#idk im at work and im !!! miserable !!!!!!!!

[solcarow]

seafood trio portraits !

+ some alts. with spoilers !

[summerlycoris]

Puhpandas had a great idea recently (glitchtrapped Tony.) And I wanted to take a stab at the concept.

More specifically at the "What happens after." bit. Hint- Tony gets lost and ends up back near his old house.

Under a readmore because it could be triggering if you've been physically assaulted before. There's feelings in this that could touch on nerves.

********

He'd traced his steps, along a familiar road. Now he stood on the street, facing his old house. He felt all dazed, and confused.

Why?

Everything hurt- his back, his stomach, his neck, his arms. And something bad had happened to him. His head ached, but not nearly as much as his heart ached. 

'... Because it's not my home, it's their home, and I'm wanted no more…'

He couldn't go home. Because it wasn't his home anymore. It was someone else's now. He couldn't remember how to get to his Grandma's from here. He couldn't remember a lot of things.

(He didn't want to remember.)

What had happened? He'd gone to the pizzaplex? Gregory had been there? 

Did someone jump me on the way home?

He knew what really happened. But he couldn't believe it- didn't believe it- it hurt too much- He could feel something poking around inside his mind. Something he'd been trying to ignore. 

He didn't cry. Or sob. He just hurt. 

Get out of my head get out of my head get out of my head-

He was on the swings suddenly, in the park that sat down between their street, and the next street over. He hummed a song absent-mindedly. One of those old songs that Grandma would play on her old record player. A song that his Mom sometimes sang along to.

I'm missing time? Did I got abducted by aliens?

Ellis would laugh with him about it next week, when they'd meet up at school again.

They used to play here a lot, when they were in elementary school together. Pretending the playground was a pirate ship. That the floor was a crocodile infested river- so you'd have to jump from circle to circle, never landing on the soft blue floor. Making the merry-go-round spin so fast, that they both would get thrown off it after a dizzy spell, and collapse to the ground laughing and carrying on-

It just made his heart ache more. His brain pounding against his skull.

He kicked his legs uselessly. He wasn't swinging. Not really. Just sitting. Just trying not to be still. He wasn't going anywhere.

The playground didn't have any lights that stayed on at night. It wasn't that kind of playground, where you'd need to worry about teens going there and doing bad things in the dark. This was a good part of town. Nothing bad could happen here. 

The only lights were distant street lamps, and the starlight filtering down.

What time is it?

Tony had a watch. Had a watch- it was missing now. So was his entry pass to the pizzaplex.

Did someone mug me?

He also had a different shirt than he'd worn to school- a Bonnie longsleeve? Hadn't they stopped selling these? Where did he get it?

Did someone… reverse mug me??

The sun was starting to rise in the distance. He could understand why they'd given him a new shirt- his old one. That had... gotten stained, hadn't it?

How long have I been here?

His arms and belly felt weird. He lifted his shirt and sleeves to look at them. Well... He wasn't gonna stain his new shirt, at least. He stopped looking- it just made him feel queasy.

Lights were coming on in the houses, one by one. He could see a light on over at Ellis's house, through the back yard. 

He could go there. And they could have breakfast together. They could pretend they'd had a sleepover together, like old times. Ellis could loan him a sleeping bag. A watch. A new head. And nothing bad would have happened to him and there would be nothing weird poking around in his head and his heart would stop aching and-

And Ellis's Mom was there. Standing in front of him.

How long has she been there?

He started a little, nearly falling backwards before clutching the chains tighter. 

"Tony- It's okay. It's Olivia, do you remember me?" She had her hands in front of her, in a way that should probably have been calming. 

He caught his breath, and felt panic start to ease out of him. He nodded. And she seemed to relax a little, too. 

"Oh, good. Sweetie- listen. I've rang your Mom. She's on her way now. And so are the police. Okay?" She looked at him intently, and kneeled down in front of him. While he kicked his legs and stared off into the distant sky. The stars were going out.

"Tony? Did you hear me?"

"Um. Yes. Sorry Mrs Martinez." 

He couldn't look at her. This is so embarrassing. Having to be picked up by his Mom like this. Had he and Ellis broken another vase trying to play skip rope indoors? That was a silly thing to do, Tony. You know better-

He could feel her eyes looking through him. 

"Do you… want to talk about it, sweetie?"

He shook his head frantically, and choked out "No- no- no-"

"Hey, sweetie. It's okay. You're okay now. Everyone was so worried about you…" 

Why?

She looked at him so pitifully. Had he said that out loud?

A car pulled up, on his old street. A familiar car. Mom's car. 

And she was there. So quick, he'd barely seen her race up to him. He thought she'd grab him, and swing him around in a spinney-hug. She used to do that, when he was little. 

Instead she stopped next to Mrs Martinez. It looked like she'd been crying earlier. She was still crying. 

His head kept hurting. Pounding in a rhythm now. He couldn't take it much longer-

She couldn't get any words out. Mouth gaping open like a fish's would. But he could get the message- What happened to you?

He went to answer, but felt… sleepy. Really sleepy. He was gonna fall off this swing any second-

But he didn't fall. Instead he heard his voice talking to his Mom. It sounded strange to him. Like he was listening underwater…

"Mom, I… I lost track of time at the pizzaplex. It got dark, and someone h-hurt me when I was walking home… please don't be mad…"

He went to sleep as Mom pulled his imposter into a hug.

[kickedin17]

I'm seeing people point out that the Craving (at least the single version) is about SAI being perceived by a lot of people as a flop album & I think that's probably correct but I also think it probably applies to Lavish, because I truly cannot imagine why else they decided to include it on the album? Like don't get me wrong I love Lavish but narratively it reads as the most 'expendable" song on the tracklist. Yet Tyler allegedly wanted to leave off Navigating (which they gave the lore video to, lmao) and kept Lavish. Which is fair because it's a banger and a nice break from everything else, but it's also just telling to me that they very intentionally did a song about industry bullshit on this album, the most direct they've gotten since Lane Boy.

Like either their label or someone in the industry did something to piss them off that we don't know about, or it's a generalized frustration. I have to imagine it would hurt to be Grammy noms/winners two albums in a row and then be paid dust the minute you do something a little different. Or (purely speculating here) to experience label pressure to have another album cycle like blurryface, when that's virtually impossible to replicate unless you're, like, taylor swift specifically, and when it inevitably doesn't happen they start pulling back on financing/promoting you/helping you get nominations the same way they used to. They're fucking you behind your back and you can't really do much about it because they're the ones with the money and the influence, and you're supposed to trust them to take care of/care about your work. Like tøp has never been a band that values itself on award or critical recognition, it's always been for us, but creatively speaking the whiplash of going right from your most commercially successful album, to your most critically acclaimed album, then to your most criticized - and to a degree you now just assume your time as a critical/commercial darling has passed, which Tyler seems to - would have to hurt. It would have to.

Honestly tho he probably just knew he cooked with the proctologist line and needed everyone else to know too

[bunnieswithknives]

Im sure you all know I love roleswap AUs by now. Anyways hero Spot AU cause I've seen spiderverse like 3 times now, mans finally put on some clothes ♥

[sporesgalaxy]

man i hate job interviews. i didnt study enough for talking about myself 😩

[syscoarse]

just learned abt transDID……..

[om0000]

imagine if westley rlly betrayed wander n sylvia n stayed in the hater empire jk jk unless

[fiendishartist2]

help! my pretty boss wont stop nagging me and i think it's endearing!

[bunnihearted]

lately i've been finding it so so hard to be positive and hopeful. and it's making me so bitter and hateful. i hate it but i dont know what to do about it

[elijah-loyal]

got my glass of apple juice, my cat next to me, and my computer open for writing the best idea i've ever had:

Les Amis Jurassic Park AU

[luck-of-the-drawings]

when i was in highschool one o my biggest coping mechanisms was drawing all the kids i hated getting killed and eaten and killed. and well. time is a slowly ascending spiral. you will find patterns.(i work as a blackjack dealer. gamblers are FASCINATING

[frecklystars]

I have another gig in a week and I'm so nervous 😭 I get paid hundreds of dollars for only five hours of work, but it is so nerve-racking and the work environment is so stressful, like literally every time I'm there I'm on the verge of tears or I have to take a 2 minute break before the show starts just to run to the restrooms and cry bc I get so stressed out. And then when I clock out I just cry my eyes out in my car while driving home. But hey!!! Hundreds of dollars!!! For five or six hours of my time!!! Only a few days a month!!! Hundreds!!! Of dollars!!! So it would be totally stupid to quit.

I wouldn't have been able to afford pampering myself on my last two F/O anniversaries (and currently placing an order for a rose bouquet for Six's anniversary for the 18th) if I didn't have this second job... but if it didn't pay me such a large amount of money each time, I probably would have quit by now bc it makes me so damn anxious. The show isn't even for one week and I'm sitting here stressing about it! I have one thousand other things to stress about and this job shouldn't be one of 'em 😤

I just keep trying to think about Ken hugging me while saying "Aw, sweet girl, don't be nervous! You JUST started this job, you've only worked three shows -- you think you're gonna be perfect your first try?? You're gonna be so good once you get the hang of it. Just look at me! I've been doing Beach for 62 years now, and I still don't know what my job is supposed to be... but I know I look So Cool™ 😎"

[palms-upturned]

.

[theblesseddamozel]

Okay so I know Jean Valjean is like super buff from being a galley slave for 20 years, but I still don’t understand how he just lifts that wagon up like it’s nothing. I mean dude that’s a whole ass wagon. Idk how much wagons weigh but probably a lot, right?

[guinevereslancelot]

i should be able to call in sleepy to work

[spacebugarts]

Stupid fish boy get out of my head /pos