on the report he was going to need to turn in eventually. Ashley stirring awake catches his attention with the addition of her now starting to cough. "Sweetheart, no! Not you too!" It was bound to happen. They had spent a lot of time together after finding her in the Church. She gets clingy after that and Leon doesn't have it in him to tell her no when she wants to hang out next to him. She develops a fever as well which results in shivering and a constant feeling of being cold. Good thing Leon was a furnace, body heat radiating off his frame.

-"The cooks are gunna make us some soup." Ashley tells him with a raspy voice.

"Oh God, that sounds amazing!" Leon replies, relieved.

-They unfortunately are requested to be kept in isolation for another night, just to be sure that it really was just a common cold. Leon grows just as angry as Ashley was yet they both make the best of it, by living on soup, ginger ale, warm tea, Gatorade, way too many fruit pops for the vitamin c boost, Alka Seltzer and the finest late night trash television has to offer.

-Ashley ends up falling asleep next to Leon but he's too exhausted to rouse her, knowing full and well that she needed her rest too. He doesn't care what the doctors would have to say, nor what Graham would think. As long as she was comfortable, he didn't mind. He ends up falling asleep not soon after, his head lulled back and resting against Ashley's. They had been through too much to be shy around each other.

[alarrytale]

I remember those pictures the previous anon mentioned with Louis looking so scarily skinny. We know now that was when his mom was sick but at the time we didn’t. Makes sense with what Lottie said about Jay not wanting the family to say anything. I’m sure it’s weird of me as a fan but I look to see if he’s skinnier when we do see him because that clearly was a response to trauma. I’ve been here a while now and i remember seeing him like that another time when he was in the band. I can’t think of the year but he was wearing a green hoodie and while people thought he looked so good because he had such pronounced cheek bones, I kept thinking he didn’t look well at all. It’s good to see him beefier with muscles and abs now. With the alcohol, all the boys were very open with drinking while in 1D. With all the pictures and videos of fetus Louis drinking, it’s not an image thing. He definitely wasn’t a laddy lad then so it’s not that he’s promoting alcohol or using it as an image mask. He’s just continuing what he’s been doing since 18. Louis did talk about a time where he drank so much on stage he blacked out while in 1D, but he said he learned from that. I do find it interesting that last tour we saw him out constantly partying. This time we barely saw him out the entire tour, only very occasionally. Even in latam, we saw him out once or twice at a club (I can’t remember if it was the same night). He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there. Absolutely miserable. Otherwise when we got the footage of latam after tour we just saw him swimming, hiking, motorbiking and then of course the partying after AFHF. God I hate his smoking though. It’s hard to quit, I know that from personal experience but I’m hoping he stops for so many reasons. We’ll see what happens after these festivals. I doubt anything will change for now but when he has free time, it will be interesting to see if he has any changes.

Hi, anon!

It's easy to see when Louis isn't taking care of himself properly or when he's sad and depressed. His weight has fluctuated a lot over the years. He was misrable during hay*or, and he was super skinny and pale in november 2014. Zayn was too at the same time, so i think that was due to exhaustion from touring.

November 2014 vs. June 2015.

I think we have to agree to disagree on the alcohol subject.

[naggingatlas]

idk if anyone will see this but MY ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SPARK is:

⭐⭐🎪⭐⭐ ROUND ONE

stej 1 longplay (there r level by level and seamless ones) / playing the game but don't feel bad if you need to quit on the last levels the difficulty spike is. eh. there's also a quality of life mod for it in the works! it's called recharged :) <- u can download it already

u can also switch the controls by pressing ctrl+y

also available in stream flavor if u need someone to ramble over a game: a merry gentleman who really enjoys the soundtrack and does NOT understand the sacred value of knight hat, and this depressed fox-thing who keeps buzzing his ass on everything (a two-parter) 1️⃣1️⃣1️⃣ and 2️⃣2️⃣2️⃣. we're not jermaing here unfortunately, so i prefer longplay commentary w friends and just. pausing when u can't read as fast. guaranteed to have that overhaul thingy tho.

fark's story!!! yes it's non canon but!!!! eughuehuhgh!!!!!

it's the hardmode of this game so if you're not into that it might not be super accessible, but is an interesting look into the character of fark felipe had been working with at the time and how the community saw him. as fark appreciator #1 - is required reading.

if youre not ENAMORED! with the footage being mostly just "stej1 levels but w FAAAAARK", you can just press forward until something catches your eye, the levels r the same rly. it's really quiet. it's the one where the robot gets the nightmares.

prolly the sluggiest part of ur journey tho

also available in both commentary and shutthefuckup flavors.

fark moves in w spark in it btw. ⭐

⭐⭐🤖⭐⭐ ROUND TWO

for stej 2 it's either cutscenes + playing the levels yourself in 3 - their reworks were added as a free dlc - or just watching a full longplay.

not worth the time and brain cell cringe investment at the familiarization stage. but if you go into it with the full knowledge that it's going to be GOOFY, the cutscenes do their job - i laugh my ass off at the 3 microframes of armstrong being carried away by ej at the start of it. get a beer n some chips dude.

tho imo? auntie yasha opinion? just do the cutscenes and then, after you're done with everything, play the levels in 3's rendition as like a throwback. you'll love it much more this way i think. honestly that's the whole deal w 2, it's a shitty itchy sweater made by yo ma when she was just learning to knit but you wear it to keep the memory of that time alive yknow. gotta give her credit for starting somewhere.

if you do play it the floppy discs contain concept art n stuff but u can find that online obv

⭐⭐🍔⭐⭐ FINAL LOOP

stej 3 you just buy it you play that shit that's it. ok or watch a longplay (this one has timestamps just don't. like. accidentally take a peek at the later timestamps ok you got me buddy you hear me. ok. thanks). but yea.

if u got a pc just buy the game oh my god buy this game play it i've written and screamed and chewed a hole in my red skull chewtoy over this game so many times me n my niece could open a university course on it.

play it however u want (only advice is try to get as many completion (not exploration!) medals in the levels as u can. or don't if ur hardcore like that.) just one rule - normal platforming difficulty and no spoilers absolutely none.

btw don't worry abt the gamepad thing felipe jumpscares you with at the start i honestly prefer keyboard n mouse in it <- filthy tf2 player who has the medicmain strafing spasms so ingrained in her hands she did them mid air for the first 3 hours.

and that's pretty much it! you're free to roam afterwards. join the official discord server, read up on the wiki, watch lakefeperd's (that's felipe! that's the mom!) dev streams (Goofy. the story beats r so off in the final material every time i love this guy. leather jacket indoors in the brazilian heat. ah), check the twitter n tumblr tags, watch speedruns, miserably try to recreate speedrun tech, do an endless dive stream with buds cheering you on, watch essays about out of bounds in games and cry, you'll figure it out. and then after you have 50 hours in 1 and 3 and are starved and emaciated you may go play stej2. maybe.

tl;dr ⭐🍔🤖🎪

stej 1 longplay/play the game. ||| level by level playlist / seamless playthrough / stream 1 / stream 2 part uno + part dos /// quality of life mod

buy stej 3

stej 2 cutscenes + play the ported levels in 3. if step two skipped - full playthrough. ||| cutscenes / longplay

play stej 3 with no spoilers whatsoever. if not possible - longplay and don't you dare move your cursor or fat sleazy finger ahead of where you currently are. ||| longplay

🌽 also if u just wanna try the games out and are stingy w your money i can always provide a torrent link via dms. that's how i got familiar with them and then decided to support the author :]

as always, best enjoyed in the company of mocking friends

and thank you @starfall-isle for inviting so many people into this cozy, dark, but ventilated hole . godspeed.

do you have any recommendations on where to start with Spark the Electric Jester? is it worth starting from the very beginning, or can you jump in at the newest game and still get the full experience? thanks! (I have an undying need to get into this fandom now and it's your fault)

I would personally recommend starting with the first game yeah! It’s much less plotline driven, but it’s a very good introduction to the characters and tone of the series. +it is so fun and has a stellar soundtrack. It’s a little difficult to find many longplays for the first game though, most of the ones I found were before the game had a big overhaul and dialogue update and a lot of the time people jumped through the text boxes too fast for me to keep up with lol. (If u have a computer all the games are on steam! 1st is pretty cheap.) The second game also acts a bit like a prelude to the 3rd so i would also recommend that one, but tonally it feels a bit different to the other two which is partially why I think the first is a good starting point! Hope you enjoy them ^^

[zilabee]

so my week has basically been breaking under the overwhelming consciousness that magical mystery tour is one of the greatest most beautiful concepts for anything that has ever existed and all it really needed was some polite prodding into shape, and some balancing, and then a full colour cinema release in the spring

quickly followed by being blinded by the shining light of Get Back being just the easiest most exact thing we've ever seen, but falling apart because nobody booked a fucking venue and told everyone how pretty they are. Like I get at the beginning all the talk about ooh where should we perform, that's part of the thing, but there has to be a moment that you notice the beatles aren't going to make a decision. they'll definitely make the music, but expecting a beatle to decide anything sensible is ridiculous insanity. So just BOOK A VENUE which terrifies them and pushes them together into a tight unit of fear and adrenaline and they'll rise to that, and they'll look at each other and know what they've done. Just do that. I know we're all quite fond of Michael Lindsay Hogg, and the rooftop is lovely, don't get me wrong, but oh my god, just book something that terrifies them, and let the crowd scream at them one last time. (and as well, this is the six hour film he could have made into everything it was ever meant to be, a series and a finale and a joyous celebration. And instead he made that other thing and we cried for decades. the whole plan was to create something this beautiful, and he did, he got all this footage and all this stuff, and then he crumpled it up into a fucking ball and told us how dark and miserable the world is, what the hell.)

Never before has 'Save Brian; Save the World' seemed so absolute and easy and uncomplicated. Imagine them with just a small sense of steadiness and constancy. They just need someone there to make simple clean decisions while they're busy making reckless musical joy. Just to smile and tell them how wonderful they are, while surreptitiously neatening their edges. Look how obvious it is, just look at them, they're not even complicated, they're tiny.

[obiwanobi]

listen to this AU: obi-wan sleeps with a random guy in the outer rim, realises the day after that he lacked a force signature (aka he hid it), gets suspicious but doesn't meet the guy until like three years later. they sleep with each othr again, they get the other's name (surprise it's anakin), obi-wan thinks he's a pilot, anakin just thinks obi-wan is a regular jedi, not the famous one from the holonet BECAUSE HE'S THAT STUPID. fast forward, they've met several times, slept with eachother 1/2

BUT also bonded, they kinda like each other now, obi.wan looks forward to meeting the handsome arrogant pilot with suspicious jobs, anakin likes the handsome jedi even though he knows he probably shouldn't BECASUE HE HAS A SECRET, also they've avoided the whole force signature thing. one day they meet again. on dooku's ship. anakin has a lightsaber A RED ONE, and obi-wan's like YOU'RE A SITH?? and anakin is like YOU'RE THAT OBI-WAN KENOBI? 2/?

so it turns out, anakin is a sith apprentice because he and dooku/palpatine made a deal, his apprenticeship for his mother's freedom, so he's been secretly training under dooku but never really fought in the war, only doing weird solo missions so obi-wan has never heard of him but without slept and maybeee just fallen in love with a SITH and anakin is super scared of dooku/palpatine, so he's torn between trying to kill obi and getting punished harshly if he doesn't ?/?

but yeah there's this big drama about palpatine being a sith lord, obi-wan being in love with anakin, anakin wanting to help his unofficial boyfriend but also scred of what his master will do to him or his mother, and hopefully this AU has a happy ending with palpatine dying and shmi surviving but i'm not sure. and yeah i was supposed to be anonymous when writing this but forgot so now you know my guilty pleasure aka obikin and star wars

(it’s alright, I don’t have to post your username if you don’t want other people to know 😘) 

my god, this is SO GOOD. I adore the idea of them casually having sex before catching feelings and realising who they are, what a perfect trope.

The post was getting a bit long, so have some more ideas under the cut! 

In an always-a-sith!Anakin AU, I like to think that Obi-Wan doesn’t get a padawan for a while (and probably think that because he barely made it as a padawan himself, he’s not the right person to teach future Jedi,) so it gives him plenty of time to take missions that let him gallivant around the galaxy and be his flirting and daring self without restriction for ten glorious years. So a one night stand with the gorgeous pilot (probably a spice runner, but hey, Obi-Wan isn’t here to judge,) with the arrogance of someone who’s never been praised and loved enough in his life? It’s precisely what Obi-Wan does best. 

At first, Anakin probably thought that it would be fun to sleep with a Jedi, you know, for the irony, but Obi-Wan is strangely pleasant, charming and witty. Not at all cold, moralistic and straight-laced, like other darksiders described the Jedi Order, and he hides behind his charming demeanours and smooth voice a surprisingly daredevil side, which is... very hot, if you ask Anakin.

And the sex is great, so when they meet once again a few months later, it becomes an unspoken agreement that if they’re on the same planet/close to each other, they could... catch up more regularly. It works well, so well that when Anakin sends him a message to tell him that yes, he’s on Coruscant for one rotation, but don’t expect anything from me Obi-Wan, I’m sick, cold, feverish, miserable and absolutely not in the mood, Obi-Wan shows up with medicine and his favourite pastries, before spending the night checking his temperature and fussing over his eating habits. No one has ever taken care of him like that since his mom.

The same night, the news report another great victory for the Republic thanks to the famous Negotiator, and Anakin snorts, says that it’s a very dumb nickname, and what’s his name again? Ben or something? but each time the reporter says his full name Anakin sneezes and each time there is footage of Obi-Wan on screen Anakin goes to the fresher, and Obi-Wan probably thinks he’s the stupidest person in the galaxy and he loves him so much.

Obi-Wan knows he should question Anakin about why he’s always showing up not too far from shady businesses and galaxy-wide conflicts, but Anakin can be very distracting, and his job is not something Obi-Wan wants to know too much about. After all, not talking about the contraband and the flagrant illegality of it all makes it easier to turn a blind eye to it. 

And as you say, the day comes when they finally meet as Jedi and Sith in a real battle, and after a few minutes of “you’re a Sith?” “You’re the famous Jedi who leads half of the Republic’s fleet and you never told me?? I thought you were spending more time teaching at the Temple or gathering old and boring archive files!” “Excuse me, YOU’RE A SITH.” I like to imagine a long fight scene à la Mr and Mrs Smith, with a lot of dirty moves and a lot of “so that time you said you couldn’t see me because you were busy with a large delivery on a sector suspiciously close to Separatist space...?” “yeah, I was picking up one of Grievous’ platoon.” “...I can’t believe I introduced you to my padawan!”

They’re both angry and betrayed, and it ends up with both of them tired, panting, sabers right next to each other’s neck, waiting. After a few seconds, Obi-Wan shakes his head, lowers his blade and says that he won’t do it. He can’t. It pisses Anakin off, but nothing he says (yells furiously at him) can wipe out his sad smile and the tenderness in his eyes, and Anakin breaks.  

They end up fucking again. There are... way too many feelings involved here to be as casual as they pretended until now. “We shouldn’t,” Anakin says quietly, after, both of them still entangled in each other, unwilling to let go.“You shouldn’t. I’m a Sith.” “Now you tell me.” It makes him laugh for a second. 

Now, what’s the ending of this story? Does Anakin tell Obi-Wan that this is just this one time, and next time he will definitely kill him, whatever happens? Does Obi-Wan sees right through him and knows that he’s on the edge of a breakdown, that there must be a reason for Anakin to do all of this, pleading for him to “talk to me, dearest, why won’t you talk to me? Why won’t you let me help, Anakin?” even when they’re both in the middle of a battle, and it justs breaks Anakin a bit more each time?

Or does Anakin explain everything to him right away, and Obi-Wan convinces him that they will find a solution, they will save his mother and stop Sidious, but for now, he has to pretend to remain a loyal Sith? To play it safe, give them time to figure out how to rescue Shmi and stop Sidious? 

 I’m 100% invested now, you should definitely consider writing this fic because it’s an amazing AU! (with or without the ideas I threw here, I was just really into it) 

[vivithefolle]

I was always confused by Hermiones behavior towards Ron in OOTP. Was she trying to hide her feelings? because she didn't really gave him any signs. Why she was so nasty at him with the teaspoon thing. Was she trying to make him jealous with the letters? What did or didn't she understand from Ron giving her the perfume. Is all this just JKR being stupid because she don't want them together before the very end. Sry for all these questions but I am rly confused can you plz help Vivi?

Once again, I’ll copy one of my Quora essays!

it’s a stereotype to say that girls resort to underhanded tactics when it comes to dating, or like to “test” their partner’s love… but it’s a stereotype for a reason: there are teenage girls who resort to those tactics.

The archetype of the Tsundere exists as an exaggeration of the traits some teenage girls demonstrate when they find themselves in a position of vulnerability such as “having a crush on someone”.

For someone as prideful as Hermione is, having a crush on someone is extremely threatening.

Hermione prides herself in her logic and intelligence. The validation she receives from getting good grades is something she needs, because she’s very insecure deep down. She thinks all she has to offer is her intelligence, and as she goes from a little girl to a young woman, this causes her grief because she doesn’t want to be just “intelligent”. As her body develops and changes, she finds that being the smartest one in the room isn’t enough anymore - she still loves being the smartest in the room, but she wants more than just that, she wants validation for other things. That’s why she was extremely hurt when Ron tactlessly (and Rowling-ly) remarks “you’re a girl” - she wants to be seen as a girl, as a woman, as more than a walking brain. She wants validation that she is a girl, and beautiful, and sexy, and capable of making heads spin. She needs “sexual” validation, for lack of a better term.

Of course she doesn’t really realize those feelings. All she knows is that it hurts when Ron seems to consider her “one of the guys”, or looks at girls that aren’t her. She likes it when he compliments her, but she’s also angry at him because he only ever seems to compliment her intelligence and damn it, she wants him to compliment something else! She wants him to look at her, REALLY look at her! Look at her like he looks at the pretty girls!

Little does she know that Ron does look at her, but he probably thinks he’s a pervert for doing so. Because - because she’s Hermione! She’s not like other girls, she’s not - she’s not the kind of girl you ogle! She’s the kind of girl you gift flowers to - roses, they’re her favourite - the kind of girl you have long, meaningful talks with - not sure if they’re always meaningful, but they sure talk a lot together! - she’s the kind of girl you… the kind of girl you love, not the kind of girl you just look at…

*wistful sigh* Mutual pining, mutual admiration, slow burn, +100k words…

But truth is, many people go around saying that Hermione treating Ron harshly and treating pretty much every boy (with exceptions like Draco Malfoy) more gently is because she actually doesn’t like Ron, and likes anyone but Ron.

When the truth actually is that… Hermione is awful. No, no, seriously, when Hermione is in love, she’s terrible. She can be a nice friend but when she’s in love with you she’s horrible. Especially since she’s a teenager.

Hermione is a prime example of a Tsundere.

The cute, blushy, giggling Hermione who flirts with [insert character here] and cries delicately when she’s rejected? Pure fanfiction. Canon Hermione keeps her love aggressively hidden behind countless iron walls, only letting it peek through when she’s absolutely sure the person she likes isn’t looking.

“How was practice?” asked Hermione rather coolly half an hour later, as Harry and Ron climbed through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room. “It was -” Harry began. “Completely lousy,” said Ron in a hollow voice, sinking into a chair beside Hermione. She looked up at Ron and her frostiness seemed to melt. - Order of the Phoenix

Rare footage of the Hermione Granger, scientific name Selfinsertus Overratedus, displaying interest in specimen of mighty fine hunk

Hermione isn’t sweet and tender and kind with the one she loves. At least, the teenage Hermione isn’t. She’s harsh, she’s disdainful and only gives out breadcrumbs of affection once in a while as part of the complicated mind game she’s playing.

You see, Hermione is never going to make the first move. You must be the one to ask her out, because she sure as hell ain’t going to do it for you.

This is due, I think, to the events of Goblet of Fire. Viktor Krum asks her out because Rowling absolutely wants Hermione to be the ugly duckling who transforms into the beautiful swan, so she brings in Cardboard Cutout With No Personality Aside From Being Famous to woo her self-insert.

Now Hermione has gotten the experience of being asked out, and being a rather socially awkward person who also hates being vulnerable - more on that later - well, now she just assumes that if someone asked her out once, then anyone who does like her can do the same.

Which is why she doesn’t realize that Ron is actually aware he loves her. There’s a big comedy of assumptions going on in Romione’s love story.

Hermione believes that Ron either 1) likes her but is oblivious to his own feelings and so she thinks she has to “give him hints” to make him realize it. Emphasized best by this exchange:

Hermione laughed. “Harry you’re worse than Ron [at understanding girls]… well, no, you’re not, “ she sighed, as Ron himself came stumping into the Hall splattered with mud and looking grumpy.

“I’ve sent him so many signals and yet he doesn’t notice. Woe is me!”

2) doesn’t actually likes her, but sees her just as a good mate or worse, as another sister.

Hermione keeps flip-flopping between her two assumptions throughout the series, all because of her biggest assumption: she thinks that if Ron was interested in her, he would ask her out. Because Viktor Krum was interested in her, and he asked her out, so why wouldn’t Ron do the same? They’re both boys and she’s a girl, after all. Isn’t that how it works?

This is also why Hermione’s “““invitation”““ to the Slug Club isn’t even an invitation - really, it’s worse than Ron’s invite to the Yule Ball, at least he was actually offering her to come:

“We’re allowed to bring guests,” said Hermione, […], “and I was going to ask you to come, but […] I won’t bother.”

“I was going to ask you to come but I won’t bother.”

This is literally what she says. It’s more of a “look Ron! An invite! If you’re good maybe I’ll think about letting you have it!” than anything else.

It’s because this is Hermione’s last resort. The ultimate humiliation. She has to resort to inviting Ron when in her mind, he’s supposed to be the one asking her out. He’s the boy! He’s supposed to do it! (And this is why I laugh at all the fools who claim that Hermione is the pinnacle of feminism. Seriously, the girl is more of a misogynist than any other character in the series.)

Hermione failed to take into account that Ron’s insecurity cripples him worse than she imagines, and that he copes with it differently than she copes with her own insecurities.

And this is the part where I explain about Hermione’s hatred of being vulnerable.

You see, I can relate quite a lot to Hermione - I see a lot of me in her, and a lot of people who hurt me in the past as well.

Bullied because she was an easy target, being the know-it-all and local teacher’s pet? Yep. Bullied for her appearance (I got braces when I was 8 and have been wearing glasses since I was a toddler, she had her bushy hair and buck teeth)? Can relate. Cried easily? Super check. Rule enforcer when the teachers weren’t around? Mega check.

And naturally, when you’re such a water fountain as I was, there’s nothing more humiliating than ending up crying in front of your bullies. You quickly learn that it will bring you nothing but more bullying. More humiliation. More vulnerability.

Hence why you start despising any form of vulnerability you find in yourself.

Obviously, being in love? That’s one of the most terrible things you can find yourself in when you’re afraid of being vulnerable. Because, oh god, your feelings are completely insane around the person. They make or ruin your day. You keep wanting to show them how cool / great / impressive you are, and you try desperately to mask all your little faults so they will hopefully return your feelings.

Given that Hermione is already not the most socially-aware battering ram in the knife drawer, she acts especially nasty to Ron, because she’s overcompensating for the vulnerability he makes her feel. And she most likely isn’t even aware of it! Forget Fanfic Hermione cringing as she realizes how mean she sounds, welcome Canon Hermione who just doubles down on a pointless argument just to drive home how totally in control she is and how Ron has absolutely zero effect on her, no siree!

In short: Hermione overthinks. She overthinks everything. She’s overthinking every of Ron’s actions, she’s assuming he’s either out to get her because she assumes he’s perfectly aware of her crush on him and he’s just toying with her (this is the very insecure, pessimistic Hermione speaking), she’s assuming he’s completely oblivious to her feelings and so she uses the ages-old technique of the “subtle hints” to make her feelings known to him (and fails miserably because she doesn’t want to put herself out there too much in case he rejects her, which would be the ultimate humiliation and the worst possible thing to happen to her, in her teenage girl mind), and she’s assuming he’ll never like her the way she likes him, all the while being woefully oblivious to the fact that Ron does want to be with her but she keeps sending him signals that she sees him as a troublesome child rather than a potential partner.

All in all, a teenage Hermione in love is utter torture. She’s her own worst enemy, and it’s only when she decides to let go of it all - of the mind games, of the distancing, of the passive-aggressive; of the overthinking - and just takes a chance that her efforts bear fruit.

There was a clatter as the basilisk fangs cascaded out of Hermione’s arms. Running at Ron, she flung them around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth. Ron threw away the fangs and broomstick he was holding and responded with such enthusiasm that he lifted Hermione off her feet.

(As much as I’m disillusioned with Romione, this kiss is still one of my favourite parts of the series. They mutually sweep each other off their feet for god’s sake, you wish your ship would.)

[theslyvoid9]

Oh god im just...thinking about Jimmy, like everyone bullies him and he usually playfully obviously overreacts to it in a offended matter but i feel like as everyone else gets more geniuen in the insults he also gets more geniuen in being offended, but like its jimmy hes always like this so like no one notices how far gone he actually is.

I feel like bc of that someone says sth mean, maybe scott tried to come by to get jim to go with him instead of staying with scars group (again him and his god complex needing some ally to feel superiour too now that grian, who was clearly just working with bigb and waiting for the moment to kill him, is dead) but his convincing is just belittling jim and trying get into his stupid head that he NEEDS scott to keep him alive, but it just completely sets jim off, like fully shouting and maybe even like truly trying to beat the shit out of scott, he fails miserably but he just runs off. They dont find him again after that, no one knows what happened to him.

Scott would use this to get even more hostile towards scars group bc "how didnt you guys notice how far gone he was???" while the others blame Scott for pushing jim over the edge and on purpose trying to divide them while they clearly have a better chance together.

This would fully just make Lizzie also just pull away from both groups i think, like scott is CLEARLY crazy so not staying with him but also...what if he was right about scar and mumbo...cant be risking that so without saying anything Lizzie just goes off on her own one day. She gets worse now that shes alone, even more paranoid of others because who could she trust?? anyone could be a source no matter how innocent they seem, just better to not risk it. Lizzie I feel like would somehow get one of those chest mounted go pros, she knows shes doing something when she blacks out, the video is usually completely fucked and she cant get it to play properly. She got a bit of the audio to work once, she swears she heard Jimmy talk to her. Her cough seems to be getting worse. Joel ABSOLUTELY now has it out for Scott bc not only is Jim missing now but also Lizzie is avoiding him like the plague. Even once yelled at him to stay away but he also thinks that Scott has gone fully insane and Joel just... for all his bark doesnt have a lot of bite to actually facing Scott in a fight, and Scott seems to be really good at dissapearing when he needs to so Joel is just constantly mad bc he feels helpless for not being able to do anything. Thought I do feel that he would not join but keep ties with the scar group, afterall he wasnt there when the actual fight happened so he doesnt like...fully trust them but also didnt hear scott accuse them + if scott hates them then they must be normal actually.

After the jim incident scar would become almost obsessively observant of mumbo and pearl, like god damn psychoanalyzing how they blink just to make sure that he can stop the influence before it gets too bad, after all hes lost too many close friends already. Pearl would be getting more and more sick but sticks with scar bc at least they WANT her around unlike everyone else. Mumbo just sets up an entire camera system around their base and is constantly just in his room reviewing the footage

Life Series but the operator (slenderman) is after them. Ok lets take some of the current teams so its easier to discuss I think Joel's first to go insane and start killing people. He can't handle the headaches and waking up in new places each morning without knowing where the fuck he was. He panics about everyt little odd noise and he can't handle the migranes and the tinnitus in his ear that keeps getting louder whenever the operator is near. He films absolutely everything, Gem is fine to begin with but will become paranoid alongside him. Just not to the same level. She definitely experiences memory loss. No clue who she spoke to before or what happened the night prior.

BigB is withdrawn. He's definitely under some influence. He's naturally suspicious of everything and everyone but it also means he isolates himself more than necessary. Everyone thinks he's working for the Operator but his mind simply too confused to know whats happening, he sees green maybe a bit too often. He can be seen filming people in secret. And when he's spotted he runs. Pearl sees him watching her so often she feels a bit calm when wandering around, she doesnt know if hes a danger to her but yet but at least she never feels alone.

Jimmy, Scar and Lizzie stick together. They're too stupidly curious about it so they attempt to get closer to it, try to get to the bottom of what the fuck is going on. Joel curses them out when he sees them. Tells them they will only make it worse, only bring it out more. They don't take him seriously. But Jimmy starts to experience severe paranoia after he thinks he was kidnapped at night and taken somewhere for a few hours. He woke up with his head bleeding and body covered in bruises. Scar doesn't know what to believe, Lizzie tries to convince him maybe he just sleepwalked. They aren't sure if Lizzie is somehow involved in it. She's not in denial about it existing for one. She might be coping over the fact that her husband no longer trusts her so she wants to avoid the topic of the effects this can have on people...

i think Tango might be the first one to go missing. He wasn't careful enough, he joked around with it, didn't watch his step. Didn't take it seriously. And now he's gone. Scar needs to go look for him. That's his friend, he can't just leave his friend out there. Jim and Lizzie discourage him for different reasons but Scar doesn't listen, why would he??? Pearl is also looking for Tango, so is Grian. Meanwhile Pearl has abandoned Scott because he tried to blame it reemerging and showing up again on her. Told her tjat if she goes to search for Tango she would doom them all. ....

I will come back i just need to cook this wait. enjoy i guess

[autumngracy]

Haha, if you tune to Fox News rn you can see the Independence Day Celebration at West Point, which they filmed yesterday and are playing today as if it's live footage for some reason, (not that they're claiming it's live)

BUT the funnier part is I was there yesterday, and right before the whole event was really supposed to kick off, there was a freak torrential rain storm that absolutely pummeled the whole place for about 30 minutes, and half the crowd left, the entire concert was canceled, the forecast was changed to a 70% chance of severe thunderstorms until well past the fireworks show was supposed to end, and people suspected the only reason they didn't cancel the fireworks entirely (and move them to Sunday night which WAS the rain date) was that it wouldn't have worked for Fox and Friends' schedule (lucky for them the rain actually held off for the rest of the night).

The poor cadets who had just filed in for the concert were soaked bc they're not allowed to have umbrellas when at events, and so they had to miserably file back out to change into spare uniforms, so they could come back later and look nice and dry and perfect as though nothing had happened.

Anyway, I was there as a photographer (NOT working for Fox lmao) but went home after the rain finally passed because of the concert being canceled and everything being a muddy mess (plus at the time we assumedthey were going to cancel to fireworks, too).

But my god, you should have seen how nuts it was for that half hour of rain. There was only a 10-15% chance of it, supposedly. It was disgustingly hot and muggy out for the first few hours of setup and people arriving early. Just melting into puddles of sweat, etc.

There were a few raindrops, out of the blue. And then, it turned windy and cold. Suddenly, within seconds, a WALL of rain blew in and pummeled everything in sight.

People had absolutely no time to react. They abandoned their food, their seating, their toys. They scrambled. 20-30 people packed themselves under the 10'x10' USAA sponsor tent, desperately trying to keep dry, even though the wind was so severe it barely mattered unless you were dead center inside of the thing. The raindrops splattered so hard it was like watching a paintball match.

The Fox crew huddled under the tiny tents behind their little stage, as several pathetic looking stagehands frantically mopped and squeegeed water away from the (equipment at?) the back of the stage.

It was absolute chaos. Everyone was miserable. Everyone felt like drowned rats.

And now they're playing the aftermath on tv like it was a picture perfect day, and I can't help but laugh. You can still see how drenched some of the people who came early and stayed were.

Anyway, here's some pictures of Trophy Point before the deluge ...

And during.

You literally couldn't even see the Hudson river anymore lmao.

[221bsunsettowers]

Buck/Eddie AU: Good News on My TV Screen

Fandom: 9-1-1

Pairing: Buck/Eddie

AU: Buck is a news reporter, Eddie is a firefighter, and they meet at the scene of an accident. 

CW: mentions of a gun and a gunshot, multiple car accidents, Buck’s parents being terrible parents

That night, after Christopher was in bed, Eddie grabbed the remote and flipped on the TV. He found himself checking his watch, then flipping through channels until he found the call sign matching the one he had seen on the side of the camera that morning.

And there he was, the reporter from the accident. He was standing by the side of the road, a broken off bumper, shattered glass, punctured tires all littering the scene behind him, but not a single injured person or smashed car. "Our thoughts tonight are with all those affected by this tragedy, and with the brave first responders who help without hesitation," the man was saying. "I'm Evan Buckley, with Skywitness News 8. Back to you, Taylor."

Evan Buckley. Now Eddie had a name to match the face. And confirmation that the face was just as attractive as he remembered.

Can also be found on a03 here

The car crash was absolutely horrendous, which of course meant all the news crews were out, cameras pointed directly in close up on the most heartbreaking, bloody scenes they could find.

And there were plenty to find.

"Assholes," Eddie muttered under his breath, as he and Hen worked to free a sobbing woman who had been pinned between the greviously injured driver and the passenger side door when one of the cars had spun out of control and smashed right into them. The woman finally extricated, they carefully moved her onto a stretcher, two paramedics quickly rushing her into an ambulance. The situation was finally as under control as it was going to be, when from the corner of his eye Eddie saw a camera swing right towards them.

"Hey, no, not cool," someone suddenly said, and Eddie looked up to see a reporter step in front of the camera with his arms out to his sides, effectively blocking the camera's view of the injured woman.

"The network-" the cameraman began, but the reporter shook his head, standing his ground.

"The network brought me here for a reason, and it wasn't to profit off anyone else's pain," Eddie heard the reporter say firmly, and the cameraman walked off with a grumble, camera pointed at the ground.

And then the reporter turned to them, and all Eddie could think was oh god, eyes, hair, birthmark, arms, muscles, and he would have missed entirely what was being said to them if it wasn't for Hen sharply nudging him with her elbow.

"I'm really sorry about that," the reporter said. "I know how busy you are, but I wanted to make sure I said that. Thank you for all you do."

And as he hurried away towards where his cameraman was now, Eddie tried very hard not to let his gaze follow, but Hen's snort of laughter clearly indicated he had failed miserably.

"Don't make me report you to HR," she teased, smirking at Eddie, who managed to take his eyes off the reporter long enough to roll them epically at Hen.

That night, after Christopher was in bed, Eddie grabbed the remote and flipped on the TV. He found himself checking his watch, then flipping through channels until he found the call sign matching the one he had seen on the side of the camera that morning.

And there he was, the reporter from the accident. He was standing by the side of the road, a broken off bumper, shattered glass, punctured tires all littering the scene behind him, but not a single injured person or smashed car. "Our thoughts tonight are with all those affected by this tragedy, and with the brave first responders who help without hesitation," the man was saying. "I'm Evan Buckley, with Skywitness News 8. Back to you, Taylor."

Evan Buckley. Now Eddie had a name to match the face. And confirmation that the face was just as attractive as he remembered.

Eddie hurried into the gym at Christopher's school, still in his uniform. Glancing quickly around, he spotted Christopher in front of a table, his science fair project displayed right behind him. "Daddy!" Christopher exclaimed in delight, as Eddie scooped him into his arms for a tight hug. "You made it!"

"I promised you I would," Eddie answered with a smile, running his fingers through Christopher's curls as he set him back down.

"So this is your dad," a warm voice sounded from nearby, and Eddie turned to come face to face with Evan Buckley himself. "Oh, hi!" The reporter ran his free hand over his hair, smoothing down his own curls, balancing a microphone in the other hand. "I hope it's okay, I was talking to Christopher here about his science project. I want to start a segment highlighting great things schools are doing in the area. Of course, I'd get you to sign off first before I used any footage, I promise."

"Dad, Buck is so cool!" Christopher exclaimed, tugging on his dad's hand. "He knows all about volcanoes! He was telling me the biggest volcano ever is on Mars!"

"That is very cool," Eddie chuckled, reaching a hand out. "I'm Eddie Diaz, and you've already met Christopher. Heads up, you're his new favorite person now."

"Evan Buckley, but my friends call me Buck," Buck said, shaking Eddie's hand, "and I don't know about that."  Buck's cheeks were now tinted red, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. "He was talking about you and how much you helped him with his project."

"Chris always says I can't cook, but at least I can mix baking soda and vinegar," Eddie chuckled, and Christopher grinned, leaning closer to Buck.

"He burns everything, and he's a firefighter!" Christopher whispered with a mischevious smile, and Buck burst out laughing, Eddie's cheeks now quickly turning red. A classmate approaching caught Christopher's attention, and he quickly turned, eagerly picking up the vinegar bottle for a demonstration.

"I love kids, and you have got one great kid," Buck said, giving Eddie a wide smile, before suddenly clapping his hands together in excitement. "Oh, hey, we have a program at the station, kids can come in and do the weather report, do you think Christopher would be interested in that?"

"He would love that, that would be amazing," Eddie said, grinning as Christopher, who had been listening, came barrelling over and threw his arms around Buck's legs in a tight hug.

"Thanks Bucky!" Christopher exclaimed. Buck knelt down as Christopher immediately moved to throw his arms around Buck's shoulders, Buck hugging back tightly with a look Eddie would swear was a combination of disbelief and wonder. He needs more hugs Eddie couldn't help but think, his blush darkening at the unexpected idea.

"Here, let me give you my phone number," Buck said as Christopher noticed his project was attracting visitors and hurried back. "So we can schedule getting Superman here on to do the weather," he added quickly, flushing as he reached out his hand.

"No, right, of course," Eddie nodded, passing his phone to Buck, who quickly typed his number in. Eddie immediately sent a text to the number

Hi, it's Eddie.

and immediately followed that by mentally slapped his forehead in exasperation that that was the best he could come up with.

"Got it saved," Buck promised, flashing Eddie a grin as Eddie's phone dinged, revealing the message

Hi, it's Buck. ;)

Buck texted Eddie first, to suggest some possible dates and times that wouldn't interfere with Chris' school schedule.

Eddie texted back to confirm.

After, Eddie sat on the couch, staring down at his phone, fingers hovering, but before he could psych himself up to text something else, anything else, Buck had texted the title of a book about volcanos he thought Chris might like.

Chris immediately begged to go to the library, and when they got back to the house, Eddie texted Buck a photo of a stack of ten books about volcanos, Mars, and the weather with the message

He now wants to be a weatherman astronaut volcano scientist.

What, not a news reporter? My heart is breaking. :(  ;)

Eddie snorted, before quickly typing back

Just give him time. He's already decided you're the coolest person he's ever met.

Do you think I'm the coolest person you've ever met too? Just need to know if I need to work harder to win over both Diaz boys.

Eddie paused, taking a deep breath before responding

Maybe I just need some more time too. And you can only be second coolest. Christopher is always first place.

Seems fair to me. And I like the idea of more time.

When Christopher and Eddie arrived at the TV station, Buck was waiting for them right at the entrance, grinning as they approached, already crouching down to meet Christopher for a hug. When Buck stood up again, now with Christopher on his back for a piggyback ride, he reached a hand out to Eddie, who grasped it tightly, pulling Buck in for a one-armed hug. Eddie would swear he felt Buck melt into the hug, but just as quickly Buck was pulling back, hurrying towards the stairs with a giggling Christopher on his back.

"Let's go, old man!" Buck called back over his shoulder, and Eddie rolled his eyes, shaking his head with a smile as he hustled after them.

"Buck, I'm barely older than you!" Eddie called out at Buck's back, and as Buck reached a landing, he turned his head just enough to meet Eddie's gaze.

"Semantics, Eds," Buck called back with a wink.

After Christopher had completed his weather report-and charmed every person Buck introduced him to-Eddie swept him up into a hug, kissing the top of his head. "I'm so proud of you," Eddie declared with a grin, unable to stop smiling at how happy Christopher clearly was. "I think this calls for ice cream!"

"Yay!" Christopher exclaimed, before turning to Buck. "You're coming too, right Bucky?" Buck opened his mouth, then closed it again, looking so uncertainly at Eddie that Eddie couldn't wait another second before responding.

"Of course Buck is coming," Eddie answered, bumping his shoulder lightly againt Buck's and Buck grinned, staying close to Eddie's side as they headed towards the stairs.

"Did you grow up here?" Buck asked Eddie as they stood by Christopher, who was taste testing every ice cream flavor to make sure he picked the right combination.

"No, Texas," Eddie answered, running a hand over Christopher's curls. "I was in the Army, and-" He broke off, looking at his son to make sure Christopher was adequately distracted before continuing. "Christopher's mother and I didn't work out, she left, and my parents thought they should raise him instead of me, so he and I came out here for a fresh start." Eddie laughed self-consciously, running his fingers through his hair. "That's the short version."

"Well, if you ever want to tell the long version, I'm available," Buck said with a gentle smile, nudging Eddie's shoulder with his own. "And Eds, you are an amazing father." Before Eddie could even form a word, Buck reached out, lightly poking Eddie in the chest. "Don't try to pretend you don't have dad guilt, you were practically shouting it in between your words just a second ago. So listen to me. You are an amazing dad. I wish mine had been even a tenth as good as you are."

"Thanks, Buck," Eddie blushed, dipping his head down. Buck lay two fingers under Eddie's chin and lifted gently, until Eddie was staring into his eyes.

"It's the truth," Buck promised, and Eddie felt himself leaning into Buck's touch, keeping their gazes locked.

"Dad, I'm all done!" Christopher suddenly called, and the men jolted apart in surprise, Eddie turning quickly to meet Christopher's highly pleased grin as he held up his bowl with three scoops of ice cream.

"I see how it is, taking advantage when I'm distracted," Eddie laughed, before turning back to Buck. "Go ahead and order, Buck. This one's on me."

"Buying my affection with ice cream always works," Buck teased, as he excitedly pointed at the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

"Somehow I figured that might be the case," Eddie bantered back, "but just in case, Christopher always guarantees a win."

"Little man is the world's best wingman, huh?" Buck grinned, grabbing a plastic spoon and stepping to the side to let Eddie in to order.

"I don't know, is it working?" Eddie shot back with a grin, chuckling as Buck sputtered his first bite of ice cream onto his sleeve, quickly reaching for a nearby stack of paper napkins. After picking out his ice cream and paying, Eddie headed over to the booth Buck and Christopher were currently occupying.

"Dad, did you know Buck's seen an actual volcano?" Christopher exclaimed excitedly, ice cream already all over his cheeks.

"He's been to Mars?" Eddie asked teasingly, and Chris laughed loudly as he shook his head.

"I traveled a lot before I got here, working for different news stations," Buck explained. "I lived in Peru for a while, which is where I saw the volcanos."

"And now you're here!" Christopher cheered, both Buck and Eddie grinning back at him.

"And now I'm here," Buck responded. "My sister Maddie actually lives here, so when Skywitness News 8 called, it seemed like the perfect opportunity."

"I think you made the right call," Eddie said with a soft smile, and Buck matched his smile with one of his own.

"I think so too."

"He's so cute!" Hen exclaimed as Eddie showed her and Chimney pictures of Christopher's morning at the news station.

"Which one?" Chimney teased, as Eddie swiped to the next photo. This one was of Buck and Christopher, giant scoops of ice cream in front of them, both of them laughing. Blushing, Eddie quickly exited out of his photos, laying his phone face down next to him.

"Isn't that that new reporter?" Hen asked, teasingly poking Eddie's reddened cheek. "Evan Buckley?"

"Buck," Eddie mumbled, not meeting her eyes. "He likes to be called Buck."

"I bet he does," Chimney snickered, earning himself an elbow to the side from Eddie. "Oof! I'm just saying, that looks like you invited him on a family date. A very happy one."

"Buck's the one who set up Christopher doing the weather report," Eddie insisted, cheeks now redder. "Christopher wanted to thank him, so he came to get ice cream with us."

"I'm sure Christopher was the only one who wanted Buck there," Hen teased, and Eddie groaned, burying his face in his hands. Any hope Eddie had of them moving on to something, anything, else ended the second his phone sounded out "Breaking news!". Hen stared him down, eyebrows raised, until Eddie threw up his hands in defeat.

"Buck thought it was funny to set that for his ring and text tone," Eddie admitted, quickly snatching his phone up and moving towards the kitchen. Watching him read the text, eyes alight, face stretched into a broad smile as he typed back, Chimney and Hen chuckled fondly.

Hey, so I just finished a story near your fire station, and I remember you said you had a long shift. Want me to drop by with some coffee?

Yes please. We've already rescued two cats from trees and one person trying to rescue their cat who got stuck in the tree too. Add in a kitchen fire and a terrible attempt at homemade fireworks and I am desperate for caffeine.

Are you using me for my coffee grabbing skills, Eddie? I'm more than just a beautiful pair of hands you know.

True, you're also a pain in the ass. ;)

See if I bring you your double expresso with one cream and caramel syrup now that you've so gravely insulted me.

I have a thank you card Christopher made you in my locker.

Well, in that case, I'll be there as soon as I can.

"Somebody has a crush," Chimney whistled, chuckling as he stretched back out on the couch, kicking his feet up on the table, Hen laughing as she grabbed the video game controller.

"Shut up, Chim," Eddie shot back, but he knew there wasn't any real heat behind it. He was too busy running his fingers through his hair and smoothing out his uniform to pay attention to the snickers of his friends.

The minute he heard Buck's voice calling out "Eddie?" from the entrance to the fire station Eddie was hurrying down the stairs to meet him.

"Hey Buck," Eddie said with a grin, immediately pulling Buck in for a hug. Eddie was immensely pleased to notice Buck had already put the coffee carrier down in anticipation, and hugged Eddie back as tightly as Eddie was hugging him. Now carefully balancing the coffee carrier in one hand, Eddie slung his free arm around Buck's shoulders, tugging him towards the stairs. "Come meet everyone, but be warned, they think they're hilarious."

"We are hilarious!" Chimney protested, sticking his hand out to shake Buck's. "Welcome to the 118. I'm Chimney."

"Thanks," Buck smiled, shaking Chim's hand before leaning into Eddie's side, pointing to the coffees. "I wasn't sure what everyone else here drank, so I got a bunch of black coffees and some creamers and sugar packets."

"You are absolutely my new hero," Hen promised gleefully, snatching one of the coffees and cradling it between her hands. "Thank you for this. I'm Hen." Buck shook Hen's hand just as Eddie slapped Chimney's hand away from the nearest coffee.

"That one's mine," Eddie asserted, quickly grabbing the large cup with old man scrawled across the side. Rolling his eyes at Buck, Eddie let out a loud laugh, shaking his head.

"Semantics, Eds," Buck teased, grabbing the coffee that had been next to Eddie's. As Eddie met Buck's eyes, he could swear something was off. Buck's eyes were dimmer, his smile smaller, and Eddie immediately grabbed his hand, gently tugging him towards the locker room.

"Hey, let's go get that card Christopher made you," Eddie said, feeling Buck tighten his fingers around Eddie's. Neither man spoke until they reached the locker room, Eddie sitting down on a bench and pulling Buck down with him. "What's going on, Buck? Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry," Buck mumbled, staring down at the floor. "I know you're busy, I shouldn't have-I just..."

"Hey, Buck, you don't need to apologize," Eddie assured him, squeezing his head reassuringly, dipping his head to meet Buck's gaze. "Whatever's going on, I'm here."

"I called my parents," Buck choked out, tears filling his eyes. "I thought they might actually have been proud of me for once for getting this great job, but all they had to say was that they were waiting for me to come to my senses and move back to Hershey to work for the family business, not that I would be much good there but at least I could do some desk work."

"Buck..." Eddie breathed out, and wrapped his arms around the trembling man next to him, guiding Buck into a tight hug. Buck buried his face in Eddie's neck, clutching at Eddie's shirt, and Eddie pulled him in as closely as possible, rubbing his hands in comforting circles up and down Buck's back. "Listen to me. Your parents are idiots." Buck chuckled wetly. "You are amazing, and its their loss if they choose not to experience that. And you are never allowed to move back to Hershey, by the way. I think Chris would insist we pack right up and move with you."

"Chris would, huh?" Buck whispered into Eddie's skin. Eddie moved his head just enough to press a soft kiss to the top of Buck's head, feeling Buck lean into the touch.

"More than just Chris," Eddie admitted, resting his chin in Buck's curls. "Why don't you come over tonight? Chris and I are going to order pizza, watch a movie. It's his pick so I'm sure it will be something animated with talking animals." Buck chuckled, pulling back just enough to run his hands over his face.

"There's nothing I'd rather do," Buck said earnestly, wiping the remenants of tears from under his eyes. "But the studio has me covering some event tonight, and I'm not sure how late I'll be."

"The invitation's good for any time, okay?" Eddie reached his hand out, lightly whisking away the last of the tears, leaving his fingers there to cup Buck's cheek. "This isn't a one-time only offer."

"I'm really glad to hear that," Buck answered softly, a shy smile turning up the corners of his mouth. "I'm not a one-time only kind of guy." Before Eddie could respond, the alarm sounded, ringing loudly through the station.

"Shit," Eddie cursed, rising from the bench. "I'm so sorry Buck, I have to go." Reaching quickly into his locker, he pulled out the hand drawn card and handed it to Buck. "Christopher drawings always help anyone feel better."

"Go save the day," Buck assured him, leaning in to lightly kiss his cheek before taking the card and holding it carefully against his chest. "I have to head out in a minute anyway, the event starts really soon. Thank Chris for the card for me, and text me to let me know you get back safe."

"I will," Eddie promised, before turning and sprinting up the stairs.

The 118 pulled up to absolute chaos. Clearly people had been setting up some sort of outdoor film screening, because reels and projectors were scattered everywhere, mixed with shattered glass and the smell of burning rubber. A car had somehow plowed its way through the sawhorses and into one of the white tents. There were people on the ground with bumps and bruises, and some were bleeding badly enough to need immediate medical attention.

Eddie joined with the others in making their way through the crowd, performing quick assessments, bandaging and triaging, transferring people to the incoming ambulances. The situation seemed to be under control, a fact Eddie was especially grateful for as he saw the Skywitness News 8 van pull up nearby, and Buck alight.

And then everything went to hell in seconds. The driver of the car that had plowed through the festival, the one the police were currently questioning as they brought out a breathalyzer, suddenly took off running back to his car. Immediately recognizing there was no possibility his vehicle was drivable, he reached under the driver's seat and pulled out a gun, drunkenly gesturing with it towards the cop cars.

Then the man stumbled, and the gun swung with his body, a loud shot sounding as the weapon swept by the news van. All Eddie could see was Buck dropping to the ground, and he took off running, heart pounding as he sprinted towards where he had seen Buck fall. He didn't even register Athena tackling the man to the ground as he ran past, didn't even realize tears were flooding his eyes as he finally made it to Buck.

Buck, who was already sitting up, settling onto his knees as he looked around in shock. Eddie slid down next to him, frantically running his hands up and down Buck's head, neck, torso, limbs, over and over until Buck grabbed his fingers in his own, holding them close to his chest.

"Eddie, I'm okay, I promise," Buck breathed out, "I hit the deck as soon as I saw the gun come swinging around. Are you okay? Did you-"

Eddie didn't mean to interrupt Buck, he really didn't, but he couldn't help himself. Cradling Buck's head between his hands, he pulled him in for a deep kiss, Eddie sighing in relief as he slipped his tongue between Buck's lips, registering every miniscule movement as a promise that Buck was alive and well and here in his arms. Buck pressed their bodies together, chest to chest, deepening the kiss, lightly nipping at Eddie's bottom lip.

"Amazing," Buck panted as they pulled back for air, all red swollen lips and mussed hair, Eddie pressing a kiss into the divot behind Buck's ear. "God, Eddie, you-that-amazing. Amazing."

"Are you always this eloquent?" Eddie teased, pulling a shiver from Buck as he lightly scratched his teeth over the lobe of Buck's ear. "Being a reporter and all, I mean."

"Shut up," Buck chuckled fondly, before launching himself at Eddie again, Eddie's tight embrace holding them up as Buck pressed their lips together again.

"Now this guy wants a burger and fries?" Hen groaned, leaning back against the fire truck as a wannabe robber paced back and forth across the house's roof. "It's such a short jump to the ground, he could just hop off."

"It's not like he's going to get away," Chimney sighed, tipping his head back. "There are cops everywhere. He's given them plenty of time to get here and swarm the entire neighborhood."

"I come bearing gifts," a familar voice sounded out from behind the truck, as Buck strolled into view, holding a coffee carrier and a bag of pastries.

"Hey, baby," Eddie said gleefully, his face lighting up as he moved quickly towards Buck, leaning in for a kiss. Buck grinned, dropping the pastry bag onto the ground to wrap his arm around Eddie's waist and pull him closer.

"Can you two not make out over our poor coffee?" Chim complained teasingly, taking the carrier from Buck as Hen grabbed the paper bag of pastries from the ground. "Didn't you just see each other this morning?"

"My shift started a whole hour before Buck was due at the news station," Eddie answered mournfully, ignoring Chim's scoffing as Buck twined his now-free hands around Eddie's neck to pull him into another kiss.

"I should have had them write something mean on your vanilla latte, Chim," Buck bantered back, leaning back into Eddie's chest as he shot a teasing glare Chim's way.

"Thanks for the coffee and food Buck!" Hen said pointedly, and Chim laughed, patting Buck's shoulder as he passed.

"Really, thanks Buck," Chim said sincerely, before a smirk slid across his face. "And thanks for turning Eddie into a lovestruck puppy every time a news van pulls up. He sees that Skywitness News 8 logo and he's actually  pleasant to be around."

Eddie shook his head at Chimney, rolling his eyes good-naturedly before turning his gaze back to Buck. "You're coming over after work, right? Chris wants to start on his new Lego castle with you."

"Wouldn't miss it," Buck assured him with a grin, and Eddie tugged him against his chest, arms wrapped around Buck from behind as they stared together at the roof. "Though at the rate this is going, Chris might have graduated from college before we make it home. Ooo, wait, he got delivery? I better grab my cameraman, finally some sort of development!"

"And I better help get the life net set up for when he inevitably falls," Eddie sighed. Buck turned in Eddie's arms and grabbed him by the belt, reeling him in for another kiss before stepping towards the truck.

"See you soon, sweetheart," Buck called back, winking as he blew Eddie a kiss before hurrying to the news van.

"Lovestruck puppy," Chim called out as he passed, but Eddie was too busy smiling to even notice.

Thanks so much for reading! Let me know if you would like to be on my Buddie taglist :) My apologies if I tagged anyone who did not wish to be tagged, or missed tagging anyone who did want to be tagged.

@perfectlynervousbeard @mrarcadeheart @i-had-bucky @buddie-buddie @blankets-for-bees @i-had-a-marvelous-time @kit-aislinn @a-single-cloudy-day @yes-dillman-yes @martymcflarry @prfoundbond @the-rising-daemon @justsmilestuffhappens 

[mask-of-prime]

Was LITERALLY just thinking earlier about how most of the cast of Vitani’s Guard can sing

Lacey Chabert has sung in several things, like her performance as Cosette in the 1993 production of Les Miserables (which... the only footage of that was unfortunately deleted), she played young Anastasia like you said, she played this stuffed giraffe that had a song in Doc McStuffins, sang with her normal adult voice in a movie called Reach for Me, etc

Like you said, Fiona Riley voiced both Shabaha and Binga, Binga has a song with Bunga (the “Who is Better than Who” song) and can carry quite a tune. I imagine Shabaha singing just like that

Rachel Crow, voice of Imara, was a contestant on X-Factor and has music videos on her Vevo. She has a powerful voice and would’ve been the Fuli of Vitani’s Guard, just absolutely belting it out and having a solo to herself

Sophie Reynolds (Tazama) sang a little bit in another Disney Channel show called The Gamers’ Guide to Pretty Much Everything. Basically in line with Shabaha. Can carry a tune and harmonize with others

Savannah Smith (Kasi) is the only one I don’t know about. The only other thing I know she’s in is Gossip Girl. I don’t think anyone sings in that show lol

But yeah they should’ve had a song for like a million reasons. One, it’s what they normally do when introducing characters causing conflict in an episode, two, they reused the song that plays when the Guard leaves in Battle for the Pridelands and slightly rewrote and reused Long Live the Queen, and three, most of Vitani’s Guard has a history of being able to sing

Maybe Imara had something in common (no pun intended) with Kiburi, where their voice actors are both famous singers and that it would be expensive to have them perform (...god now I wish Kiburi had musical numbers where he would rap diss tracks about Makuu)

I feel like making a master post showcasing instances/examples of Vitani’s Guard being able to sing. Not sure what platform to post it if I do; Tumblr? DeviantArt? Reddit? All of them? idk

Nearly 4 years later, I'm still really salty that Vitani didn't get her own song in the final episode of The Lion Guard.

For reference: This is show featured Hamilton actors [all of whom get a minimum of 2 musical numbers for their respective characters], several longtime Disney stars such as Cam Clarke [who dubbed Simba's singing voice in Simba's Pride], has one of the characters from the Lion King Broadway sing alongside one of the Hamilton actors [to further emphasize the point, the song that they had sung for Season 3 was nominated for a Daytime Emmy], was able to afford some of the original voice actors from the movies and TV shows back, and even had fucking Dan and Phil in it, and as expected, also made them sing!! They all got songs, but not Vitani? Didn't Lacey Chabert sing in Anastasia? And aren't the VA's of the rest of her Guard evidently talented singers? [Fiona Riley as Shabaha sang as Binga earlier in the season].

I don't know if it was bc of time-constraints [which would've been fixed if they had made it an extended special like the pilot or the premiere episode] or if the budget was somehow mismanaged/too low to afford Willis, Beau, and the LG Chorus to score and sing any new songs for the finale [because if you think about it, the only songs in the finale are slightly tweaked reprises of earlier songs - The Departure Chorus from the premiere episode, and Long Live the Queen from the titular milestone episode, the last song in the series sung by any characters is Kion and Rani's love song], but still, I will die on this hill saying that Vitani deserved her solo and LG missed such a golden opportunity.

I don't care if it's in some new Disney + show, or in a new film, or a short-film, or some direct-to-video special or whatever, Vitani DESERVES HER SOLO.

[belliesandburps]

Post-Stuffing Dialogue

Recently, I saw a post being re-blogged that got me thinking about my favorite stuffing scenarios.  One thing I absolutely adore that I think doesn’t get enough focus on from enough kink-fic writers is the way a big eater / feedee reacts to being stuffed to the brim.  And there are a whole slew of different degrees of fullness for that too.  And because it’s been a minute since my last one of these, I thought, “why not?”

So, here’s a bit of post-stuffing dialogue for various degrees of fullness designed to fluster, trigger, and all that beautiful baked-bean footage.  :P

Realistic Bloat Post-Stuffing

The Big Eater’s belly is noticeably bloated; gut protruding out and pushing from beneath their shirt, but it’s a reasonable bloat.  Maybe their pants are unbuttoned and their belt unbuckled, but otherwise, their shirt is still just barely concealing their distended stomach:

“BRUUUAAAARRRRP!!!  Phew!  Man, now THAT was a meal!”  (grins and pats his belly heartily with satisfaction)

“Oh man, I’m STUFFED...” (leans back and tenderly rubs his belly)

(rests both hands atop his stomach) “Ahhhh, that hit the spot...”

(unbuttons belt and slouches back, sighing happily as their gut pushes out a bit more)

(scratches the back of his head sheepishly) “H-heh, guess I was hungrier than I thought...”

(rubs his belly with both hands and smacks his chops) “Mmmm, so good...”

(scratches his bloated sides idly) “So, what’s for dessert?”

“Pfft, you kiddin’?!”  (gives his belly a couple of resounding slaps) “This bad boy ain’t even CLOSE to full yet!”

(grins cheekily and arches his back while pulling his shirt up to rub his bare, taut belly slowly with one hand) “Heh, admirin’ your work...?”

Hefty Bloat Post-Stuffing

The Big Eater’s belly is pushing out by almost two or so feet, making it appear as if they swallowed a basketball.  Their belly is deeply bloated, hiking up their shirt, unzipping their pants, and burbling quite audibly.  This is around the part where they start to flag and are really feeling it, but CAN still be goaded into continuing:

(massages his really full belly with both hands) “Oh man, I seriously can’t eat another bite...”

“Urf...so full...” (slowly running both his hands up and down his bulging belly)

“Mph, hey, I ain’t finished!  I just gottaaaaAaAaaUUUUUURRRP!-mph, (thumps his chest and works up a smaller burp) j-just gotta catch my breath is all...”

“Ungh, dude, I dunno...I’m...whew...man, I’m full...” (one arm dangles from his side while the other slowly rubs his aching belly all over)

“BWWUUUUUURRROOOOORRRUUUUUUHHP!!!!!!  Urrrgh...”

“Ohhhhh, man, I feel like I’m gonna burst...” (slaps one hand atop his ample belly, groaning miserably)

(arches his back to make his bulging belly jut out some more)  “Nngh, would’ja rub my tummy...? (gives puppy-dog eyes) Pleeeeeaaaase...?”

“Urgh, mph, I dunno, man...if I’m gonna eat more, I might need a lil help...” (slaps his round belly contently)

“Orf, mph, okay, I...” (brings a fist to his mouth to hold a burp back, looking green) “...if I eat anymore, I’m gonna puke, I swear to God...”

(contently rubs his ballooned belly all over) “Mmmm, nice...”

(tenderly caresses his bulging belly, tracing his finger right around his bellybutton) “Mmmm, stiiiiiill feels like there’s room for more...whadduya think, hmmmm...?”

Uncomfortably Stuffed Bloated Post-Stuffing

The Big Eater’s belly is so big that it’s now spreading their thighs apart.  It’s big, making them appear ALMOST nine months pregnant, only their belly is a little bottom heavy, sloshing and jiggling heartily, and noisier than a chemical plant:

“Grruuuuuuuuhhhh...” (groans weakly, tenderly rubbing their massive gut with both hands)

“BRRAAAAAUUURRRRAAAAHH-UUUUUUUUUHHHHP!!!!!!!”

“Hooooooly shit...haaah...haah...” (huffs and gasps breathlessly)

“...Ohhhhhh, my belly...” (whines and groans, cradling as much of their domed out belly as he they can)

“*HIC!*  Guh...I’ve...I’ve made a mistake...”

“Urrrgh...I feel like a beached whale...”

“Mph, jeez...lookit this thing...” (grunts and heaves his belly up before letting it bounce back into place, dislodging a colossal belch in the process)

“Oorgh...I’ve never been so full in my life...” (slowly caresses his massive belly with both hands; palms sinking a little into their much softer, sloshier flesh)

“BrrreeeEEEEUUUuuurrr-uur-AAAAAAAARRRRRRP!!!!!!  Guuuh...“

“Urruuuhp...HuuuuaaaAARRROORRP!!  BWOOOOORRR-HOOOOOOOORRRRRROOOOOOP!!!!!!” (belches repeatedly, each burp getting progressively bigger until, with a hearty slap to his belly, he lets out a titanic belch to dislodge the much needed pressure pocket) “...Gruuuuhhhh, hoooooly shit, did I need that...”

[hale-13]

Dazed and Confused

By Hale13

For the Summer of Whump Day 21 - Panic (Thanks @spideyhoarder for the prompt!)

“I’ll be okay,” he croaks out hoarsely with weak smile. May gives him a look like she doesn’t believe him and Peter tries to make his expression even more earnest. He, actually, really doesn’t want her to go but he knows that they can’t afford her to miss this shift since she’s already used all her PTO on his Spider-Man related hospital stays. Things have been a little tight lately and, even though May is careful not to talk to Peter about money much, he knows that one shift could make or break them.

Words: 2301, Chapters: 1/1 (Complete), Language: English

Fandoms: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)

Rating: Gen

Relationships: Peter Parker & May Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark

Characters: Peter Parker, May Parker, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Helen Cho

TW: Vomiting, Fainting

Read on AO3 or below the line break.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay baby,” May asked him for the fifth time, combing his wet bangs back from his forehead and surreptitiously checking his fever with the cool palm of her hand. Peter fights against the inclination to push his head further into her hand.

“I’ll be okay,” he croaks out hoarsely with weak smile. May gives him a look like she doesn’t believe him and Peter tries to make his expression even more earnest. He, actually, really doesn’t want her to go but he knows that they can’t afford her to miss this shift since she’s already used all her PTO on his Spider-Man related hospital stays. Things have been a little tight lately and, even though May is careful not to talk to Peter about money much, he knows that one shift could make or break them.

“Alright,” May says dubiously, looking torn and guilty about leaving him. “If you start feeling any worse I want you to have the desk page me okay? Promise me Peter.”

“I will,” Peter promised, crossing his fingers under his sheets. There was no way that he would pull her from work. Literally none.

“Okay,” May says still looking guilty and Peter hates it. Hates that its just the two of them now, hates that May overworks herself, hates that he makes her worry about him. She leans forward to pull him into a soft hug and Peter returns it, mindful of his strength and a little misty eyed – fevers always make him emotional. “I love you. Get some sleep; I left plenty of water and Gatorade on your nightstand and there’s soup in the crock pot for lunch. Eat some of it okay?”

“I will May,” Peter agrees, releasing her and pulling back even though he doesn’t want to. Even though all he wants is to cuddle up next to her on the couch and watch cartoons like he did when he was eight and sick and miserable. “You need to go or you’ll be late,” Peter says with a smile and May runs her hands through his hair one more time before standing from the bed.

“Love you,” she repeats as she leaves the room. He hears her grab her bag and then the sound of the door closing, her footsteps fading into the distance and Peter relaxes back against his bed with a sigh and glances at the alarm clock next to him.

Thirteen hours. He can make it thirteen hours.

———————————————

Peter can’t make it thirteen hours.

He gags again, leaning over the toilet to dry heave and feels tears of effort and frustration leak down his cheeks. God he feels so awful.

The fit subsides and Peter collapses back to lean against the tub. The cramped single bathroom in their Queens apartment smells like stale bile and Peter grimaces as it turns his stomach, grabbing his water bottle to rinse out his mouth. It’s only just after ten and Peter has no idea how he’s going to make it until nine in the evening, he can tell his fever is rising and he’s feeling so much worse. The Advil that he had taken that morning is doing absolutely nothing for him and Peter just wants to cry.

He should call May. He can’t call May.

He can call Mr. Stark.

“No,” Peter says, shaking his head vigorously to clear it and making his headache throb worse, the room spinning and leaving him dizzy. There’s no way he can ask Tony Stark, Iron Man, his hero since he was a kid to rub his back while he vomits and get him soup. It’s way too embarrassing.

“This is fine,” Peter says, pinching his eyes shut and swallowing convulsively against the rising nausea. “I’m fine,” he gags, leaning over again to dry heave.

Eleven more hours. He can do that.

———————————————

The subway is bright and loud and full of people. Peter sways with the movement and tries to remember how he got here.

He’s freezing, the thin hoodie jacket, sweats and beat up tennis shoes doing nothing to block out the October chill that’s seeping through the underground. He feels sweat beading the back of his neck and face, chilling him more and making him shiver weakly. The smartly dressed business woman sitting across from him is eyeing him with distaste and Peter hunches in on himself.

How did he get here? Where is he going?

May?

No. Not May. May’s working.

Then where…?

He lets his eyes slip closed. The swirling of his vision and the movement of the subway car are making him want to vomit again and he can’t do that. There’s nothing more pathetic than vomiting on the train.

Also it’ll probably get him kicked off. So.

He drifts.

Stark Tower looms over him and Peter sways, dizzy and confused. Why is he here? What is he doing?

The crowds of people walking on the sidewalk – on their way to lunch or meetings or whatever it is that business people do – swerve around him with irritation and Peter stumbles when one smacks him with their elbow.

Is it a lab day? What day is it? He’s so tired, he wants to sleep.

He has a bed in Mr. Stark’s penthouse Peter remembers. Mr. Stark got him a whole room once Peter started hanging around more often, surely the man won’t mind if he uses it for a quick nap?

The fluorescent lights of the elevator burn his retinas and Peter squints. When did he get here?

“Hello Peter,” FRIDAY’s disembodied voice echos through the elevator car. “You seem to have a temperature, do you want me to let Boss know you’re here?”

Does he want Mr. Stark to know he’s here? Yeah he does. He wants someone to take care of him – he’s so tired and he feels awful and he can’t do this alone what was he thinking?

“No,” his voice is quiet and broken from all the vomiting and from not drinking and it hurts to talk holy shit. He clears his throat once and winces, gripping tightly onto the rail that runs around the car and grimacing when he feels it warp. He didn’t mean to do that. He’ll fix it.

FRIDAY’s silence is telling and judge mental and Peter has things he wants to say about that, many things actually, but he doesn’t. He kinda feels like vomiting again so he needs to keep his mouth closed.

The elevator stops on the penthouse floor and Peter stumbles out, listing into the wall and panting as he exits. He’s got this – his room is just down the hall. He can make it.

The floor tilts threateningly in front of his eyes and he keeps both hands on the wall as he walks down the hallway. He’s so close. He can’t give up now. The door to his room is closed and it takes some doing but he gets the door open; the room is dark, the windows opaque and blotting out the weak morning sunlight. His bed is still in disarray from the last time he stayed over and it looks so inviting.

Peter lets go of the wall to walk in the room.

His vision tilts again and starts to grey and tunnel and he stops dead where he’s standing to sway in place.

Oh he’s definitely going to pass out.

“FRI…”

It’s all he gets out before the floor rushes up to meet him.

—————————————

“Penthouse FRI,” Tony says brusquely as he boards his private elevator, loosening his tie and popping the top button of his white dress shirt as he goes. There’s nothing he hates more than pointless budgeting meetings except for long pointless budgeting meetings that ruin his whole day.

The car starts to move and Tony goes to lean against the railing; the metal in his left hand is the smooth, burnished steel he is used to but the left side… He glances down and see the railing is warped and bent, clearly in the shape of a hand and he frowns.

“What happened here?” He asks himself, running his index finger over the blemish curiously. Oh well. He can easily ix it and he can look through the video footage later to see how it happened but his money is on the kid. The only problem with this theory is that if Peter did this he would have been falling all over himself to apologize and he’d be trying to fix it himself.

Strange.

The elevator opens to the penthouse and Tony steps out, pulling of his tie fully and allowing it to drape around his shoulders loosely. Something feels off and he can’t quite put his finger on what; whatever it is warrants further investigation but he wants to change first – his workshop jeans are calling his name.

The hallway is darkened as he makes his way to the room he shares with Pepper except for a square of light from Peter’s doorway. Tony frowns – he’s sure the door was closed this morning?

Quickening his pace, he approaches the door and peers in the room.

Peter’s laid out limp on the floor just inside the doorway, limbs sprawled out and face pale except his cheeks which are bright red with fever and his nose which is purpling and bloody from where he clearly hit it passing out.

“Shit!” Tony says, dropping to the floor next to the kid and rolling him onto his side in the recovery position. He’s positively burning, sweating through his clothes and matting his hair to his skull. “FRI how long’s the kid been here?” He asks as he checks Peter’s pulse (rapid and thready) and breathing (congested).

“Two hours,” she responds. “He didn’t want me to alert you he was here.”

“Update that protocol dear,” he snaps at her, moving Peter’s bangs out of his face. “And call down to Bruce and Helen in the MedBay to let them know the situation. Can I move him?”

“He should be safe to move”,” FRIDAY tells him, “Dr.’s Banner and Cho are preparing for you now.”

“This is going to be so bad for my back,” Tony grouses to the unconscious kid as he rolls Peter fully onto his back and slips one arm under his back and the other under his knees. He takes a deep breath and lifts, stumbling a little – the wiry and corded muscles Peter developed from the bite are heavy.

The elevator ride to the MedBay thankfully is quick and, soon, Tony is dropping Peter gently onto one of the beds and stepping back as Bruce and Helen converge on him, setting up monitors and sticking a thermometer under his tongue.

Bruce hisses at the thermometer readout when he pulls it from Peter’s slack jaw. “One hundred and four point one,” he declares, stripping Peter’s hoodie off and leaving the kid in just his sweats and a loose t-shirt. “We need to get him cooled down before he boils his brain.”

“How did he even get here?” Helen asks, confused, as she sets up an IV catheter and a bag of plasmalyte.

“Kid’s stubborn,.” Tony says sardonically as he scrolls through his phone for May Parker’s contact info – he’s willing to bet a few billion that she has no idea that he kid decided to go on a unapproved field trip today. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Probably the flu,” Helen says as she places the catheter and starts running the fluids. “It’s been going around and the strain is particularly awful this year.”

“Great,” Tony says, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “I’ve got to call his aunt.”

Tony just hopes that the tentative rapport he’s built up with May over the past few months will prevent her from gutting him when she finds out her kid was under his roof for two hours without him noticing.

—————————————————

When Peter wakes up he feels loads better. The ache in his head is subsiding and everything feels more clear, sharper somehow. He takes a deep breath and lets out a sigh, the nausea’s gone.

“You awake kiddo?”A voice asks next to him and Peter’s eyes shoot open in panic and, oh shit, Mr. Stark is sitting on one of the uncomfortable MedBay chairs beside his bed with a tablet in his lap and his glasses low on his nose.

“Oh shit,” he says again, out loud this time and his mentor chuckles at him, setting the tablet aside.

“Yeah you’re not wrong,” he agrees with a grin. “Once you’re better you, May and I are having a discussion about self-care.” Peter groans and closes his eyes, throwing an arm across his eyes dramatically and hears Tony snort.

“Sorry,” Peter apologizes, coughing a little as talking irritates his throat and he swallows, trying to wet his throat. Mr. Stark passes him a cup of water and Peter takes it gratefully and sips it slowly, the coolness like ambrosia. “Uh… how did I get here?”

“You took the subway apparently,” Tony says with an eye roll. “Although I have no idea how you got here in one piece – your fever was over a hundred and four. Bruce and Helen say you ‘re lucky you have a healing factor or it could have been much worse. You have the flu by the way.”

“Great,” Peter mutters, picking at the tape covering the IV in his arm and letting out a yawn. He’s so tired.

“Go back to sleep,” Tony tells him, leaning forward to run his fingers through Peter’s hair and lower the bed some so that he’s more reclined. “May won’t be here for a few more hours.”

“Thanks Mr. Stark,” Peter breathes, letting his eyes close. He falls asleep to the even breathing of his mentor sitting vigil next to him.

[cardentist]

I’m relatively new to the marble hornets fandom, but one thing I’ve noticed is that people don’t seem to realize just How affected jay was (by the operator and by the investigation in general) and how early on it started. which I really think is relevant when people point out some of jay’s apparent Poor Decision Making. this is Definitely because of how deemphasized it is in the show itself (Especially season 1) but you really can get a feel for it when you go digging.

I’ve talked before about how it’s Very Likely that jay already had some form of ptsd by the start of the series (Link) but what gives us the clearest picture of jay’s health is actually his twitter account. (Link)  If you’ve never taken the time to read it before then I Highly suggest scrolling down to the bottom and working your way through, it’s a surprisingly fast read! but for the purposes of this post I made a Highlight Reel of really anything I saw that was relevant to either jay’s mental health, his physical health, or his obsession with the case that you can see in full here: (Link)

I’ll be using the most Pressing screenshots from that post to make my point here, but you really do get the full Effect scrolling through.

putting a readmore down to hopefully not spam people with screenshots ljksfad Warning for spoilers, talk of chronic illness, eating issues, difficulty with unreality, and other various mental and physical health issues

just as a note: this is going to have a Lot of focus on season 1 because this is where a lot of jay’s issues are established. I definitely have a Lot to say about the other two seasons but I won’t report on every instance where he’s paranoid or sick, I’ll be focusing more on the extremes!

looking through the whole series, videos tweets and all, it becomes Very apparent that jay has a Consistent pattern of behavior where he fixates on the investigation (and the people affected by it) to the detriment of his own health and safety. from the more mundane (digging through hundreds of hours worth of footage to exhaustion) to the more Extreme (following alex into the abandoned building Knowing he’s dangerous and that he’s probably going to hurt him because he Might find some answers).

(which on that note, while it’s definitely due in no small part to the influence of the operator and the extreme stress of the situation, you could pretty easily interpret jay with adhd, hyperfixating on research and video making.)

while I knew I’d find that going in, but I wasn’t expecting it to be hammered in so Quickly. this was posted the Second Day after his twitter had gone up

this continues, with jay occasionally mentioning how tired he is from compiling entries, feeling disorganized, and not being able to sleep in between him actively posting about sifting through tapes on a near daily basis. Then in july he starts actively getting Sick

104 fever, not well enough to work for Three Days. and there’s no telling how long it’d been building up without him noticing until then. he mentions being sick throughout august for long stretches of time (at least a solid week once), and it only gets worse from there

And something of note here, while he Does mention when he’s feeling particularly awful sometimes, for the most part he mentions his health when it affects his ability to go through and post about the tapes. there’s no telling just how frequently he was sick or exhausted when it Wasn’t worth mentioning. He only mentioned the results of the doctor’s visit a week later after he was specifically asked about it

and it’s Very apparent that whatever’s going on is Pretty Severe 

it’s after this point that he largely stops giving us specific updates on how sick he feels, but it’s also still very clear that he is sick. he mentions how out of it he is or how Bad a week’s been after he goes long stretches without updates. and he’s still going to the doctors in November

that leaves me with the impression that things haven’t improved, he’s just stopped mentioning it. he tried getting help for it with no luck, the sickness didn’t stop so there wasn’t much more he could do about it besides adapt. while I’m certain that his health would fluctuate over the course of the show, I don’t believe he stopped getting sick. tim’s sickness never really went away, and jay was bad enough by the end of the series that he was having seizures like he was (there’s really no telling if that was his first or if it was just the first time it’d been Caught).

so from here on out it’s a safe guess that everything jay does is with backdrop of sickness and exhaustion.

then, of course, this is where jay starts being more open about his paranoia (which has certainly been an undercurrent for a while now)

also of note: this isn’t the first time he’s mentioned having a difficult time trying to keep things straight in his head and it won’t be the last. he was already starting to doubt his memories and his senses back in 2009.

moreover, paranoia and fear (and possibly fixation) about the situation has him holling up in his house, to the point that he’s running out of food. how long has this been an issue? and if it’s an issue in 2009, then just how bad is it going to be when he’s running himself in and out of hotels too afraid to stay in one location? how often has he been forgetting to eat while burying himself in tapes and fear?

whether it’s from the operator, his slipping memory, the results of fixating on his work for as long as he has, his frequent sickness, the paranoia, or any combination therein, we can add brain fog to the list

and again, a case for jay’s fixation on finding answer. he wakes up in his house with no memory of how he got there, confused and in pain, digs through the footage on his camera, and has the entry up the same day. this was the point where he’d visited brian’s house again, only to be teleported around and meet the operator face to face. he says in the entry that he’s never going back to the house again, that he’s done with the case, but well.

much further down the timeline jay would say that he had no idea what he was doing with his life before he started down this rabbit hole, that he was miserable and directionless and alone. He didn’t know what he would do with himself when all of this was over, he just knew that while he was taking the case on he was at least doing Something. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that this was always true, that part of his obsession with it was tied to feeling absolutely nothing for his life without it.

and sure enough, a week later and we get the idea that his paranoia is only getting worse, followed by him breaking and going back to search through the footage.

He posts more about his paranoia in february, but it’s in march that he’s scared out of his house by totheark only to have his apartment burned down. he only seems to learn about this march 24th, and he uploads the entry with the news footage on the 25th

while it’s true that he seemed to have taken a break after that upload, he’s back again on 4th with the cryptic text message. It’s between then and the 18th that he’d start his Long tradition of hotel hopping.

the final entry for season 1 is up the next day. We can’t know for sure exactly how truthful jay was when he said he was feeling better in entry 26, operator sickness tends to fluctuate with exposure just like any other mental illness. what we Can say is that jay got exactly 10 days of quiet between his apartment burning down and alex contacting him again, and after he was contacted he was afraid enough to start hotel hopping.

if 10 days is what jay merrick describes as a break, then my god. the implication that in an entire year jay merrick hadn't gone a 10 day stretch without looking at the tapes is, Something.  

this is where things take a real shift, both in the narrative and in jay’s tweeting patterns! this is the period where jay went radio silent working with alex for 7 months, only to forget everything. the only insight we have on how he was doing at this point is what came before, and the tapes he’d uncover in season 2. my best educated guess is to say that he is doing Not Great.

it’s of course after the operator wiped his and jessica’s memories that he starts up tweeting again, he doesn’t remember why he stopped at this point after all. but he’s also far less talkative between entries. in the beginning especially we’d Hear when he was sick, when he wasn’t sleeping, because he’d update frequently enough that he felt the need to explain when he wasn’t able to. this change is most likely due both in part to not feeling safe enough to be as talkative publically anymore, and on his focus on figuring out what’s going on.

that’s not to say that we don’t get Anything from this time period however.

we get quite a lot of talk about lack of sleep, exhaustion, etc throughout the beginning of the year. insomnia and jay staying up late to work on entries is to be expected, but this is the first time that we hear about jay Oversleeping. I’d say he’s long overdue for it considering how much he’s gone through at this point (and for how long), though it’s Also notable as possibly being a symptom of either illness or depression that we Aren’t hearing about.

this one just makes me sad

it’s Relatively quiet after this, with jay making light commentary here and there. the general vibe is that he’s hard at work when, of course, entry 32 comes along.

jay just Stops after jessica is taken. he doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t even start looking through the tapes for over three weeks. he couldn’t keep himself away from the tapes for that long after he was face to face with the monster or after his house was burned down. that says more about his state of mind than anything else could have.

there’s some mentions of possible sleep issues and jay feeling paranoid (more specifically, not feeling safe anywhere at all), but things don’t Really pick up until march

jay tries to upload entry 37 throughout the day, but no matter what he does he can’t remember the password for the account. this continues on into the 22 Until

“enttry #37“ is uploaded the next day, the footage of alex’s birthday, it’s linked on his twitter, and then six days later

He posts about how the footage he’d found earlier was deleted on his laptop and how he needs to get back Fast. he takes a rest stop on the 30th to charge his laptop and look through the red tower one more time to make sure he didn’t miss anything. and then Nothing until

he doesn’t get back for nearly an entire Week. now, it’s important to mention that there’s been speculation that this was going to be where the original skully reveal would take place, which is believable enough. but whether or not that’s what it was Going to be, the implications with what we have Now are, troubling to say the least. we’ll probably never know exactly what happened here but It’s Not Good. what did he eat? what did he drink? how did he sleep? Poorly, I’d Imagine.

this may also be what his earlier brain fog was leading into. losing track of the days of the week turning into losing track of the days entirely. but we’ll never know for sure

after this we actually get quite a lot about jay’s general discomfort, paranoia, memory loss, and regret scattered over the months. none of it is specific but a lot of it is tied directly to his discomfort with the tapes, which has turned into a constant with every upload. we can certainly tell that he isn’t doing well, but this message is particularly notable because it mentions a specific symptom that we haven’t seen before.

at this point jay’s paranoia and anxiety is bad enough that he can’t sit in silence anymore, and if he’s mentioning it so casually now it’s likely been an issue for a while. jay doesn’t tell us everything, and there’s almost certainly worse that hasn’t been said.

jay has Significant problems with sleeping throughout august that seep into september, to the point that he calls it “worse than usual.” but this is overtaken by his horror at entry 49. jay censored alex beating a man’s head in, but he had to watch it unedited, and it clearly took his toll. he didn’t even want to share it but ultimately decided that the world needed to have it if anything happened to him. but that wasn’t the end of it.

he spends nearly the entire month trying to find Any sign of who this man was. this is a specific aspect of jay’s personality that I think gets overshadowed by the perception of him as stupid. what he is is overworked, over his head, and impulsive, but he’s not stupid. but this is an Excellent example of jay’s dedication (bleeding into obsession).

this is obviously speculation on my part, but I think you can read this two ways (or a mix of them both): either jay is worried that something about the operator wiped away the man’s existence (like being taken made people forget about him somehow). Or he’s motivated by guilt, feeling responsible for having been there the day the man got crunched only to run away, desperately looking for any sign that Somebody had bothered to care about him.

things are relatively quiet after this until just after entry 50

something jay’s mental health really doesn’t need: more evidence of people breaking and entering while he’s asleep. what’s interesting here is that he went much quieter after this, just a handful of tweets relating directly to the next entry. I think you could either read jay being less open about how he’s doing on twitter as him being Well Aware that the people who want to hurt him (or who he Thinks want to hurt him in the case of hoodie and masky) have access to it, and in part because he’s doing so much Worse now.

the end of season two that the start of season three, of course, brings tim back into jay’s life and with it a Much needed distraction from his fear and paranoia. we’ll never know how jay reacted to the news that alex had tried to kill him in the moment, but we do know that it shifted his mindset from passively digging through the old tapes to actively trying to hunt alex down. tim was a Living Breathing lead, something he could actually Grasp Onto. and in light of what was likely something Very horrific that became a new fixation for jay.

he’d live blog about looking for tim from november 28th to march 8th, this was the most active he’d ever been on twitter and I think it absolutely speaks to how desperate he was for this to go somewhere. he even got to do some breaking and entering ! that said, having a distraction didn’t mean that there weren't a few noteworthy.

jay’s Current lack of trust is what’s going to lead to his and tim’s blowout later on. we can’t know how tim would’ve reacted if jay had been honest from the beginning (and it honestly would’ve gone poorly anyways), but tim’s confrontation with jay was honestly using his anger at being lied to as an outlet for the horror he felt at learning the truth of what’d been going on. he definitely would’ve still been angry and hurt, but he wouldn’t have had a direction for that anger. they might’ve started working together sooner.

however at this point jay doesn’t know who wants to hurt him and who doesn’t, he doesn’t feel safe talking to strangers on the street, let alone someone he already knew stalked him for two years. both of their reactions are understandable, and you can see the collision course coming when you step back far enough.

jay is Very quiet about what’s going on with him at this point. there are a few updates about his general paranoia and fear as well as him live tweeting about things relevant to the plot (thinking about coming clean to tim, posting tweets and pictures of trying to find tim after hoodie stole his medication, solving the totheark code that troy forgot to post a key for), but there’s only a handful of standout tweets that give us something new about his mental health scattered throughout the series.

this absolutely does not mean that he’s in a better place of mind, but what it does mean is that he’s being less open about it. tim didn’t know just how bad jay was and he’d been living with him. the fact that we have less to work with at this point is more an indication that he doesn’t feel safe sharing anymore (he hasn’t for a while) and a possible sign that he’s already gone into denial about his health (not wanting to connect it to the operator because of what that’d mean for him).

that said, we can take a look at what’s left for us.

this is from after jay had tim take him to the abandoned hospital for the first time and before the entry of it went up. this is notable because it’s one of if not the first time that it’s been directly stated that buildings associated with the operator can cause sickness. that or we can infer that the operator was actively strengthening its influence on them at the time (which might’ve also contributed to both of their irritability in the entry itself).

I don’t think this is notable because this is jay’s First nightmare, but rather I think it’s notable for him because his memory of it is totally gone. it’d make sense why this’d scare him at this point considering well, the entire series of marble hornets. but it does raise the question of how many more nightmares Weren’t worth sharing to him and how often they contributed to his sleeping problems.

next it’s worth noting that entry 67 messed jay up a lot. likely because it was solid evidence that alex was out there actively hunting them down (and just how close tim had gotten to being taken after he’d been throttled by the operator). He ends up posting about it Twice, as opposed to his previous strategy of not at all.

now finally, Finally. I’d like to talk about jay’s state of mind leading into his death. lets start with the timeline

jay doesn’t say anything at all between entry 74 and entry 75. tim had been running the account while jay was out of it, but jay had come to at least by august first, entry 75 was posted august 23rd. this is jay, and he has absolutely nothing to say.

he’s only just come out of his zombie state, he’s stolen the tape from tim (after trying to give him the chance to come clean), and he’s run off. we don’t get anything else out of him until september 3rd.

jay’s waited almost 2 weeks not only to watch the tape, but to even say anything at all. in my opinion? I think he’s afraid to not have anyone left to trust, let alone tim. he wouldn’t have given tim so much time to come clean himself otherwise, he wouldn’t be afraid of even looking at the tape otherwise. part of it is the sting of having his trust betrayed before, of closing himself off, and then trying to trust again. part of it is that he genuinely cared about tim. he wants to believe in tim, and he’s making it absolutely clear here.

it took him another 9 days to work up the courage to watch the tape, a full 20 days since the entry showing he got the tape was posted (and possibly longer, since we don’t know how long the video took to make). he was That afraid of not being able to trust tim anymore. of course, we know now that what’d actually get to him was realizing that jessica was gone. he’s mentioned before that he blamed himself for jessica being taken. that was what’d kept him going for years at this point and now she’s just, Gone. Gone For Good Gone.

the specific timeline here is a little harder to sus out. the gaps between some entries are too long to really make sense and what we’re getting on twitter aren’t as overt as they have been before. but here’s my best attempt to straighten it out.

jay sits on this for roughly a month, likely trying to process something that he’d used as a crutch to help him keep going bursting into smoke and grieving for someone he doesn’t really know but that he’d cared deeply for anyways. it eventually reached the point where the events of entry 82. he desperately goes back to the tunnel, the last place he saw jessica go in the video, for any last trace of her, any sign that she could still be alive, and doesn’t find any. he tries to reach out to tim, he tells him that he’s seeing things, that the world is shifting around him, that he’s sorry and that he understands why tim did what he did.

we don’t get an insight in what this month was like for jay, but it’s clear that he had a steady decline. he’s scared, he’s alone, he knows he needs help. and then the operator takes him. we never see exactly what happens to him after the seizure, and with the montages we’ve seen from tim’s titty cam it really could’ve been anything. but whatever it was it was enough to change jay’s entire attitude.

this is the last thing that jay posts before entry 77 goes up. it’s hard to say when this was posted for sure, because 77 was up 3 days later on the 16th, but I think it has to take place after jay was assaulted by the operator. jay thought he could call tim beforehand, we saw him try on video, and there’d be no reason to try to contact him through twitter if he knew he had an easier way. what this tells us is that jay woke up after the operator attack, tried to call him an unknown number of times, failed to reach him because the operator was still blocking his calls on tim’s end, tried to reach tim through twitter, and Then went out to try to confront tim likely believing that tim was intentionally trying to avoid him.

that mental image alone hurts me, but this means that even after everything jay was still trying to reach out to him.

at this point jay was in, some kind of denial just like everyone else. it hurt to feel like he was responsible for jessica’s death so he had to believe that she was still out there, he had to believe that it was someone else’s fault. he didn’t want to hurt tim like alex did, he didn’t want to push tim away like brian did, he wanted tim to laugh and pull jessica out of his closet where she’s been hiding this whole time. he wanted to believe the truth wasn’t real because it hurt.

the desperateness that he begs tim to leave his camera Also gets to me. jay’s mentioned for years that the point of recording and uploading footage was to make sure someone would know what happened if “something happened to him.” he pointed the camera away from jessica for 30 minutes and something Did happen to her. that's been weighing on him for years but never more than it has been for the past month.

then when hoodie comes for him, lets him free himself, and runs off one of the first things jay did was go to tim’s medicine cabinet and make a noise of frustration at finding all of the bottles empty. he knew that something was wrong, he knew that he wasn’t thinking straight anymore, and on some level he still believed tim. but there wasn’t anything there, everyone was gone, and he was running out of time.

now, I wanna paint another picture here. according to tim, the footage he found on jay’s laptop was dated the day before jay came to confront him. jay tried to reach tim through twitter at 8pm so it’s safe to assume that it was posted the day before he decided to meet him in person. jay spent october 13th getting his shit kicked in, he was hogtied on october 14th, and the entry showing their confrontation was up on october 16th.

jay follows tim, he searches through the school, and then chooses to keep watch in the building overnight.

jay’s had issues with food since the first day of marble hornets, Literally. it’s possible he snacked before he came to confront tim, or on the way to the school. it’s possible the upload dates are one off (the timeline certainly gets wonky going off of upload dates after this). but even still, at the time he was getting shot he was on at least day two without food (and likely much much longer), and at least 48 hours without sleep (again, almost certainly longer). On Top Of Everything.

jay merrick didn’t stand a chance

there’s so So much more I could get into, especially if I started poking more at the entries themselves or the Implications of some of the things I’ve talked about here. but that’ll have to come another time, I’m very tired jfklsd