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the-ate-show · 27 days ago

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00:01 A Cent for every Dollar wc: 5.5k

“Stupid. That’s so stupid,” you grumbled sourly, shovelling off-brand cereal into your mouth.

“He doesn’t even know what he’s talking about. They just hire anyone these days,” you leaned back against the deflated couch.

The young man on the Tv, charming and beautiful, continued to rant about a non-issue. If that were you, you’d have been saying something actually worth hearing. Is that the criteria these days? Young, optimistic and talking about something no one cares about? What happened to *the truth*? Have people lost their curiosity? The Tv box sputtered a bit, the reporter suddenly replaced by static and a low buzz, you sighed loudly, getting up to kick it. It worked for a moment after a particularly harsh kick, and then a spark flew, and the system completely shut down. You put your hands on your hips, staring at the useless device. As if this day couldn’t get worse.

You put the bowl into the sink, wiping your hands and grabbing your well-worn sneakers, crouching down to tie them. You then grabbed your thrifted scarf, a pretty brown colour and headed out of your tight building. The door whined loudly as it opened, the hush of the outside world soothing your infinite isolation. A lone envelope, white and unassuming, was waiting on the other side of the door. It was almost innocent, pretty and pure. You knew what it really was though. The contents, a mockery of your mere existence. An extortionate number in a neat font on the edge of the page, above it a series of breakdowns of the prices of lab reports it took for a diagnosis. Negative, another round of testing for some rare disease you did not have. Moments like these you’d just wish to have something, even if it is the most horrible illness known to man. You like to think that knowing would give you comfort. Will it kill you or would you be ok? Is it treatable? Can you take any meds to slow the inevitable decline? Will there even be a decline? Health shouldn’t be inaccessible, something you preached on live television once upon a time, and yet it often fell on unheard ears. The gravel crunched against your sneakers, you could feel every pebble through the old material.

. . .

“I know you’re good at what you do, hell, you’re the best we have. But it won’t cut it anymore,” your boss said solemnly.

“I’m not sure I understand,”

“The world doesn’t need more problems, everyone knows the pop culture industries are messed up.”

“Oh? And people want to know all about what another foreign celebrity had for dinner right?”

“That’s not-“

“This is absurd. You can’t reduce me to a gossip magazine,”

“I’m sorry,” she slid a paper across the desk, “either get with it or leave. I can’t offer more than that,”

. . .

Stupid job. Stupid media. And stupid you for trying to be something. There was once a time where your name was followed by a string of compliments, an autograph request, a photo or two. Maybe the occasional death threat disguised as a cease and desist. The good old days.Oh how you wish you’d gotten the highest journalism award (getting assassinated by the CIA) Maybe if a celebrity actually put a hit on you things would’ve been simpler. But instead of the lavish life of luxury you envisioned, you now scrape your plate for every drop of food, and wear underwear that have holes in them. You wandered through dimly lit alleyways, brightly lit streets, and twinkling waters. Sometimes you’d like to imagine you were a stray cat, perhaps you’d stumble upon a kind stranger who’d hold you and care for you after spending your life battered and bruised. Before long, you rested your forearms on a cool metal railing, far above a breathtaking water source, one which reflected the city line. A puff of cold air blew from your lips, and you shivered slightly. Distantly, honking and barking and the occasional fight. Somewhere far away in your mind, you reminisced on how you even came here. Moved to a country, started anew, and still somehow blew it. Could it really be that no one cared? You supposed that’s a positive thing most times, living your life without the fear of judgement. But it seems like its the only thing you’re given these days.

. . .

“You want me to talk about… a fast food place?”

“Yes! Listen- it’s an important American brand, bound to get lots of viewers and you’d be the first to cover it! … don’t give me that look,”

“What look?”

“Your ‘you’ve gotta be screwing with me’ look,”

“Okay Sherlock, I’m a little taken aback, I mean this- this is just…”

“I know, I know, you want something big, something scandalous and important,”

“But…”

“But I can’t do that for you, so quit being stubborn if you want to keep a roof over your head,”

You sighed, running a hand down your face, “fine,”

. . .

And yet, the bills kept coming, the debt ever-increasing with no relief in sight. You stared blankly at the horizon, the sun had long set leaving a familiar yet unwelcoming darkness ahead. Your mind drifted back to him again. You shouldn't think about him, you know this. It’s just that- now more than ever- it seemed that he was the only person who ever actually cared. You wondered how he's doing now, probably moved on with a hot young actress who knows which spoon is used for which dessert, leaving you, once again, forgotten with the test of time. You stared at his number on your phone. He should be blocked but you couldn’t bring yourself to do it. He was always there when you got into your own head, always encouraging you to look for what's right, not what's trendy. You wondered what caused the change. Tears built up in your eyes. You hated feeling like this, but no, you can’t call him. You know he won’t pick up anyway. You have to deal with this feeling alone

. . .

“You’re doing numbers this month,”

“Yeah, and I only had to sell my soul,” you slumped at your desk.

“You’re being a little dramatic,”

“A little dramatic? I interviewed a celebrity on a rumoured pregnancy. I’m the annoying tabloids now. I love my job,”

She leaned against the doorway, “you complain an awful lot for someone who’s broke,”

“Whose fault is it I’m broke,” you raised a sarcastic eyebrow.

“Your parents probably, made you sick,”

“I hate you,” you laughed as the older woman raised her hands in surrender.

. . .

Back home, you sat quietly on the floor, it was more comfortable than the couch anyway. There aren’t many games that you could play alone. Solitaire, obviously but that gets boring after maybe like 3 rounds. Gonggi’s fun but you rarely mess up anymore. You sat staring blankly at the deteriorating floor, tears now freely dancing down your chin. It had hit you then, you’ve got nothing, no-one. Hell, you haven’t even gotten yourself. The knot in your throat coupled with the body-wracking sobs had you immobilised for a while. Who do you call for help when everyone you know has moved on, leaving you ever frozen in you former short-lived glory. You liked to think that you were quite the ray of sunshine. But with how life’s been treating you this past year you’ve completely lost all that you are. Your passion, your job, your health, the relationship with your family, your boyfriend. You can’t even consider succumbing to your mystery illness because you aren’t sure if that day would ever come around. With no tears left to cry you thought of the only logically escape. Death. You looked around the room for anything of use, and you zeroed in on a lasso your friend would practise with. She must’ve forgotten it here. Good enough, maybe its a sign anyway. You sheepishly looked up ‘how to tie a noose’ on youtube, only to be met with dozens of mental health-help videos. You laughed out loud at the absurdity of the situation you're in as your hands settled on a familiar tight knot you would use with…nevermind. Rope secured around your neck, you headed for the only place you could hang peacefully, the windowsill. Just then, a limousine scratched to a halt in the street, and you stared at it with an amused expression. Your neighbors weren’t millionaires, plus who rents limousines? They look stupid and tacky. Who invented them? Must’ve been an idiot. What kind of display of wealth is this? It’s a display of lack of self control with money. You could feel the gaze of your trinket-filled-apartment on your back. Ok maybe you weren’t the best with money either.

Look at my long car ohoho. I’m so rich my driver sits in a different area code to me and I wipe my ass with gold-plated paper.

Your phone, on a nearby end table, began to dance with notifications. Still smiling at the prospect of a fancy car, you unlocked it to show an SMS from your bank. What do you want now?

In almost fanciful fashion, a 6 digit number smiled sweetly at you. But this time, it wasn’t asking you to drain your life force to plug it. This time, this time, it offered itself to you on an embroidered silk cloth. Or, alternatively, in the poorly made banking app that you’re almost certain is selling your data somewhere.

“A million won?” You pressed your tongue in your cheek, this must be a mistake. Maybe a kajillionare has your same name, and this is some kind of apology gift from her parents. Or you accidentally joined a gang, come to think of it, you spoke to some pretty weird people recently.

Do gangs have an orientation?

You opened the app, another came, and another, spelling out message after message about buying your time -not ominous at all considering it was not up for sale you weirdo- all you needed was to get into the stupid car. But the limo was so shady. This is the kind of scenario you put yourself in before bed to imagine how you'd escape, not willingly walk into. What if this was a trap? Another scheme against you to end your journalistic days. No, this was a stupid idea. No way. There was absolutely no way you were getting in that. You may be sick and possibly dying but you’d like to do that with both your kidneys. Thank you very much. Heh, get into the free candy car my butt. Fat chance you're taking my liver today, creep. I doubt it’s worth much anyway. Mama didn’t raise an idiot, and if she did it would be my brother.

. . .

The drinks inside were fake, you noted. You slumped awkwardly in the seat, sighing heavily.

Okay maybe you caved and got into the car you spent the better half of like 5 minutes making fun of.

No risk, no fun.

Twiddling your thumbs, you remember how your mother warned about stranger danger. What danger is it when there is no stranger though? I mean, is this an automatic car? Who’s there driving it? Is this some supernatural force and you’re the protagonist of a horror movie? The one that dies first surely, in a totally pathetic way. Suitable for you. Dying in a limousine. Maybe that would make a good movie… Who would play me? I hope they pick the rock. We’re more similar than what meets the eye…

Don't tell him I said that.

When it parked, you stepped out hesitantly, walking towards the theatre. It was huge, probably as big as your neighborhood. That wasn't saying much though. But you know, that had its perks, you could hear your neighbours argue when your tv shut down. The old hag down the street would bet on whos in the wrong, and a young woman in the neighborhood had a cork board with red strings connecting people who argued. She never did tell you why you were connected, and you're not sure if you want to find out. The sheer size of it reminded you of some of the interviews you’d attended, held somewhere similar. But back then, you wore extravagant outfits and held a fan base. Now your followers consist of stray cats and cockroaches that seem to love your bedroom. You knew it was bad when you started naming them.

A simple rectangular table on the stage.

8 cards, 3 of them missing. A wad of cash. A letter.

You stepped up to it, sizing up the wooden furniture with your chest puffed up. A part of you expected someone to jump out. You've been told you had a very punchable face.

Roughly speaking, the note detailed how no one could die in the game, you’d get accommodation and food and water, and you’d earn money. Easy enough, where’s the consent form? Or is just your entering of the room consent. Could you sue if anything happened? Probably not. You could also just take the cab fare and leave, that’d be nice. But then again, what do you have to lose? Besides your organs. So, nothing to lose anyways.

8, 5, 4, 3, 2.

Those numbers blinked up at you.

Logically speaking, 2 is the choice, it’s closest to 1 and 1 typically indicates the top. But going first in a mini game sounds like a nightmare. Maybe 3, unassuming and boring. But that’s average, you wanted something new. There’s that attitude people tell you you wear with too much pride.

Definitely not 8, that’s bottom of the barrel, last pick type of number. Whoever picked 7 must’ve been an equal idiot. Between 4 and 5.

“4 or 5?” You asked yourself quietly. “4,” you replied to yourself. Why? Why not? 5 is an odd number, and by extension, you’d be odd for picking it. 4 is an even number, divisible by 2 and aesthetically pleasing. You faltered for a moment.

“You care too much,” you could almost smell the cigarettes on his breath. The once poetic and sweet voice that pushed you to heights in your career, tore you down for yearning for something new. Regardless of how many nights you spent shivering, that was the coldest you've ever felt.

So you took it, 4, because screw you and how nonchalant you are about everything. Screw you and your poor eyesight. Screw you and your cigarettes and your stupid smile. Screw you and your expensive suits. Screw you and the bed you left me to make all alone.

You pushed forward, walking through the crimson red curtains into the deep dark abyss. Your heart beating in your throat, you pushed open the doors and-

A pool, a swing set, a slide. A child’s manic dream. Perhaps this was a fever dream. You slowly walked around, exploring the empty room before looking up.

8 was at the top, thank god you didn’t pick it. That would be a bad day to be out of shape. Scrap that, every day is a bad day when you’re out of shape. You climbed the tedious stairs, cursing at every person who’d ever worked on them, and then some, finally reaching the anticipated 4 sign. You scanned the card, and entered, wincing at the empty space.

Cosy.

You found a rule book, and began to read through. A few ground rules, something about a special price, and discarding your belongings. Coolio. You reread it a few times, then tossed it onto the ground. You tilted your head back, stretching your back and catching sight of a camera.

Wait, aren't you meant to change? What kind of show is this…

“Money's money,” you told yourself, and got changed very quickly, trying your best not to moon the camera.

There was a moment of silence as you stared at your phone, you knew you’d have to give it away, but come on, how’re you meant to entertain yourself? With a frown, you gave it a kiss, then remembered how filthy phones actually were. The chute closed, goodbye doom scrolling.

You stood up, tapping your pant leg awkwardly. The pockets were fake, which was a total nightmare. What’re you meant to do with your hands now?

Strobing lights and loud noises flooded the room as the show started, meaning it was the official marker of midnight. You sat with your knees to your chest on the furthest wall from the door, messing with the fake laces on your shoes, when a ping caught your attention. The number, in red LED, went up.

You got up hesitantly, inspecting it with a furrow in your brows. Another minute later, it doubled. You waited another minute, counting the seconds on your fingers until you hit 60. You were a few off, but it was definitely a minute. After a quick mental math calculation…

“50,000 won a minute,” you laughed to yourself, in disbelief. You smiled around the room, time to get comfy.

Moving over to the intercom, you asked for a mattress.

“TWENTY MILLION WON?!” Oh. A special price. “Too good to be true. It was too good to be true.” You groaned, kicking the chute and immediately regretting your stupidity. You thought back to your janky little apartment. Bed sheets.

You asked for the most affordable one, and laid by the window, covering yourself with it, content with your ability to be cheap. Who cares if you were frozen to the bone. Not you! You're about to be rich. What would you buy first? You'll Hire the best doctors to treat you. Oh! Maybe you'd fly to Europe and tour the countries there. Perhaps you'd invest in a nicer home first though.

Instead of being woken up by the pitter patter of a million legged creature, hell bent on invading your ears, you were lulled to sleep by the sound of the addition of a million won.

The daylight filtered through the fake window, and you curled in on yourself, asleep in a position in the room completely different to the one you’d slept in. You groaned softly and rubbed your eyes, waking up to a soft feminine voice beckoning people outside. So you weren’t alone. Lazily, you got up, adjusting your clothes to free them of wrinkles and trying to look alive.

Uncaffeinated and angry at the sun, time to integrate with society.

With a roll of your shoulders, you opened the door with a breath of confidence. You leaned on the half wall to see a few people standing there, staring up at you. As you descended the steps, a woman with the bold number 5 on her jacket waved at you, you waved back, giving her a friendly hello. She seemed a little older, small and cute, like a teacher. A man laid in a relaxed fashion on a beach chair, you hadn’t noticed him earlier, he was lounging by the fake pool. He was tall and burly, littered with bruises, a rugged kind of charm to him. You shot him a curt nod, noting his number 6. He responded with an up and down, and then a wink. Alrighty then. 7, the ugly number, stood facing the timer on the wall. His hair looked lovely though. You parted your lips to speak, but were stopped by the entrance of 3. The man was nothing short of average, but he was cute, in a younger brother kind of fashion. He had the face of someone who laughs at fart jokes. He spoke briefly, commenting on how the pool wasn't real, you only listened passively as your eyes locked on a woman hunched in a play set. 2. She met your gaze with intensity, and got up. Wow. She had short blonde hair, and a very hardened exterior. Best not to cross her. She joined the group at the calling of 5, and the older woman did a head count. Missing two more people, one made an appearance right now and oh.

8, a young woman with a killer smile and a perfect face entered, her uniform unbuttoned, uncovering a nude bra. 6 stood up, joining the group, eyes shamelessly on the woman’s assets. She stared up at the timer, with her eyes wide and doll-like, “Wow, does that mean time will be added every day? Will we be here forever?” she giggled, and in her sugary voice, it didn't seem all that bad.

You turned to glance again at the time, noting how quickly 7 turned around as you looked in his general direction. Okay mr tough guy, can we please have a face reveal? Ignoring his weird behaviour, the LED did read more time than last night, the 24 now up at the 30 mark.

You were about to speak, again, when a man limped into the crowd.

“Hope i wasn't too late, I'm on the first floor.” pleasantries were exchanged. The man had a fatherly feel to him, he was quite a bit older too.

The man was offered help by 3, but he declined, citing that he was used to it. 5 almost introduced herself when,

“Why bother?” 2 said, shaking her head. Okay, unnecessary.

Despite wanting to learn all the other names’, you nodded, and 3 spoke. “It’ll be hard to learn them all anyways,”

You couldn't help but sneak another glance to the time, something about it made you impossibly nervous. Nevermind that, one thing rang in your head. Where’s the restroom? How does one even ask without exposing their bladder? Why is no one else squirming? Are they all secretly truck drivers? Did you miss the memo? Just ask… what's the worst that could happen?

(besides them all making fun of you for being a little baby)

After a few moments of silence, and a lot of you squeezing and opening your fists, “I uh,” you cleared your throat, making eye contact with 2, she seemed like she’d not judge you for peeing yourself. “Where’s the bathroom?”

She made a face, this is the part where she pushes you and calls you something mean. “There isn't one,”

3 spoke up, “What?” W h a t

She made a point of walking over to the stands, tossing you some kind of ice cream. You missed the catch, and turned to see where it landed when you caught sight of 7 holding it.

What kind of sick joke is this?

What crimes did you commit for this to happen? Is it to rub it in your face? Wait a minute, he’s here too…

He held your gaze with intensity, perhaps he was sizing you up. But this time, you’re on a level playing field. You opened your mouth to question his presence but were quickly cut off by 2 tossing a hotdog at 3. With everyone’s attention turned to this absurd revelation, Yu, or 7 now, took this chance to give you a very slight shake of his head, ‘not now’ you could almost hear his voice. You gave him a very exaggerated roll of your eyes before turning your attention back to the group. He mirrored your action, but not before mumbling childish under his breath just loud enough for you to hear.

. . .

“Is there anything in your life that you can take seriously?” He laughed, wiping genuine tears from his eyes.

“No, or else I would be boring,”

. . .

“Everything here is fake,” 2 added as she joined the group.

7 continued, “It’s set up for a long term stay. Seems all the plumbing and infrastructure is fake,” I know something else that’s fake. “Manufactured for a long term stay, clearly,” no it wasn’t clear, but not all of us are smart.

1 looked directly at you, “I bought one of those toilets people use on camping trips- a waste bag is its name i think,”

You nodded slowly, “But buying waste bags daily, that would drain the money,” you'd rather drink your own urine than waste all the money on what? A bag? … good thing telepaths don’t exist.

“Not necessarily,” 7 said, you shot him a side eye. No one asked for his opinion, especially not you. Knowing how ‘perfect’ he is, he probably doesn’t even produce waste. When he farts, mathematical diagrams come out instead. “The rule book said we could buy items in the square for a special price,” Yeah, the special price being that I'll deck you the next time I see your stupid glasses.

“What if it’s more expensive?” you countered, and he shrugged. Does this man care about anything… ever?

You are NOT this nonchalant Yu, drop the act.

“We could buy something to find out,” 3 suggested, and people nodded all around.

“But what do we buy?” 5 replied, a furrow in her brows, her hands messing with the hem of her jacket nervously.

“I’m not sure, we coul-“ 3 was interrupted by 6 pushing past him harshly, and going up to the device thing that they had on the wall.

You glanced at 3, who held his shoulder with a frown. You shot him an understanding look, and he gave you a small smile. What a cutie.

“What the hell are you doing?” 2 yelled, bringing you back to the task at hand, her fists balled up next to her sides in an offensive stance.

He didn’t reply, casting the group a bored look, simply picking up the beige phone and speaking into the mic.

“A pack of cigarettes and a lighter,” of course. No please, let’s forget about the literal essentials and instead poison the air. Wait, what if the air doesn’t get regulated?

You glanced around the ceilings quickly, trying to find a vent. You must’ve looked ridiculous, because when you finally looked back at the group, 7 and 3 were both looking at you like you were being weird. You looked at 6 with focus, trying to ignore the awkwardness of that encounter.

The chute opens, and inside exactly what he asked for. Didn’t Barbie have a similar thing to this? 6 looks nothing like Barbie.

“I’ll go check if it deducts our money,” you walked over to the rooms, jogging up the stairs and ignoring the burning feeling of a stare at the back of your head. Sure enough, your money’s untouched. A quick victory dance later, then a moment of staring at your reflection in the cool metal of the chute. You walked out, giving a thumbs up.

1 filled you in “They deduct the time,”

You gave him a nod of thanks, and thus came time to sit in a circle and decide what to get. What one person wanted, another vetoed. What one person deemed essential, another argued wasteful.

You offered pillows, but 6 already bought one, he asked you how you’d sleep without one. You just tucked your lips in, suddenly more interested in your hands. 7 offered a pen and papers, which didn’t need 8’s interjection of how stupid that idea was.

Her words were “Why? Is someone going to study here?”

It’s kind of cute though, some things never change.

. . .

“Do you have any notebooks?” He slipped off his fancy shoes at your door, leaving them in the neat rack he bought you. A useless attempt at decluttering your apartment, considering you still preferred to leave your shoes on the ground.

“No? Why would I?” You set down the leftover takeout bags on the table, opening the cabinet to grab containers for them.

“Aren’t you a journalist?” He smirked, loosening his tie and slipping his blazer off, hanging it up next to your coat.

You stuck out your tongue at him, “I don’t keep that stuff here, I leave it at the office. My laptop is my notebook,”

“Hm,” he flopped down on your sofa, holding a bottle of cheap wine, sipping directly from the bottle.

You giggled, “What’re you some kind of anti electronic advocate? Do you get off on killing trees?” You sighed dramatically at the last part.

“Okay miss activist, I get it you’re better than the rest of us,” he rolled his eyes playfully. You shook your head, finishing the packing away of your food.

You walked over to the couch, grabbing the remote and sat down next to him, stretching your legs in front of you. Wordlessly, he put an arm around your shoulder, pulling you flush against him.

“For the record I don’t think I’m better than anyone,” you picked your head up to look at him, the proximity still giving you butterflies. You found comfort in messing with his tie instead of meeting the fire in his eyes.

His eyes flicked from your eyes to your lips, a look of sincerity written all over his face, “Well for the record I think you’re better than everyone,”

. . .

You realize now you spent too long thinking about it, and looked up to the gaze of everyone on you. This was like walking into class late, except way worse.

“4, does that sound good?” 5 said and you nodded, having no clue what they agreed on, but best to save yourself from embarrassment.

You leaned against the wall as people took out their kits. A bucket, sanitary pads, waste bags, cigarettes for the smokers. Disregarding your growing need to use the restroom, you waited for the others to grab their things, staring at the time with a blank expression.

Why did it increase?

Before long, you were brought out of your trance by 2, who gently bumped your shoulder, signalling for you to grab your things before walking off. You crouched next to the chute, grabbing the items.

After relieving yourself in your room, very awkwardly due to the lingering feelings of the cameras making the hair on the back of your neck stand up, you packed the waste and stuffed it into a corner. You sighed heavily. Pacing from wall to wall your mind wandered for the umpteenth time. Why did the time increase? Are you really gonna be here forever? Why are you getting money for just sitting here and mouth breathing? So many questions and so little answers, but with the red LED number ever increasing, you couldn’t find it within yourself to really care beyond a few ideas. Even if the twist was something weird, so what? You’re gonna be rich when you’re out of here. Forget Europe, a world tour. Maybe you’d start your own journalism agency, and hire people who actually know what’s up.

Upon hearing some commotion outside, you decided to join them again.

There appears to be an argument between everyone and 8, who apparently had 12 meal kits and water bottles delivered to her room and just… kept them. Your eyebrows shot up, now that it’s mentioned, you were pretty hungry. What is her problem?

“W-what did you do with them?” 3 spoke, looking like he might eat her.

“I tried them all,” she says with a pout.

“You seriously ate 12 meals by yourself?” 3 replied. She makes a show of walking a few steps away, removing her jacket entirely, a small gasp came from 5. You furrowed your brows, and she rubbed her stomach in a weird way.

“Of course not, I only eat one meal a day,”

“Then can we have them?” You responded, thinking with your stomach.

She hummed thoughtfully. What does that mean?

“Stop playing with us princess,” 2 narrowed her eyes.

“I already used the water, but you can have the food,” she says smiling at 6, then the rest of you guys.

“To do what?” 3 asks and 5 nudges his shoulder.

“To bathe,” HOLD ME BACK HOLD ME BACK.

Your eye twitched, and you clenched your jaw tightly.

7 mustered up the courage and spoke up, “8, if you don’t mind, may we go to your room and see the meals?” She shot him a confused look, still with that gorgeous smile. She must’ve been some kind of model before coming here.

5 ushered 8 to put her jacket back on, while telling 7 that this was an invasion of privacy, in that same sweet gentle parenting voice. 1 spoke up.

“But she’s the only one who’s seen them, perhaps it’s best to just take a look... If that’s okay,”

8 nodded, and thus began the ascent. If you thought the stairs up to 4 were bad, then these were borderline torture. Why is no one else dying? You probably should’ve hit the gym more often. 1 seems to struggle a little, and in comparison you seemed like a total a-hole, 3 offered to help him though. He refuses at first, but 3 is a persistent man, and ends up ducking under his arm to help.

You and 5 giggled, and 3 looked back sheepishly.

Finally, out of breath and exhausted, you reached the top of the tedious steps. A couple of people filed in, and there were murmurs and gasps. You weren’t in any rush to enter, and just lingered in the back of the group. 2 made space for you to enter, and…

“What the hell?”

A/N: you made it till the end! woohooo! Hope you had a good time reading, and I hope I'll see you in chapter 2 ;)

#the 8 show #7th floor #Philip Yu #the 8 show x reader #Philip yu x reader #7th floor x reader

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sodorinfection · 11 months ago

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How did the infection start? Does it transfer by bite or something? Or is being in the same presence as another infected person/creature enough for the virus to jump? And does it change the mindset in any way if the one infected has sapience?

⚠️ Disturbing images warning ⚠️

How the infection start is still in speculation, but it doesn't stray that far from the junji ito manga.

Infection spreads from gas, in other words it is airborne, the germs in an already infected body spreads and produces these gas to the maximum, and this is where I start to stray from source material.

In the manga, the spider legs are a form of mechanical function that are man made, but in this AU, they grow organically from the host as the stage progresses.

There are two types of infection for this AU, Type A and Type B, not only do they have a difference in appearance, they also have a difference in function.

Type A are typically mushy, they are weaker but spreads infection faster than Type B, they produces more gas from their rotting bodies, and the body would inflate if they're killed, they roam at daytime.

Type B are mostly metallic-mutation that happens quite rarely, they have a tougher exterior, bullet proof, and faster, they're more hostile.

After stage 3, The host cease to have any recognition,, survival are purely by animal-like instinct, yes it does change their behavior if the host possesses intelligence.

A rough sketch of an infected engine, the wheels melts or dissolves as spider legs replaces it, as well as giving the engine an organic underside to better assimilate, the face may melt during this process.

Humans on the other hand, are more likely not to get infected in the first encounter, but taking more doses of the gases may change that fact, because humans have an immune system to fight germs.

Though I'm unsure if I should infect the humans as well, since it is very disturbing, but that's for future me to worry about :p

Thank you for the ask🩵

#thomas and friends #ttte #ttte au #sodorinfection #sodor infection #infection au #ttte fanart

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orb-the-watchman · 7 months ago

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Are we ever gonna get any updates about BOTSE?

I've been meaning to…sorta. But I have been struggling with how to tackle it cause if I'm being real, BotSE is in like a weird limbo right now.

The reality is the comic has been put into an unofficial hiatus. I just have not been working on it since the last update, Which was over a year ago. I don't want to say the comic is like officially cancelled for dropped, I’m not confident in saying that it is, but there are a lot of reasons why I have not worked on it.

One reason is just adult life, I don't really have the energy or motivation to make around 5 or 6 fully colored comic pages every two weeks like I did when I was in high school. I've also just become increasingly unconfident in my writing skills. I don't really know what I'm trying to say with BotSE and that really frustrates me. I feel like it strays too far away from the actual source material- both intentionally and unintentionally, And I don't feel like the writing property portrays which is which.

There are a lot of things I really like about BotSE thought which is why I'm not certainly canning it. I like writing a crime syndate action drama, I like a lot of my characters, and working hard on pages then seeing them done all together is very satifying, But there are a lot of core problems with it that I just am not motivated enough to fix on top of my other projects. And it takes a lot of confidence and passion to work on that comic as much as I did.

I have thought about starting other comics on a smaller scale, though still not that confident in my writing so its up in the air if il follow through with them. I do have my two other story focused (sort of) blogs, Brichbam’s ask blog and my Snaxcurity Breach blog, which I’m more confident and have more fun sharing a story in those. I hope y'all are giving those blogs some love in the mean time (even though I haven't updated Snaxcurity Breach in one Orbillion years lol)

Anyway I think those are basically all my thoughts sorry if this is a big ass post, and sorry for being really quiet about the status of BotSE. I know a lot of you really enjoy the comic and want to know what is up with it. If any if you have questions let me know!

#orb ponders #bugsnax #bugsnax au #botse #botse updates #brothers of the seaside eclipse

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thelikesofus · 10 months ago

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20 Questions for Fic Writers

I was tagged by the wonderful @thekristen999, @spotsandsocks, and @hippolotamus xx

How many works do you have on ao3? 49

What's your total ao3 word count?

156,649 which seems crazy omg

What fandoms do you write for?

Currently 9-1-1

Previously: Fairy Tail, Akagami no Shirayukihime, and some rpf for K-Pop bands

Top five fics by kudos:

Words Fall Short (Tongue Tied and Lonely) 15k words

Buck misoverhears Eddie complaining to Hen at work and presumes the worst. He slowly starts to phase himself out of Eddie's life and Eddie doesn't know why.

you are my boy, buckaroo 1.7k words

Buck is in the wrong place at the wrong time and Athena comes to the rescue.

Lazy Sunday (Lay With Me) 1.2k words

A quiet, cuddly Sunday morning between Buck and Eddie on the Diaz couch.

ring the bells 5.3k words - Buddie CoffeeShop AU

Buck starts frequenting a coffee shop near the firehouse in hopes of running into the beautiful man whose coffee he mistakenly drank.

Wine (Whine) 1.5k words

Buck makes plans without Eddie so Eddie goes to Karen for wine and a whine and then comes home to Buck.

Do you respond to comments? Yes! I try to! I usually reply to some the same day I post a fic and then go back and reply to the rest a few weeks later. But every comment is so important to me <3

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I am incapable of not writing happy endings haha but the angstiest content in a fic was probably in lightning crashes seeing as Buck literally died right in front of Eddie's eyes, more than once.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Crushes, Shivers and Bruised Knuckles has a super cute sappy ending <3

Do you get hate on fics?

Not often, I've had the odd snide comment but so far I've been pretty lucky.

Do you write smut? Nope. Just not my writing vibe.

Craziest crossover:

Haven't written any crossover fics yet but i've been dipping my toes into AUs a bit more recently.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Years ago yes sort of, I had a fic reposted to another website without my permission but still credited to me.

Have you ever had a fic translated? No, not yet.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not published, but the lovely @lilbuddie and I have played around with some ideas before.

All time favourite ship? Buddie, they have taken me over body and soul. Never has a ship inspired me to write so many fics.

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have a few WIPs from other fandoms (not 911) that I abandoned a long time ago and now the source material has changed too much for the fics to make sense to finish which is sad cos some of them I was really excited about (RIP the Australian Adoption Adventure fic).

What are your writing strengths?

Descriptions, particularly of physical intamicy/tactile situations cos I'm hyper aware of where everyone's limbs are at all times. I think I'm pretty good at getting character's verbal tone right too.

What are your writing weaknesses? Other than finishing WIPs?? Long fics, honestly. I have so many ideas but find it really hard to plot out and execute long form fics.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? Character specific I think.

First fandom you wrote in? Fairy Tail

Favourite fic you've written? I have some new WIPs coming soon that I think will take the title but here's some current favs:

9-1-1:

Crushes, Shivers and Bruised Knuckles 9k words

Eddie starts kickboxing, goes to therapy and realizes he's in love with Buck.

lightning crashes 9.7k words

Eddie is thrown from the ladder truck during a lightning storm on a call but it is Buck who ends up in the hospital.

Not 9-1-1:

Hindsight (Through Rose Tinted Glasses) - Stray Kids (8.6k)

Hearts Beat (Louder Than Bombs) - NCT War AU (25k ongoing)

Tagging a few lovely mutuals who might like to share:

@loserdiaz @shortsighted-owl @sibylsleaves @monsterrae1 @spaceprincessem @elvensorceress @bekkachaos and anyone else who wants to tag me in their version of this! I love hear about people's writing xx

#meegs writes stuff #writing tag games #buddie #buddie fics #nct #stray kids #911 #akagami no shirayukihime #fairy tail

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hanasnx · 2 years ago

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❝ just bad, bad decisions. ❞

── fratboy!anakin skywalker x padmé amidala

MINORS DNI 18+ WORD COUNT: 3.5k SUMMARY: having officially broken it off because of anakin’s stupid mistake, anakin and padmé have not seen each other since. when they lock eyes during a football game they both attend, they find their way back to each other during the game. and set aside their differences to reconnect under the bleachers. NOTES: use caution when proceeding! you are at risk for spoilers for @justadmiringanakin‘s fall for me for chapter 12: fool me once under the cut in the summary and contents of this one shot. | directly following the events of chapter 12: fool me once of fall for me by the talented @justadmiringanakin; it contains spoilers for all chapters up to chapter 12 | ava did give me permission to post this, please do not report, and please read the original material. | i need to specify, this is fanfiction for ava’s fanfiction. and is not canon to her storyline whatsoever. it is a self indulgent piece inspired by her storyline and characters. WARNINGS: explicit sex | anakin being persistent & crude | very slight angst | no explicit ask for consent | using each other | vaginal fingering | slight voyeurism/exhibitionism | penetration | anakin being nice at first until he knows he’s got her and using degrading dirty talk | sadistic anakin | anakin in denial | taking the lords name in vain | size difference | break up fantasy | break up sex | little bit o hate sex | ass slap| anakin’s toxic.

“Padmé?” Far away, PADMÉ AMIDALA eyes linger where ANAKIN SKYWALKER's empty seat resides. “Padmé…?” A comforting hand on her shoulder snaps her out of her trance and she hums in acknowledgement at the source.

“I’m sorry. Were you trying to say something to me?” she asks, furrowing her brows from the nerves deeply rooted in her stomach, set at unease.

“I was just asking if you could grab us some snacks. Cordé wants a soft pretzel to share with Logan and I want the same.” Dormé requests, inclining to meet Padmé’s eyes as if she needs to demand her attention during such a distracting football game.

Distressfully, Padmé glances at the unoccupied seat, worried she’d somehow run into Anakin during her trip. She couldn’t handle a close range encounter with him right now. Especially not after how she’s been feeling with the sudden loss of someone to warm her bed late at night.

Dormé holds up a couple bucks. “Please? I don’t wanna miss any plays, and I know you don’t really care about this sort of thing.”

Padmé couldn't argue with that and blew air out of her mouth to redirect a stray lock of hair out of her face. “Yeah,” Mustering a brave smile, she nods, and takes Dormé’s cash. “No problem. Be right back.” It’s the least she could do after they convinced her to abandon the cowardise of her room.

No sooner had her feet hit the grass, did the pit in her stomach grow tenfold.

She rounds the bleacher, a hand bracing against one of the poles, and she treks to the concessions. Underneath the bleachers are eerie, and she makes out a familiar figure in the shade when the end of his cigarette lights up.

He notices her too. “Came lookin’ for me?” His tone is uncharacteristically empathetic and Padmé gulps, gathering strength to cool and harden like stone.

Anakin.

“No. Obviously not.” She sticks her nose in the air, and continues on her way.

“So- you still hate me?” he asks, dropping his roach to the ground to grind it into the dirt with his shoe.

Like a fool, she takes the bait.

She crosses her arms with finesse, facing him. “I can’t believe you’d ask that.” Her words are like ice, emphasized by the tilt of her head and snobby huff.

Once he starts to close in is when her facade is cracking, eyeing him cautiously. However, he stops a few feet from her, having expected her to run off by now, and he leans his back against one of the sustainers. “I know you don’t.”

Her gaze searches him for a moment, a sharp pain stabbing through her heart as she catches a whiff of his musk that once comforted her so. In hopes to derail him from this conversation, she changes the subject. “Where’s your vape? I thought you quit smoking.” the word is spat with her distaste for it. Unfortunately the smell of it coming off of him is not helping her situation. Who knew cloves could have this kind of effect on her?

No, hate him. Hate him.

Anakin regards her thoughtfully— or more, appropriately, looks her up and down. “Vape broke. This whole… ‘scene’ has been really getting to me.” So he bought a pack to light up as soon as she found out about his lie and called him out on it? So juvenile.

“Oh, you mean the scene you caused?” The passive aggressive comment punctuated with an accusatory finger pointed in his direction.

He idles. Nods. “That’s right.”

Padmé doesn’t know why she’s still here. Listening to this. She’s supposed to be strong, she told him she never wants to speak to him again. Yet here she is.

Her silence is taken as an invitation to continue.

“Padmé, I miss you.” The feeling that shoots through her from that statement is hot and she fights a wince. He steps closer and inversely she steps back.

That same finger reanimates to warn him to control himself. “Don’t.”

He doesn’t listen. “I’ve been losing my mind over this. Just ask my brothers— ask Rex—“

“I don’t want to ask anybody! You should be dealing with the consequences of your actions. I’m furious with you, don’t you know that?” her voice trembles, betraying her passion, and he advances on her, ready to catch her. All that halts him is her index finger jabbing into his chest. His toned, hard chest, rising and falling with breath.

“Let me make it up to you.” A plea. Once again, her reticence encourages him. “Tell me. I’ll do anything.”

“You can’t. That’s the thing.” Barely able to raise her voice above a whisper, throat tightening, and tears pricking the corners of her eyes. Perhaps she’s still here because she seeks closure. Or because she misses him so much it hurts.

His intense gaze bores into hers, unwavering, undivided. “If you’re so mad at me, you could take it out on me.”

Her brows furrow, snapping her out of her stupor. “What?” Her first thought is his comment about liking when girls slap him. Did he expect her to hit him to release her fury on him?

“It won’t be that easy. I told you I’ll never forgive you, and I meant that.”

“Then don’t forgive me.” Is it her imagination or does that sentence pain him to say it? Regardless, he recovers quicker than she can dwell on it. “You don’t have to like me to use me.”

“What?” She blinks, having to ask him to clarify a second time.

“C’mon, I know you’re horny. Let me at least help with that.” Another plea, leaning over her arm that keeps him back with that single, thin finger. Her willpower diminishing every second longer she spends with him.

“You’re a pig.” A correct pig. A hopelessly, and completely correct statement said by the one person she wished she could hate.

“You miss me.”

He’s right. She clenches her jaw.

“I love this little crop top you’re wearing.” His large hands entitle themselves as usual— just like she remembers— grabbing hold of her hips. Warm pads of his fingers brush her exposed hips and she sucks in a breath. She slacks, letting him tug her into his intoxicating atmosphere. His eyes, once hungrily devouring her outfit, lands on the top of her head, and an endeared smile stretches onto his lips. “Dumb little hat.” he muses as one of his knuckles flicks the rim of it, backing it off her head marginally.

Her delicate countenance twists into a defined frown, scrunching up her nose as her free hand claps and adjusts the bucket hat back onto the top of her crown. As if she finally remembered what he’s doing, how he’s drawing her in just like he always does, she arches away from him, which only makes him incline in her direction more.

“I’m mad at you.”

“We could fuck about it.” He tosses the words so carelessly. Like he didn’t just say what he said. She’d be appalled, if not for her mind running away with her.

Could this be a way to get back at him? To use him like he used her? Let him pleasure her to tears once more so that she could bang one out of her system, and feel like she’s finally on top of him?

Wait a second, she’s getting ahead of herself, shaking her head. “Do you have to be so crude? Where would that even take place?”

His expression lights up at the fact her question lacks a rejection, she’s open to his offer. “Right here, right now.”

Swiftly, as if no time had passed, his thick arms wrap around her, and out of instinct hers encircle his neck as his lips connect with hers. The first kiss she’s had in a while, her first kiss with Anakin since before… At the memory, she protests, pushing back but he’s undeterred, merely dipping his head down to latch onto her neck. Open mouthed, fervent, kisses down the column. Once he reaches her pulse point, he sucks hard, and laps at it. The motion causes a noise to emit from her, involuntarily, and he lures her further into the shades of the bleachers, practically picking her up as if she’s light as a feather to him. He bites down onto her skin and she resists the urge to moan like before.

To give himself more access, he palms the back of her head, cradling it to tilt as he pleases. She feels limp in his hands, putty just as she once was.

“Anakin…” she begins, hitching when he nips her again.

“I fucking missed my name on your lips, Padmé…” he murmurs against her skin, and her eyes roll into the back of her head. Gripping hard on her waist, he pulls her into him so she can feel how hard he’s gotten already. At this point, she had expected he’d direct her to palm his erection, but perhaps he meant what he said earlier… How it was all about her, and her pleasure, and to use him to do it.

He doesn’t give her time to think about it when his hand slips to slot itself in between her thighs. Suddenly, the realization hit her that he really meant here and now. The cheers of the crowd overhead sounding alarms in her head.

Oh, but his touch feels so fucking good…

“Anakin, wait, I’m supposed to be back with soft pretzels- they’re gonna wonder where I am—“

He growls, guiding her further into the depths of the underside of these bleachers. “I’ll be quick.”

His words jelly her, especially because of his splendid ministrations against her clit through her jeans. Knees weakening, she believes he’s the only thing keeping her upright. Until he props her up against one of the studs. “Fuck, I gotta feel that pussy on my fingers again, angel,” he speaks as he practically rips open her button and zipper, adjusting it harshly to make room for shoving his hand in. Just as his digits find their home, he captures her parted lips, inviting his tongue inside unceremoniously. Melding with hers, demanding to taste whatever’s available as she’s trying not to moan directly in his mouth from his fingers circling and pinching her clit. He sucks on her tongue and releases it with a toying nip to the end of it, “You’re so fucking wet, I can’t fucking wait to stick my dick inside you.”

As if this man couldn’t go five minutes without psychologically torturing her, choosing to phrase it that way because of their argument. Because of how she accused him of only seeing her as something to “stick his dick inside.”

“Less talking and more doing, I’m getting bored.” A lie, but she hoped to jab at him the way he just did to her.

So he does as she asked, gaze darkening as it pierces hers, his fingers plunging themselves into her with no further warning. Daring her to cry out, daring her to try him again. To silence herself, she covers her mouth, eyebrows upturning in a pleading countenance she shares with him. He’s indomitable, barreling through as he effortlessly finds that spot inside her that turns her into the little pliable slut he wants.

She looks up at the people she can see through the cracks of the bleachers. The clapping, the resting feet, the faces of Dormé, Cordé, and Logan watching the game. Her eyes widen.

Did Anakin know exactly where to situate them to teeter the edge of danger? How sadistic could he be?

Is this even for her? Is this all for him and his sick pleasure? He really is a creep.

Anakin takes it all in, her shifts, how her body racked in rapture bends to his will, shuddering helplessly as she nears her end. “Bet they wouldn’t hear even if you did scream for me.” So he does know who’s above them.

She frowns at him, and he yanks her hand off her mouth.

“Are you gonna cum in your panties, Padmé? Who’s doing that to you, huh? Who’s finger blasting you under the fucking football bleachers?”

“F- fuck you…” she responds best she can, weakly, and fighting through her pleasure. Barely able to keep her eyes open.

“We’ll get to that, baby, don’t worry.”

Is he so sure?

Sharply inhaling through her nose, countenance skewing into an almost sneeze-like stance, is her tell. She’s close, and Anakin doesn’t let up. Curling his thick digits inside of her, and probing that spot that controls her efficiently. “Can’t believe you’re getting off where anybody can just turn the corner and see. Better yet, if anyone looked down…”

Somehow that did it, and her cum floods his hand, seeping past and dripping into the crotch of her panties he’d moved aside.

“Oh, fuck yes, baby, just like that.” he breathes, watching in fascination in the dimness. She clenches around him involuntarily, fluttering around his fingers as he pulls them out, coated in her slick. “You came so much it’s like you haven’t fucked yourself. Being a good girl for me while we’re apart during this little spat of ours? You remembered I told you not to waste your cum.” By his tone, he sounds impressed, and she hates herself for her body responding well to his praise. His good girl. It makes her sick.

“G- God, Anakin, you’re so fu-cking annoying. Do you ever shut up?” Minimizing their very real fight, assuming she’d been saving any of this for him, it left a sour taste in her mouth. Unfortunately, she needs him now more than ever and remains complacent as he readies her to take him.

“I might. If your pussy is as good as I remember.” he degrades, spinning her and placing her hands for her to brace on the pole she once leant on.

Her jaw opens to say something, any sort of rebuttal that’s as clever as she wishes it could be but she’s unable; he tugs down her pants just enough and pulls his aching cock out of the confines, and it’s just as beautiful as she pictures it in her mind. Gawking at it from over her shoulder as he gives it a few yanks, resting his splayed hand over her exposed backside, finger absentmindedly stroking one of the dimples of her lower back.

“You have no idea how badly I need this…” he murmurs, his hand sliding down to give her ass a sharp pat, and then to her entrance, soothing her clit with gentle circles. She heard him shuffling behind her, and saw him rip a condom open with his teeth.

It didn’t occur to him that he had one.. why didn’t it occur to her? She’s been so wrapped up in the moment. Where did he get it? Did he just have it in his wallet? Was he expecting something like this to happen?

To keep her warmed up for him, the ends of his fingers dip experimentally into her, scissoring her open and curling to help loosen her up for him— while he rolls the rubber onto his length. Once fully protected, he collects some more of her finish from previous, smearing it onto his coated length to lubricate it. He starts kissing the tip of himself against her glistening folds repeatedly, as if to warn her cunt of what’s to come. His brutalizing length isn’t to be trifled with, especially because she’s tightened and sensitive from cumming earlier. Pushing himself inside, the pleasant sting makes her hiss, easing back from the pole as he thrusts a little more of himself inside each time.

“Did you just have that?” she managed to question.

“The condom? I always keep one on me.” So he learned his lesson from the truck. Padmé never quite forgot the exasperated look on Rex’s face.

“Were you expecting this?” she spoke through gritted teeth, as she continued to rock back further and further onto his dick.

“Well, we’re here, aren’t we?”

She can practically hear his crooked grin through his cocky words, and it exacerbated her already molten feelings towards him.

“Is your goal to piss me off?”

“You’re hot when you’re angry. Especially at me.”

Now fully seated inside of her, his thrusts are sharper, rolling his hips in such a way that fits so well against the end of her.

“Fuck, you really are as good as I remember.” he sighs, biting his lower lip to keep from whimpering over how perfectly she’s squeezing him. “Maybe even better…”

“You promised me you’d shut up.” she tells him, and he obliges— surprisingly.

His hand squeezes her hip, using it to anchor her weight into him and off, while his other snatches her hat off her head. So enraptured she doesn’t even notice. She doesn’t notice when he puts it on his head to keep it off the ground either. All that, just to safely tangle his fingers in her air, stinging her scalp.

Forcing her back to arch for him, forcing her to see her unsuspecting friends once again. The horror that would seize her if one of them were to— God forbid— witness this. But the din of the game and the crowd drowned out the noises of their lovemaking.

Anakin’s necessity to be as close as he possibly could be to her, causes him to abandon her hip, sliding his arm around her pelvis, nearly lifting her off the ground as he pistoned into her. Bent over her, his chest against her back, his chin over her shoulder, enveloping her with his sheer size, and spearing her on his cock. It’s all too much. He bites whatever he can get his teeth on: her neck, her shoulder, her cheek. When she turns her head, ready to kiss him, he bites her lips and her nose. Unable to think of anything to say while he’s balls deep inside of her, she wishes the weird things he did didn’t turn her on so badly.

She’s been so good at staying quiet, but as soon as that desperate hand of his releases her hair to seek out and stimulate her clit, she lets a moan leak from her. Instantly embarrassed, heat rises to her cheeks, and when she checks to see if her friends above her heard— she’s met with only Logan’s flushed and wide-eyed expression.

Quickly he looks ahead, and doesn’t meet her gaze again… but the damage has been done. Padmé feels like crawling into herself and dying. She hides her face in her arms against the pole.

Anakin’s breathless and cruel laugh sounds in her ear, “Do we have an audience?” The waves of his warm breath causes her to shiver, and the squelching sounds of their union intensifies as he fucks her harder— as if intent to get her to break and moan more.

Padmé’s thoughts are consumed by the fact she had just met her friend’s boyfriend, and now his first impression and opinion of her would be sullied forever. She whimpered, and Anakin licked the inside of her ear, probing it with his tongue and nipping the earlobe.

“The guys were right. You really are such a slut for me.” Anakin spits, “Can’t believe you’re letting me hit when you’re so mad at me. During the fight we’re in. It’s like you can’t stay away from me.”

Padmé couldn’t think, couldn’t speak, nearing her finish as tears pricked the corners of her eyes once more because of Anakin’s tyranny.

“What’s more? You’re gonna keep coming back. You’re gonna bat those big lashes at me, and show off those little tits in a crop top, and I’m gonna slut you out like I’m doing right now. Mé? You’re never getting rid of me.” That nickname. That stupid fucking nickname. The only person that calls her that, that thought to call her that, claiming it to be his favorite month of the year in some sort of endearing anecdote— Mé— is Anakin.

His barbaric pace is finally paying off, choking back sobs as her orgasm rushes through her, shuddering her entire body, clenching down onto him so he can fuck an even tighter hole.

“God— Mé,” his voice quivers, whining as he fucks her through her orgasm and holds onto her body so she can’t escape him and fall to the ground like her body wants to do. Fall limp. Strong arm pinning her in place as he uses her like a fucktoy to get himself off. She feels the familiar warmth as it spreads, his hips stuttering as he cums into his condom.

They breathe together, her leaning onto the pole as he leans onto her with his hand over hers, remaining comfortably sheathed.

His sweaty forehead rests against her shoulder, and speaks before she has time to process what just happened.

“Want me to buy you a soft pretzel?”

“Give me back my hat, Anakin.”

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inasbdtblogrealnoscam · 10 days ago

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🖤

"The easiest way to describe her would be... "a good person", made by someone who hasn't ever interacted with a good person, much less knows how to be one. That, and it's not like she has much to work off. A servant overseeing all the other servants is still a servant, after all."

First redesign reveal of this page - meet Jina!

Designed to halt Exetior's murderous tendencies and protect those under her care, she is the beacon of morality that shines over the darkness. Her creation was a commision after the Inner incident, which made the demon realize he could use someone to put him back on the right path when he strays away from his goal for the sake of pointless cruelty. Oh, yeah, and she has a Core. Pretty rad.

For more information about her, read below the line!

Background:

After the unexpected and unintended creation of Inner Tails and the accidental perma-murder of Vanilla that figment of Tails’s soul caused, it became apparent to Exetior that sometimes he can go too far and not think about the possible consequences of some of his endeavours. To prevent another scenario like this from occurring ever again, he decided he needed an advisor, as well as someone who could hold him back if needed. Unfortunately, all of his “co-workers”, to put it bluntly, fucking suck. And, instead of doing the reasonable thing and just… asking the very Mobians in question, he somehow decided that creating a brand new synthetic lifeform would be a better option. (What can I say, considering the lifeforms he's fighting in the name of was never his strong suit.) So he commissioned Pervision to make one, only giving him two limitations: the creation must have enough power to temporarily stop him, just in case, and, more importantly, they must be “a good person”. (Although that was still somehow enough to piss the one-eyed entity off.) Project Embrella, as the experiment was called, turned out to be a huge success. The artificial lifeform was successfully created.

After accidentally mishearing her name, Exetior gladly welcomed “Jina” into his army. Out of shyness, she didn’t correct him, and so the moniker stuck. Over the next few months, the two have grown closer, as she held back his wrath, and he grew to appreciate her advice. They’ve also developed mutual romantic feelings for eachother. However, things didn't last. One fateful day, Exetior and Jina found themselves ambushed by a Highest. Driven by love and her directive, she stayed behind to stall for time and allow Exetior to escape. And unfortunately, that led to her death.

Distraught by the loss of his love, Exetior spiralled into a depression, his wrath becoming even more of a problem than usual. (Since you can’t lead a war against the forces of the Highests while like that, it was an issue that needed to be addressed urgently.) As the previous iteration of Embrella proved successful, it was decided a new replica would be created for him. However, due to time constraints, lack of resources, wartime-related pressure and just an overall disdain of the idea of “wasting effort and resources for something that useless”, only her personality got refined. The appearance was made haphazardly (and it really shows). While, indeed, the idea worked and Exetior got along well with the new Jina, it wasn’t the same. The real Jina was dead, and she could never replace the original. Both sides are aware of this but, well, what can they do? They both just keep pretending that neither of them realized it yet.

Personality:

Jina’s personality varies slightly each time, an unintentional side effect of using various different sources to gather the material used to make her. As such, she can display traits opposite of each other at different times such as braveness and cowardice or calmness and overexcitement. However, she still has quite a few consistent traits. Jina is kind and empathetic (well, as empathetic as a creation of someone almost entirely morally evil can get), being quite literally made to be “a good person”. An altruist since her creation, she aims to aid the unadvised and protect the weak. Jina is also incredibly charismatic and outspoken, knowing how to appeal to people with ease. She boasts a lot and is very self-confident. Also, another intentional feature, she has an incredibly sharp wit and strong sense of humour, which she uses mostly to make puns, unfortunately frequently at other people’s expense.

My personal design and lore thoughts:

When I decided to include Jina in BDT, my first thought was "how do I fit her in? the simulations aren't anything more than just an anger management system/strategy planner here". Then I suddenly got a flash of inspiration, and things just kinda went from there. I wanted to make her more of a fusion of beings - but this time, not just three girls. Let's add more - that was my thought when sketching her design. I took some inspo from AI-generated Sonic content, as well as the Amalgamates from Undertale. I wanted her to look like a mishmash of different, but not identical, colors. Also gave her a different outfit just because.

I don't remember how I figured out her lore, to be honest. I think it started with the C ending of FN. I liked the vibe and how Jina was just trying to get Cream to accept the inevitable. I decided I want that in my AU and the Inner thing was probably something I came up with after.

If I had to describe her in one word (like I will with other characters later), it would be "kindhearted". Or, technically, "kindcored", but that sounds worse.

This is an entirely different character than canon Jina at this point, but I still love her :)

#sonic.exe au #sonic au #nightmare universe au #sonic #nightmare universe #sonic.exe #jina nu #bdt au #bad dream timelines au

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see-fee · 2 years ago

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What are you thoughts on Apple TVs Foundation version?

Ah. I never wanted to talk about that, but I guess my thoughts on the subject are as worth putting down as any, so here goes.

Boring, dumb, cringeworthy, badly written by hacks.

Bad showrunner/writers, bad cast (one or two exceptions). Bad everything except the visuals. I couldn’t be bothered to continue past the second or third episode, where I Raych-quit from the sheer stupidity.

Not because it strayed from Asimov’s work (though it can hardly be called an adaptation when it so flagrantly disregards its source material). I can assess and enjoy adaptations on their own merits. The show is simply not entertaining—a cardinal sin for entertainment. Things happened one after another and I just didn’t care. I wanted to, but I didn’t.

It wasn’t even enjoyable in a greasy burger/guilty pleasure way (e.g. Whedon’s Firefly or early JJ Abrams like Fringe). I’ve gotten far more discerning with age/maturity but I do still watch dumb popcorn fare (including the I, Robot summer blockbuster). And this show wasn’t that for me. Because it was sold as more than that, in a world where shows like Andor exist.

Because it pretends to be smart when it clearly isn’t, when its incompetent writers have never written anything of value in their lives. Very stupid people are behind it: Goyer and Friedman. Showrunner and writer David Goyer is a talentless hack whose own writing/producing portfolio is riddled with trashy bottom-of-the-barrel superhero mediocrity (rated as low as 3/10, 4/10, 5/10 on IMDb, and the way ratings work is that there are false positives but no false negatives), who somehow weaseled his way into successful franchises where other writers did the heavy lifting. Its other writer Josh Friedman has nothing remotely decent under his belt, either. These cheap hacks have obviously never read or understood their source material beyond a perfunctory skim (and if you believe anything they spew, I've got a waterfront property in Oklahoma to sell you. Two words: publicity & marketing.) The proof is in the pudding—Goyer and Friedman lack the brains to handle the material, let alone deviate from it.

I didn’t finish the season because I don’t think it gets better. The core problems I noted aren't going anywhere, and plenty of sensible people with good taste have shared the issues they have with it, and much of that is in line with my own experience or expectations of quality.

Season 2 reeks of jumping the shark. I’ve seen the trailer and laughed at its ridiculousness. It was a flurry of “we have Star Wars at home” scenes and also for some bizarre reason there were dragons? Or something? They’re not even pretending to be Asimov’s story any more—which is probably better for everyone involved.

Change My View: I sometimes wonder if I ought to give it another go, though I don’t have Apple TV anymore which adds to the friction. If anybody mature (I'm a full decade past my meme years) with decent taste (more modernist than postmodern internet shitposter, more objective than rabid fanatical addict) wants to tell me how this show has some merit despite its flaws and is worth my time, please do. I’m all ears.

Criticism on writing + cast below 👇

Characters, dialogue, plot are badly written/designed.

They do stupid things for stupid reasons (mostly: the plot requires it). Reciting prime numbers beCaUsE mAtH. (Cube did it better.)

That early swimming pool sex scene—whereas it was plausible for the characters in Game of Thrones or the Expanse, here in the hands of dumb writers it’s a girl thirsting over a guy she just met because The Plot Requires It, so that this guy can randomly stab Seldon later in a truly idiotic turn.

Machiavellian characters like Salvor Hardin get downgraded into some basic military chad guarding the Ethereum logo, for some pathetically trite Chosen One storyline and a lame what’s-in-the-vault mystery with a hilariously awful payoff. (I laughed so hard when I found out what it was. That you-know-who was literally in the vault.)

The two decent cast members are surrounded by a pack of Z-rate bargain bin actors whose previous credits hover in the 2/10–5/10 range.

Lee Pace is recycling his Joe MacMillan from Halt and Catch Fire but with a chest-baring wardrobe, since he’s the designated eye candy. Jared Harris is phoning it in, also recycling the same role he’s cornered a niche on: whistleblower-guy-who-gets-ignored-then-dies, a la Chernobyl and The Terror.

Laura Birn is doing a passable job with what she’s given to work with, but, in an utterly inexplicable design choice, the poor woman must stand in an asinine arms-akimbo pose all the damned time because we need to remember iT’s a rObOt. Who can cry and have sex but not stand normally. Or something. (Humans did it better.)

Terrence Mann was a forgettable snooze-fest—so was Lou Llobell.

Leah Harvey and the rest I saw were laughably awful.

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4e7her · 8 months ago

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also i am working on that compilation thing and i think the reason i don't care so much for some of these fics so more is the fact that the mcs feel more like someone that things 'happen to' then someone who is guiding the story

this works well for like. fcubed for example where the mc just crash-landed on an alien planet. but for a stardew fic like vapor it really doesn't make sense. like avele moved to a farm. the story is in his perspective. somehow the start still makes it feel like he doesn't have a choice over any of these things and that he's being dragged along in contrast to wyn in something in the water where the prologue i set up for it gives you much more insight and just feels better overall

also i think i've developed my writing style a lot over the last few years which makes older fics feel just a bit skewed

i do really like how i wrote the yandere perspectives in vapor - i think they come across very well and were definitely a key point in developing my writing further. like i think i'd separate my writing in stages. rambling below the cut

there's my two discontinued obey me fics - that was me getting back into writing. they were fun and cute and self-indulgent and i liked writing them but i probably wouldn't write something in a similar style again

then there's miss me which is kind of a jumping off point for me style-wise, which i burned myself off on by focusing on drawing for the mc for, but lead to little panther and vapor. i put those two in the same category because that's where i introduce yandere characters and think i grew while i was writing (especially as i started tumblr around the same time) and wrote way too long oc sheets for. like. i think they were around at least 5k words each? it was. a time.

and then i focused on drabbles for a while, but after that came fcubed. and fcubed gets a category all on it's own

i started it when i had a great big Health Event that changed. a lot of how i look at the world and how i am physically able to interact with it. i won't get into details but functionally between the Health Issue and the Coming to Terms i was out of it for like. honestly probably more than a year. i decided my major wasn't for me and dropped college and moved pretty far shortly after that and a lot of life then was detaching myself so i wouldn't have to Come to Terms

fcubed was actually, a good portion of it, written in a haze of being bedbound after said Health Event. i think around the first ten chapters? were written in like two - three weeks after but before i realized that there would be lasting issues from the Health Event. however much i posted of it before i took like a year long break on it.

and the thing with fcubed is that it expanded my horizons a lot with writing. you'll notice if you've read some of these older fics that they were a lot more guided by the source material - i was too scared to stray very much from in game scenes, though i had tried my hand at it in vapor. with the source material for fcubed being subnautica, it was. a lot like literally throwing myself in the deep end. the source material is literally an open ocean. i had to make the scenes myself, besides a few key events and some audio from like logs the player recovers

after that like month or so of fcubed i more or less dropped off the face of the earth for like, six months, i think. towards the end of that time is when we moved and i think that's when i started checking tumblr again. i had been working on fics in that time, but i hadn't posted anything - i try not to post fics unless i have at least three chapters done to make sure they're Established because i have ideas i don't go through with pretty often. i have a few sitting in my drafts that are just like one chapter stories - looking at you genshin impact, dca, and our life fics

i posted something in the water and i think that was very... cathartic for me? the prologue was about leaving and just getting away and being unbound. and i liked that a lot. you'll see that as a theme in my stories honestly

then there was rip and tear and embracing what's around you - i'd say that those are in the same category as something in the water. they're both shorter at the moment, though they do both have almost-done chapters in the drafts. these two actually aren't yandere fics - everything else above this besides miss me, the obey me fics, and fcubed (though that one has some yandere undertones) are. i'm not actually entirely positive why rip and tear isn't? i think i was planning to go with undertones again but not full yandere, but i know what's around you isn't because that one's more lighthearted. it is ohshc after all

and then, around the start of this year, i started vault. and i really, really like vault conceptually. like. i love borderlands so much and i've always wanted to see more fics for it but somehow never thought to write for it

plus i could literally just play borderlands and call it research. i have almost a full chapter in the drafts for that one too - i need to get back to working on it, i just got distracted by a drop of silver in a sky of stars. i think my current writing style, which i'm really happy with, shows in these two the most. you can definitely tell a difference compared to my earlier fics

both of these two are probably my current focuses, though that might change after i finish going through all my fics. the intro i have written for fawn response is just so good it is Tempting Me

none of this mentions any work i've done on unposted fics (again, all less than three chapters), but trust me there are. many. too many. an exorbitant amount. i'll get around to them eventually

#i talked way too long. this is more for me to look back on than anything else but here hello some behind the author stuff #i should probably make a big thing of all my fic concepts sometime #idk i like having these things but i don't want to be annoying with them #going to update a drop of silver tmrw morning before work woo

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davepetea · 1 year ago

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((just ranting abt writing fanfics you can ignore me lmao. I'm just in a weird place atm but I'm feeling kinda passionate abt writing rn so I'm gonna vent

originally I wrote a lil of this in the tags but then decided to just chuck it under a readmore so people aren't subjected to it against their will. then it got really long.

I'm not actually expecting anyone to read this im just sorta venting to myself. it helps me get my thoughts sorted if I write them down. I can also look back through my #.vat file tag in a few years from now and hopefully be like "wow I'm doing so much better than THAT now", so if that's the case, hi future Vatta! I hope you're having a good day. and if you're not future me, then I still hope you're having a good day, I love you, and this is your chance to turn back bc my rants are boring and LONG

(not turning back yet? ok. your funeral)

so, I haven't been online much bc I've just been in a weird limbo lately and I'm really busy when I'm at home either sorting stuff out or, with my PDA, doing anything I can to avoid my responsibilities lmao

I've been rereading my Tokyo ghoul light novels (I only have Void and Days ? I think they're called), rewatching Zankyou no Terror, and Bungou Stray Dogs (plus the live action Beast film which was? hilarious but I don't think it was supposed to be), and just suffering lmao

(you're still here? wow. you need a hobby. jk. ily)

I've been locked out of the systems at work for a bit, but I still need to be there and wait for the IT ticket to be sorted, so I've gotta be at my desk, cant have my phone or anything, so instead of sitting there doing nothing, I've either been reading, doing codeword puzzles, or I've been writing up 'drafts' for potential fanfics.

in this year of our sufferer 2024. I've been writing up some self indulgent homestuck college AU lmao. I've written over 60 sides of a5, (not inc the inbetween sections where I wrote some stuff on the chromebook at home) some notes, some accidental first draft, bc I wanted something to take up the time. but my handwriting is terrible, I don't write fast enough for my brain, I have a lil dyslexia so the letters and words get jumbled sometimes, and I have this weird thing where I don't do spaces right. but I've been trying to upload it to Google docs with Bixby's photo text extraction. it's pretty good considering how bad my writing is, then I just need to go through and touch it up, the main issues are things like names, there's some letters I do weird like my v turns into an r, or every p it thinks is a capital, but overall. amazing how technology do that.

(see my long ass rambling isn't just confined to venting. I also pretend to write actual things. you can still leave you know. I'm not holding you hostage until you read all this. you have free will)

can't remember how I ended up back in fanfic hell but I read back through like all my old published fics (aside from the cringe ones I orphaned) and the writing isn't terrible. I don't think I actually finished any of them though, which really shows my true nature lmao,,, but I've picked up a few things on my writing style now. and I've got a few things I see other people do that I wanna avoid bc I personally don't like it, and it's mostly about balance, like using names too often/not enough, being too descriptive like All The Time and making the writing really nice, but not much happens in the story so you take like an hour to read each scene, vs not enough description so everything is happening but you don't really get a visual or a breather to appreciate what's happened so far. I've been working on finding my right balance, which is imo easier if you're writing fanfic bc first up you hardly ever have to describe the characters. if someone's reading it they already know who they are. and for scenes you can take some inspo from the source material. does the original work put alot of effort into setting a cool scene? if not, then you don't have to either! if it's 90% scenery then you've gotta do it too I don't make the rules

I'm losing steam now I'm so sleepy and I've gotta go to work in a bit ugh.

(bet you're sleepy reading this too huh. told you it'd be boring)

I've been thinking about trying out writing some BSD fics but on an anonym not linked to my main Ao3, bc the themes are doozys and I kinda just wanna have the freedom of anonymity. also I'm a baby and if someone publicly criticises my stuff without it being a requested critique then it makes me bleh (I've had a few comments in the past of just general negatives, not even constructive feedback, not that I asked for any anyway...), but the abilities are tricky to write for, so it's effort lol

anyway I'm gonna stop now ive gotta get ready for work

(if you actually read this then thanks for going on this emotion deep dive with me. tune in next week when we'll get back to my usual mental breakdown)

#ooc post.#.vat file #genuinely I haven't been online on any blogs lately bc I'm doing. v bad. mental wise.#/rant off

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thenightling · 2 years ago

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My favorite "perfectly reasonable" reactions to finding out Jaskier in the Netflix series version of The Witcher is now canonically bisexual

I am going to quote some of the responses to the revelation that Jaskier is bisexual and give a rebuttal to some of them.

____________________________________

The most common unhappy response: "He's only attracted to women in the books! He's straight in the books!" A possible rebuttal. = You can be a womanizer and flirt who sleeps around with a lot of women and still be bisexual. Just because it's all you've seen doesn't mean it's all there there is.

______________________________________ "Another change from the books. This was probably the last straw that made Henry Cavill leave!"

This one is particularly annoying because it requires making Henry Cavill a thinly-disguised-homophobe. No. Henry Cavill did NOT leave because Jaskier was revealed as biseuxal. Jaskier's ballad about Geralt mentioning his "stupid hair" and "what for do you yearn?" existed in season 2. And Jaskier talking about applying chamomile to Geralt's "lovely bottom" was in season 1.

There is no official statement anywhere stating that Henry Cavill left because of deviations from the source material. Yes, Henry Cavill IS a fan of the video games and novels but there's no official explanation as to why he left. In fact the rumor that he left because they strayed from the books all originate from gossipy Youtube videos with no more substance than old supermarket tabloids.

There are countless other plausible reasons for Henry Cavill leaving The Witcher such as: 1. He wasn't happy with his Netflix contract. Netflix contracts are very restrictive and strict. 2. He thought he could return to playing Superman, unaware of the shakeup at DC / Warner Brothers that wound oust him from the role. 3. Henry Cavill has obsessions that become all-consuming he became fixated on the Warhammer franchise. 4. Henry Cavill might have wanted more pay.

That's just four of the many reasons that could be behind his leaving The Witcher.

Seriously, the moment people start claiming that Henry Cavill left BECAUSE Jaskier is bisexual I have to point out a few things. 1. There were far bigger deviations from the books in Season 2, including the creation of a brand new villain. A change to the ending of the Beauty and The Beast-esque story and how Geralt reacts to the revelation about why his friend was cursed. The changing of a chracter's personality and having him die when he lived in the books. And also having Yennefer tempted to sacrifice Ciri. If you think these things are minor changes but he'd quit over Jaskier being bisexual... Well, that says a lot about you.

2. Henry Cavill was still in the show and involved in the show when they decided to confirm Jaskier is bisexual. Henry Cavill is IN this season that shows Jaskier with Radovid. This was filmed before he left. Before. 3. Jaskier's ballad about Geralt mentioning his "stupid hair" and "what for do you yearn?" existed in season 2. And Jaskier talking about applying chamomile to Geralt's "lovely bottom" was in season 1. 4. Henry Cavill was in the movie based on Neil Gaiman's Stardust novel. I suggest you google the character Captain Shakespeare, who does not exist in the novel Stardust. Just because YOU can't handle the idea of your favorite manly man having a non-straight best friend doesn't mean Henry Cavill agrees with you. Henry Cavill is not your magical shield for being a homophobe.

________________________________________ "Only Andrzej Sapkowski can make him bisexual. He's straight in the books." Yes, so we've been told many times. But Andrzej said he doesn't mind the change. You don't need to keep reminding us that Neflix was the first place to officially have Jaskier as bisexual. Your own insecurity is showing in that you have to remind us that the version you are obsessed with is straight. We're strictly discussing the canon of the Netflix show. _________________________________________________ "He's not Gay!!!! He's attracted to women!" Yes, he is attracted to women. And men. And possibly a pretty androgynous elf. The character was confirmed as bisexual, not gay. _____________________________________________

"Nice headcanon bro." Except it's not a headcanon. This was confirmed by Netflix, Joey Batey (Jaskier's actor), the showrunner, and show writer. You might like it but within the show version this IS canon. Jaskier and Radovid (now played by thirty-eight-year-old Hugh Skinner. It may never have been said in the books (We know! We know!) but it is a thing in Netflix.

We're strictly discussing the canon of the Netflix show.

https://www.slashfilm.com/1309204/the-witcher-joey-batey-confirms-jaskiers-romance-season-3/

___________________________

"They turned Jaskier into a ped0!" Rebuttal:

Oh, they did not! This is not the Radovid of the novels. He's not a teenage boy. He's a thirty-eight-year-old man. Yes, *Gasp* another deviation from the books. Speaking as someone who just had to adjust to Interview with The Vampire's Claudia being portrayed as fourteen-years-old and by a nineteen-year-old actress... Grow up.

___________________________ "When you try to be a smart ass but the show shuts your dumb ass up. Try harder, Twink." Rebuttal: Umm... first, I don't think you know what a Twink is. It's not just a new replacement for the f slur. Also the show didn't shut me up. It's the show that confirmed the character is biseuxal. _____________________________ "Why is it always short haired, over-weight, ugly, middle aged, women who want this? ALWAYS!" I have the short hair but otherwise I don't think that really fits." ____________________________________ "I casually scrolled through TEN YEARS of your profile pictures to see what kind of person I was dealing with." Umm... What? Because I posted about Netflix confirming Jaskier is bisexual in the show and it wasn't negative?! Okay... ______________________ "They didn't even try to follow the books. For starters his name is Dandelion! DANDELION!" I got this particular one twice and I responded with "Actually, in the original Polish his name is Jaskier, which directly translates to buttercup. Netflix is using his untranslated Polish name. The novels were originally written in Polish." And for some reason that earned the response of "Oh! You're OLD!" I didn't realize there was an age restriction on liking a character who is meant to be in his forties but okay... (I'm forty-one and unashamed). ___________________________________

"Why is it always the weakling who can't even fight that they make queer?" Rebuttal: Umm... That's not true. John Constantine, King Shark, Deadpool... None of those characters are straight and they kick ass.

Also Jaskier has a persona now of The Sandpiper where he helps the oppressed and outcast, and smuggles people to safety. When I compared him to The Scarlet Pimpernel this person got very offended because the Scarlet Pimpernel protected French nobles and all the French nobles deserved to die. I tried to remind him that in the novel the Scarlet Pimpernel rescued children. I haven't bothered to see their reply after that yet. I have a feeling I'm going to end up having to block someone.

________________________________ "I am tired of people saying Jaskier and Geralt are a couple and husbands!"

Rebuttal:

Umm... Sir, this is a Wendy's.

That particular comment was on a Facebook thread that had NO ONE saying any of those things. It was just a conversation about Jaskier and Radovid. ________________________________________ "Another character RUINED by Netflix." If you think a character is ruined because a depiction of him isn't straight, that's on you. _________________________________ "The whole point of Dandelion is he looks and acts gay but he's not!" I'm pretty sure that wasn't the point but okay...

________________________________ "They made Jaskier bi for the normies." Yet again I find myself thinking: "That word doesn't mean what you think it means." Long ago, before the MCU, nerdom wasn't trendy or fashionable. It was specifically the refuge for outcasts and outsiders.

Fast forward to 2023 when nerdom has been relatively mainstream for the last decade or so. And now we have fans of The Witcher angry that "normies" have made Jaskier bisexual in The Witcher Netflix series.

Okay but... Despite the presence of general more acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community, being bisexual or, as Jaskier's actor cals it, sapiosexual (attraction to intellect before gender) is still not considered normal.

People who identify as LGBTQ+ are still on the fringes of society. The very outsiders that nerd culture embraced and protected.

I have news for you, angry fan boys who are upset that the bard has been confirmed bisexual... you ARE the normies. When you start gatekeeping outcasts and outsiders (minorities) and whine about things being "Woke" because they allow in women, black people, or get upset and have a tantrum when they reveal a character might not be entirely straight... that's not the behavior of someone on the fringe. That's not original nerdom. I'm forty-one. I was a teen in the 90s and early 2000s. I've seen genuine nerdom. I was and am a Goth. We welcome and embrace those on the fringe, we don't shut them out because we don't want to think of our masculine manly man being friends with a non-straight medieval version of Freddie Mercury.

#The Witcher #Witcher #Jaskier #Buttercup #Dandelion

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daevilhorns-1 · 2 years ago

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Levi would you ever do cover songs? If so, which songs would you want to cover the most?

he loves covering songs , and i have a very long list of songs he has in some capacity or another ! but i'll save you the ten page essay by only naming the most notable ones. i guess it's important to note that his favorite types of songs to cover are the ones that people would least expect from him —— i.e songs that are kind of jokey , songs that are very different from his genre , etc. he thinks that not only is it hilarious and fun to do , but a challenge for himself. to see if he's even able to turn something so far out of his league into something heavy while still being enjoyable. i've taken the liberty to link each song where applicable with covers that have already been done ; but while they aren't exactly how he would make them sound , they're close enough for you to get the idea. ( it's hard out here for a girl that can never find any existing artist that's perfectly levi. )

hell is for children —— pat benatar.

let me put my love into you —— ac/dc.

left outside alone —— anastacia.

true faith —— new order.

unholy —— sam smith.

but then there's songs that of course he would cover , the world and himself would be disappointed if he didn't. these are songs that are still comfortably within his wheelhouse of metal and are some of his favorites in general —— meaning he wouldn't stray too far from the source material because they were perfect the first time around.

christian woman —— type o negative.

solitude —— candlemass.

animal ( fuck like a beast ) —— w.a.s.p.

planet caravan —— black sabbath.

chokehold —— sleep token.

and finally , we have songs that levi will secretly record and publicly put out without his name or full face attached. i've toyed around with the idea of him having a secret youtube channel where he does acoustic , keyboard , or piano covers with a slight effect thrown on his vocals of more mainstream songs —— because he's embarrassed of being openly perceived as someone who not only occasionally enjoys more popular music , but as vulnerable by the nature of them. and he will deny that it's him. even when his hand tattoos are a dead giveaway.

adaptation / love in the sky —— the weeknd.

nightcall —— kavinsky.

softcore —— the neighbourhood.

somebody else —— the 1975.

call out my name —— the weeknd.

#anonymous #. i know this was supposed to be ic but. i had a lot to say.#. and SOMEONE had to call him out for the last ones.#. thank you so much for this !!! <3 #⁽ 𝖎. ⁾ ✟ . . . 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙳𝙴𝚅𝙸𝙻 𝚂𝙾𝙻𝙳 𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝚂𝙾𝚄𝙻 𝚃𝙾 𝙼𝙴. :͓̽ study.

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bulgariansumo · 11 months ago

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Welcome to the second part of my Mario Movie Retrospective. Here's the first part if you're interested.

Super Mario Bros. (1993)

This movie can be fun at times, and if nothing else, a testament that no matter how many things go wrong, you can still wind up with a piece of art that is charming in its own way to some people.

But like the tagline says, this ain’t no game. It has enough to make it bizarre on its own, but it gets even weirder when considering it in the context of the franchise’s history.

I first saw this movie in the early 2000’s, not 10 years after its release, and I remember being so confused. Why is Mario so gruff? Why doesn’t Luigi have a mustache? Why does everything look so dark?

Why are Mario and Luigi from the real world?

In the late 80’s/early 90’s, the franchise cemented that Mario and Luigi were plumbers from Brooklyn before stumbling into the Mushroom Kingdom. This is especially true in US-produced media like the DiC cartoons, the Mario Ice Capades, and Hotel Mario. I think this movie is the last thing to reference that before the 2023 one.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island got released in 1995, which has it so that the brothers are born in the Mushroom Kingdom, and that’s the story many games afterward go with. Charles Martinet’s portrayal of the Mario Bros. forewent a Brooklyn accent entirely starting from 1996, becoming iconic soon after.

Mario’s image and premise changed drastically in a short window of time. If you’re like me and got into the series during Super Mario 64 or after, there’s a lot in previous portrayals of Mario and Luigi that feel foreign. People my age and younger can be a little unfair to this movie for that reason. It’s something I always found grating.

Besides, there’s enough to criticize as it is. I can still see the cartoons as Mario-related. Even if I was a kid who grew up on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, I’d still be deeply confused if I went into “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and got hit with a loredump about evolution and parallel universes.

As you might recall from last time, each Mario Movie faces a dilemma: How to stretch such a simple premise to movie length without adding so much that it feels divorced from the source material? How to balance making it a movie and making it Mario?

The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach focused more on the Mario. Sure, it had Mario and Luigi go on a mandatory treasure hunt for power ups, but even then, that movie had to throw in walking montages to make it to an hour.

The live action movie focused more on the movie. And its relationship with the source material? They see each other from time to time, but, well… someone’s paying alimony. The movie wasn’t always meant to stray so far, judging by the earlier scripts, but it changed so many hands on the way to completion that things got lost, rewritten, or outright ignored.

There’s a lot to cover when talking about this movie. It’s a little more character-focused than the previous one, so let’s start with the cast.

Mario - This Mario has no time to dream or think about what-ifs. He’s a plumber; he’s got work to do and bills to pay. A cautious man, getting thrust into adventure is not his idea of a good time. Though he calls Luigi his brother, he found him as a baby and raised him, so he’s more like Luigi’s father (-figure.) I find it interesting that though Mario had no official personality at this point, both The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach and the cartoons went with more optimistic, determined portrayals that share a lot with how he’s depicted now. This may be the only version to deviate from that.

Luigi - He’s a young, starry-eyed dreamer who wants to believe there’s something more to the world than meets the eye, like parallel dimensions, aliens, and so on. He’s endearingly awkward at times and becomes lovestruck with Daisy at first sight. Extremely impulsive, he’s neither the brightest nor the strongest, but he has heart. Also, he is a gamer. This Luigi just so happens to be the protagonist. …Is anyone else getting deja vu?

Daisy - Not yet known as Peach in the US, the writers must’ve felt Toadstool wasn’t the most charming name for a love interest, nor realistic. This version is raised in the real world, after all. Luckily for them, someone along the way discovered that a Princess Daisy existed, which was kind of a deep cut at the time; she wasn’t really an established character yet. In this movie, Daisy is a passionate archeologist, feeling a connection to dinosaur bones. The kind of girl who takes her date to a dig site. While she does spend a chunk of the movie in peril, she’s shown to be willing to stand up for herself and resourceful enough to eventually escape capture. Fun Fact(?): Allegedly, she has a character arc that was completely cut from the theatrical release. The extended cut is available, but I’m only focusing on the theatrical version because it’s what most people have seen.

Koopa - This human version of Koopa/Bowser lacks the brute force of others and is instead more conniving. He reigns over the perpetually exploding Dinohattan. He’s also very concerned with germs. His motivation is closely tied with the movie’s plot, so bear with me. When the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs hit, it did not kill the dinosaurs, it just threw them and some fungus into an alternate dimension where they evolved into humanoids. Stay with me. A kingdom developed in this dimension before being taken over by Koopa around the time of Daisy’s birth. He used a machine to de-evolve her father into fungus. Daisy’s mother flees through the dimensional portal into New York, leaving her with some nuns before going back, only to be killed by Koopa. She left a necklace with Daisy containing a meteor shard, which will merge both dimensions back into one when placed back into the meteor. Koopa wants to merge both dimensions because the dino dimension has much less natural resources than the real world, and they’re not doing well. Also, he wants to turn humans into monkeys and rule both worlds. He sends some henchmen to kidnap Daisy in order to get the necklace back, but also because she’s the only one who can insert it into the rest of the meteor. Mario and Luigi end up taking the necklace, which is why he hates them.

Toad - A musician protesting Koopa’s reign, spreading rumors that the fungus infesting the city is the true king. He’s arrested along with Mario and Luigi before being forcefully devolved into a Goomba and placed into servitude. Despite this, he retains his morals (and harmonica) and helps the protagonists.

Iggy and Spike - Koopa’s bumbling henchmen. He gets so fed up with them that he reverses the settings on his de-evolution machine to evolve them into smarter beings. This only results in them saying big words. They switch alliances off screen since the scene that shows them doing so got cut. All of their lines go on for too long, leaving their comedic bits falling flat.

Yoshi - Koopa’s pet who ends up helping Daisy after she shows him kindness. The practical effects make him look like a tinier version of the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park. He’s kinda cute in an ugly way.

Lena - Koopa’s girlfriend/wife/main henchwoman? Her jealousy of Daisy makes her go to the extreme in order to win back Koopa’s attention. At least I think that’s what her motivation is? She keeps talking about “what I deserve,” but never elaborates on what that means.

Big Bertha - Not a fish. Instead, she’s a club bouncer who steals the meteor necklace from Mario and Luigi with the help of her jumping boots. Mario woos her in order to steal the necklace, then ditches her in the middle of their dance. She ends up helping the brothers afterwards. Why? Good question.

Daniella - Mario’s girlfriend. She and a few other women get kidnapped by Iggy and Spike, being mistaken for Daisy. Her actress looks a little like how Nintendo would later redesign Pauline from Donkey Kong, which I think is interesting.

As hinted at in Luigi’s description, he’s a lot like the previous movie’s Mario in his determination. The same is true with this Mario and the previous Luigi being the more practical ones. These traits are amped up in the live action movie characters. But while Luigi is the protagonist, Mario’s worldview sets the tone. The alternate dimension Luigi dreamed of–the main setting–is just a worse version of where they already live: a crowded city rife with crime and corruption.

Now, I originally wrote some stuff about Luigi’s idealism and Mario’s world weariness butting heads and how it represents the older characters vs. the younger characters in this movie. Something-something about fighting the power and believing in yourself. That didn’t quite hold up after a rewatch.

Mario’s willing to stick up for himself and anyone who he feels needs it (meanwhile, Luigi tries to sell him out to the cops.) His and Luigi’s conflict comes from Mario not believing hard enough. Nothing is impossible; that’s Luigi’s motto and the movie’s. He believes fungus is telling him to use bombs, he’ll jump off a cliff so long as he believes it’ll be okay, and he’s right every time.

Undermining this conflict is the fact that Mario will also do things at random. What’s his plan for sneaking back into Koopa’s tower? Turn off the heating system, steal some clothes, ???, profit!

This is an overarching issue in the writing: Everyone just kinda does stuff for no reason, conveniently moving the plot to where it needs to be. Characters’ alliances change between scenes. Important items appear and disappear at whim. Some of this is due to scenes that were cut, but others are unexplained. It leaves the movie feeling like it’s falling apart after the first hour.

Another writing issue is that the movie treats lines that make no sense like the hardest one-liners ever dropped. “You know what I love about mud? It’s clean and it’s dirty at the same time.” –Koopa, 1993. Cool, what does that mean?

There’s bright spots in the writing, though. It can have fun with itself, leading to jokes I enjoy, like the reveal of Mario and Luigi’s last name, the elevator scene, and some visual gags.

Everyone in charge of the visuals–the practical effects, CGI, costume, and makeup artists–did a fantastic job bringing the settings to life, even if they’re not what anyone would expect from the title.

The music score is surprisingly full of wonder, but something I noticed when listening to this soundtrack vs. The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach’s is that the latter was filled with arrangements of songs from the game. The live action movie plays the Super Mario Bros. theme for exactly 20 seconds, and that’s it. That sums up the difference between these two movies better than I can.

The only things in this movie that feel vaguely Mario-esque in vibes are the lighthearted elements that feel necessary to make it suitable for a child audience. Otherwise, it’s too dark, gungy, and horny to match the series. Toad is lobotomized and enslaved. Daisy’s dad is a diseased-looking mass of fungus and slime. Mario dives into Big Bertha's chest like he’s bobbing for apples.

When the movie does want to reference the games, easter eggs are prioritized over recognizability. Enemy names are in the background if you squint, yet Luigi wears red more often than green. There’s no powerups, but Miyamoto’s in a crowd shot, so I’ve heard. It feels like missing the forest for a blade of grass. Though focusing on recognizability won’t fix much, at least viewers will know they’re watching the right movie.

As it stands, we’re left with a Mario movie where the main characters don’t wear overalls and the villain is only a monster in the figurative sense. Nowhere are the blue skies and rolling hills of the Mushroom Kingdom. Instead, we go from New York City to… dystopian New York City. Toad’s some guy with a guitar.

This movie might be received better if it scrubbed the references and called itself “Directionless in Dinohattan” or something. I can see how people would get a kick out of it, even if it’s held together by duct tape and dreams. The thing that holds it back most is its disinterest in being Mario-related while shambling around in Mario’s skin. Like the Ice Capades costumes.

People with skill worked on this movie. There’s heart somewhere, regardless of whether it’s in the right place or not. The choices it makes are so baffling it makes sense to be a little fascinated. For those who want to enjoy the chaos, pick it apart, or just gawk at the weirdness, there’s something for different types of people. All of this gives it the makings of a cult classic.

Also, heads up if you do end up checking it out, Koopa is a real creep to Daisy. He tries to force a kiss on her and implies that he’s going to do something way worse later on. So if you’re sensitive to attempted/implied SA, skip a few minutes ahead after Yoshi’s first appearance. Didn’t think I’d have to warn for that in a Mario movie, but this one is committed to proving that nothing is impossible.

Here's some other stuff I have to say about the movie that I couldn't fit here or in the tags.

Next are my thoughts on Super Mario Bros. (2023).

#text post #i'm not gonna tag this as the movie's name since it skews negative #and i know it has its fans #originally i wasn't gonna watch it again #but i stumbled across mentions of daisy's character arc that got cut and thought i forgot a part of the movie #i didn't forget anything but the movie's flaws became a lot more clear #the draft before my rewatch was a lot more positive #i dunno if anyone following is a big fan of this movie #but if so sorry to put this on your dash

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