#is this supposed to happen or like. Is my phone glitching is this showing up for anyone else 😭😭

[t-w-i-l-l-e-r]

um? hey prsk ppl I haven’t checked on the game in a hot minute but uh? Can we talk about this?

we doing kurdish music now?

[bangchansgirlsblog]

Maybe this is triggering but can I ask for 9th member x skz but the 9th member is at school in a shooting and skz are worried (I know this can be cringe or triggering so you don't have to do it if you don't want to)

Ride or die

- 9th member

Warning: shootings, angst, crying

Pairing: 9th member x skz

Summary: going to school and thinking you’ll never make it back home alive is scary.

Hey before you guys start to read this, this is a warning about the contents that will be in the story. If you find it uncomfortable please do not read the story.

-🩷

**

It was supposed to be a good day.

It was supposed to be a normal day.

I didn’t think at any moment in time I would be hiding in the janitors closet begging God to spare my life. Spare our life.

I thought these things happened in movies. I thought it was all just some type of glitch in the universe.

Boy was I wrong.

My legs were up against my chest. I could hear I.N’s breathing down my neck as I held him close.

My hand over both his ears as tears run down his face.

The heat of the tiny compartment made our bodies sweat severely and make our head spin in circles. All I could hear were terrifying screams coming from outside the door followed by loud bangs. Loud scary bangs.

Please God, Save us. Is all I was thinking about.

I look in his eyes trying to calm him down without saying a word. My body shaking terribly.

I wanted to go back home so bad.

It was dark in the closet. We were hiding behind some trash cans and the space was barely enough for one person but we had to make it work.

“Breath I.N. Breath.” I whisper to the young boy who was now looking like he was about to pass out.

“I love you,” he whispers making my heart break even more and making me worry even more.

“We’re going to get through this okay? We have too.” I whisper to him and he nods while shutting his eyes.

My phone starts to vibrate in my pockets and his does too. The non stop calls gets me to grab it out of my pocket to see who could possibly be wanting to talk at such a moment.

There couldn’t possibly be any network down here. So how? How were we getting calls?

I look at the name that comes up and see it’s our oldest brother Chan calling. The light of the screen slowly blinding me.

I look over at I.N who shows me his screen with our second oldest brother calling. Leeknow.

We couldn’t risk a phone call right now. Not at all.

“Turn it off.” I whisper to him and he nods quickly putting the phone away.

My hands intertwine with his.

The shots and screams getting louder and louder.

Were our friends going to be okay?

I let out a tiny sob not able to hold it in anymore and silently cry as we sat in the dark closet.

The smell of bleach started to cause a banging headache in my end.

Chan’s Pov:

At first when I saw that the school was calling me, I didn’t know what the problem was. The twins never misbehaved so I just turn it off thinking it wasn’t that serious. ‘I’ll just call them back later’ I thought to myself.

The boys and I were sat in the study room reading for our upcoming exams so automatically everyone was busy in their text books or computers.

I had dropped the twins off earlier and came straight back home in the morning and it was only 12:15 in the afternoon.

The calls kept coming in from all over and when I saw that they weren’t going to give up calling me I picked up.

“Hey this is bangchan I’m really busy-“ I say frustrated but was cut out with a quiet panicked voice.

“Hello sir? This is Yongsan International School and we would like to inform you that the school is currently under lockdown.” A lady says into the phone.

“Lockdown?! What do you mean lockdown?!” I get up from my chair which causes the boys to look at me. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion as I start to pace the room.

“I’m very sorry to say that there is a shooting in progress and if you could get down here as fast as possible that would very much be appreciated.”

“How the fuck do you let that happen?” I yell into the phone, “what type of school lets this shit happen?!”

“Channie hyung what’s wrong?” Felix asks worried obviously. I turn to the boys who were now staring at me. Eager to know what’s wrong.

The world goes quiet as I try to form the words to explain to my brothers that their little siblings were currently in a shooting.

Why would someone want to do such a thing to such innocent teenagers?

“T-the school, the twins- their school is apparently has had a shooting.” My phone drops out of my hands as I feel my body almost collapse.

“Hyung oh my God! Sit down please,” Changbin grabs a hold of me and slowly puts me back in my original sit.

“What do you mean the school is under attack?” Han voice books across the room filled with panic. He grabs the tv remote and turns up the news where we see the familiar place with many cop cars outside surrounding it.

“Oh my God,” Felix gasps before pulling out his phone.

“I have to get to Y/n or I.N some way!” I exclaim before grabbing my keys from the counter.

“I-I need to go right now..”

“I’m coming with you hyung. The rest of you try and get in contact with the twins. If they call let us know please.” Leeknow instructs the younger boys.

He was frantic aswell. Even tho leeknow was known as the less emotional brother whenever something went wrong you could tell how affected he was by the situation.

“Guys please be safe, please.” Seungmin tells us before quickly hugging us as we rush out the doors and get into one of the cars.

“Pass me my phone Lee, I’ll call Y/n you call I.N,” I tell him and he quickly gives it to me.

I start blowing up their phones praying that somehow one of them picks up and tells me everything is okay.

“They are going to be okay hyung. I know Y/n she’s strong she’ll protect I.N,” Leeknow says trying to make the situation better.

My chest ached. The constant fear of them getting killed in that school kept crawling up my back and the thought of them being terrified, probably hiding somewhere not sure what to do made me want to throw up.

“If something happens to them I won’t ever forgive my self Leeknow.” My voice quivers as the words leave my mouth.

He looks over at me and rubs my back for assurance.

“Nothing is going to happen to them I promise.” I didn’t even know how he was keeping his shit together right now. How?

The drive wasn’t long because of the way I was speeding. The roads were kind of empty and the weather was very foggy. It had rained in the morning but Seoul weather was always confusing.

“Okay let’s go, let’s go.” I quickly saying getting out the car not trying to slip on the slippery ground.

I look around trying to assess the situation. The school looks so gloomy and children were being wheeled out or were being carried out by people.

Some were frantic others were just quiet. As if in a trance.

The cops were surrounding a specific area. I run towards one of the parents who looked like they just saw a ghost. Her body trembling.

“Leeknow stay here and try and fine them, imll go ask what’s going on.”

“Be safe Chan.”

I quickly nod and run to the First Lady I see. She was wearing a coat and her makeup was smudged from all the crying.

“Excuse ma’am can you tell me what’s going on?” I ask the lady who was clearly not in the right mindset at all.

“They caught the guy but they are so many injured kids, non confirmed deaths yet” she gives me a small smile.

“Thank you,”

I run back to leeknow who’s searching for a sign of I.N or Y/n.

Y/n’s Pov:

I.N and I always were together in ever place and area.

We were always moving in twos. That’s how it worked. I.N and Y/n. How it always worked.

The world was moving in slow motion as me and I.N were holding eachother in the closet.

Being put in a position where you think your life is about to be ended in the most brutal way makes you think back and appreciate the little things. The things that mattered or didn’t.

“A-are they gone? Please tell me they’re gone Y/n,” I.N whispers causing me to snap out of my little trail of thoughts and come back into reality.

“I don’t know baby bread but I really hope so. Are you okay?” I ask him.

“Yeah just out of breath.” He whimpers.

“Shhh it’s okay, just breathe yeah?” He nods in response as we sit there for what felt like hours.

“Do you think Channie is outside waiting for us?”

“Yes I do, I know he is. I feel it.” The little hum that comes out of his mouth makes me believe that he actually believed me.

By the time everything had gone kind of quiet I pull out my phone to see a clock reading “6:35pm”

We had been sat here for 6 hours

No moving no talking just fear and shock.

A loud banging at the door causes us to jump and squeal in fear. Did they find us? Were they going to kill is now?

“This is the police call out of your in there!” A loud voice fills the room.

I.N wraps his hand around my mouth to stop the sobs from escaping.

His tight grip loosening when he hears the man’s voice.

“I-I’m going to check-“

“No you can’t Y/nie that so dangerous, you’ll get yourself killed. Imagine it’s a trap.”

“I.N we have to find a way to know what going on. The service here is horrible” I whisper back at him.

“But y/n-“

“I’ll be okay I’m just peeping through the door I.N trust me.”

“O-okay but if-“

“Nothing will happen, I promise.”

I give him a small nod before crawling to the door and looking through a tiny crack.

I see police officers walking around assessing the place and I see a man standing right outside in uniform.

“Oh thank God.” I whisper. The feelings of relief causing me to cry and sob.

“I.N I think it’s safe, I see police.”

“Are you sure?” He asks hesitantly crawling out of the hiding space.

“Yeah, let me go out first, here hold my stuff.” I hand him my back and phone before opening the door.

“Hey! I found her!” An officer yells causing me to jump in panic.

“Hey I’m not going to hurt you Y/n-“ he softly says reaching out to grab me.

How does he know my name? Why does he know my name?

“How do you know my name?” I ask the man.

“You guys have been hiding for more than 5 hours, we’ve been looking for you and your brother.” He says holding out his hand.

The hallways were empty. No sign of any kids.

“I-is he gone, the shooter?”

“Yes he is love and your older brothers are waiting for you outside,”

“Chan?”

“Yes Chan, where is your brother? Do you think you’ve lost him.”

I shake my head no before returning to the closet and pulling I.N out. His taller figure wrapping me in his arms.

“Hey I.N, I’m officer Chen. These guys are my colleagues. Should we go outside?”

I nod my head eagerly waiting to see my brothers.

“Please let’s go I need to see leeknow or Chan,” I quickly say. I grab my bag and phone from I.N’s hands because he also has to carry his stuff. We follow the cop who was checking in on us making sure we were okay. Never in a million years did I ever think I would find my older brothers in a frantic state. A crying state but that all changed today.

“Chan!” I scream and he looks up. His eyes in disbelief.

“Y/n?! I.N?!” My footsteps start to get quicker before I jump into his arms, I.N doing the same to leeknow.

“My babies oh my God. Are you guys okay? Are you guys hurt? I thought you guys died. My poor babies.”

“We’re okay, we’re okay.” I say tears running down my face. He wipes them with his hands and kisses my forehead. He starts examining me and asking me questions.

“Here you guys must be freezing, take my jacket.” Leeknow hands me his and Chan does the same to I.N.

“Oh baby girl you had be scared there you know?” Leeknow grabs me in his hands and kisses me all over my face.

“Please tell me you’re okay, please.”

“I’m okay leeknow I promise, I’m just happy I’m with you guys.”

“We need to take them to the paramedics to make sure everything is alright and if they are you guys can take them home,” the officer cuts out conversation short.

“Yes yes anything, go ahead.” Chan approves.

The officer nods and leads me and I.N to the ambulance where Chan and leeknow sit close by asking the lady so many questions.

“Yes and that’s it, you guys look good to go.” She looks at us sympathetically before putting away her gloves and turning to Chan and leeknow.

“They need to drink a lot of water and make sure they take in a lot of rest.” She tells Chan and he nods his head noting it down.

“Therapists for such situations should be also be taken very seriously because they are young they need all the help they can get to get over this trauma,” She also tell Chan who continues to ask more questions.

“So we need to get them therapists?”

“Yeah but that’s only if you see a change in their behavior. We don’t want anything bad happening to them mentally.”

“Right right. your right,”

“We’ll give you guys some contacts but right now, I want you to take them home and take care of them, are you there dad?”

“N-no I’m their older brother, our parents died a few years ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,”

“It’s okay, thank you tho.”

“You’re welcome and here’s my number,” she winks at Chan which makes him cringe but Chan being a people pleaser, he wanted to be polite so he took it.

“Chan?” I call for him and within seconds his by my side.

“Yes my love,” he says kneeling besides me.

“I love you so much and I love you so much leeknow.” I tell them both and leeknow turns his head away.

He was crying I knew he was and he didn’t want me to see that. I knew it.

“We love you too and you I.N. Should we get you guys home?” He asks while fighting the tears that were so clearly about to fall.

“Yeah.”

**

To the person that requested this: thank you so much for your request I’m about to make a part two if you would like :) cause I have an idea to complete the actual story if you would like!! 🩷.

[liv-does-stuff]

“Happy Birtday Dumbass”

Hasan Piker X Reader

Warning:cussing but that’s it

A/n: I’m so sorry for whatever this bullshit is I’m high asf right now and I proof read this as best as I could.

————////———-////———-////———-

You and Hasan rarely fought. Yes you argued over trivial things sometimes, but you could count on your fingers the amount of times you actually had a bad fight and boy was this a bad fight. It all started Monday, you had spent the whole summer so far trying to help your best friend move down to North Carolina, God knows why, with you being away for the a few months you had seen Hasan only a few times through June and July , but you made sure you would be there for his birthday. Now you may be wondering where the fighting came in and here’s the answer. One night you had been on the phone with your boyfriend, trying to find a cheap flight, but they were all pricey.

“Y/n don’t worry if it’s that big of a deal I’ll just buy the ticket.” Hasan said tired of your complaining. You were quick to shoot that down by saying, “Oh absolutely not It’s supposed to be your birthday party and I would feel bad if you bought the ticket.” He sighed, “Y/n, could just stop complaining then, I’m trying to be nice, but you’ve literally just bitched this whole call.” Normally Hasan wouldn’t have said something like this to 𝘺𝘰𝘶, but today had stressed him out, his stream was glitching and Austin was late to the podcast and it threw everything off. He never meant to bring his anger out on you, but he had and you weren’t about to take that, “Excuse me”, you said taken aback by his change in tone, “I’m so sorry that I was trying to do something nice for your fuckin birthday and yea what if I started complaining? These Flights aren’t cheap and it’s frustrating !” He sighed into the phone, “Then don’t come”, he said lowly. “What are you even saying?” You said quietly. “If it’s such an inconvenience the don’t show up.” He stated. You hadn’t meant to say it, but you did, “Fine”, you hung up the phone with a sigh.

2 days had past and Hasan hadn’t reached out. Too be fair you hadn’t either, but even so you still planned on making it to his party, which is why you were up at 3 am trying to book a flight for tomorrow and finally you got a good deal. Hasan was having a dinner around 7 with his friends and your flight landed at 5:30 so you decided to make a call.

“Hey Austin I need your help.” You said after he picked up on the 4th ring.

“Y/n what the fuck I was asleep!?” He said groggily trying to make sense of why you were calling.

“So yea can you pick me up and take me with you tomorrow?” You asked after explaining everything that had happened.

“Of course y/n/n, but seriously if you wake me up like this one more time I’ll beat you ass.” You snorted as he said that. After a few more minutes of talking you said bye and hung up.

After your plane landed you went to look for Austin and once you made eye contact you ran up and hugged him. “Oh my god I missed you so much bitch!” You both laughed. He broke the hug and led you to the car. You were nervous to say the least, you didn’t know if Hasan would still be pissed or if he would be happy to see you. You really didn’t want to ruin his birthday for him. Austin seemed to notice your worrying because he looked at you and said, “Don’t worry y/n he misses you he just wants to give you space.” You nodded and soon the conversation drifted off into how Austin’s love life was going which made the drive go by quicker, and soon you were parked at Hasans house. God you missed this place. Austin ran up the door, knocked and shouted, “Hasan it’s Austin I brought you an amazing present.” The door began to open, “Austin why the fuck are you thirty minutes la- y/n?” Hasan locked eyes with you, you wanted to hug him and run your hands through his curls right there, but you resisted. Austin walked into the house and winked at you. Hasan shut the door and you immediately fell into him not caring if he was mad or not you just needed him, he wrapped his arms around you. “Y/n I thought you weren’t gonna come.” He sighed. You looked up at him, “Hasan I’m so sorr-“, he cut you off, “No I am you didn’t do anything I was just being a dick.” You laughed, “Yea you kinda were.” He smiled and you got on your tip toes to kiss him. You giggled into the kiss and he whispered, “I love you”

“Happy birthday dumbass.”

[paintingwhiteceilings]

❃Seventeen and buying concert tickets❃

a/n: Sooooo apparently, my first post has been doing really well. I came home from visiting my friends over the weekend, only to find out that it has over an 100 notes???? Thank you to everyone who has been liking and reblogging it. I genuinely didn't expect so many people to enjoy, or even see, it, and I feel so incredibly grateful :')

Anyway, I stumbled upon Scoups trying to buy their own concert tickets and thought it would make for a fun prompt. Enjoy!

Scoups/Seungcheol: 7/10

❀ What deity has he disrespected to be suffering this much? When he promised some of his friends to get them tickets as well, he did so out of the assumption that good karma would aid him in increasing his odds of getting good seats. Isn’t that how karma is supposed to work; you do a good deed and get rewarded?

❀ For some reason, the entire website seems to be working against him. He has an abysmal position in the queue, giving him a false sense of hope in obtaining tickets. After he finally is let in, the website seems to continuously glitch. The only reason that he ultimately gets to pick out decent seats is because he spends an absurd amount of money on them.

❀ No, it truly can’t be a higher power toying with him… Instead, he blames himself for picking the wrong location, date and zone. Somehow, he even manages to misplace his credit card, resulting in him having to turn his room upside down. He is about to completely lose it before discovering that he accidentally placed his keyboard on top of it.

❀ After struggling a ton, he finally manages to get decent tickets, ageing at least ten years in the process. Give him some time and space; he needs to properly process the entire experience. Maybe it is time to pay for an exorcist.

Jeonghan 1000000/10

❀ God has favourites, and it shows. Jeonghan decides to get concert tickets on a whim, pulling out his phone to check whether they are still available. Somehow, precisely at that moment, the tickets go on sale, making him first in the queue.

❀ He doesn’t really understand what Coups is complaining about. He has the seats he wants with a perfect view of the stage. The site runs smoothly, and he is able to buy the tickets without it buffering even once. He doesn’t even have to remind his friends to transfer him the money, either. They did it beforehand.

❀ Even worse, after he successfully purchased the tickets, he decides to never buy tickets for himself ever again. Why would he do it himself when he could ask his friends to do it for him instead? It gives him an additional ten minutes to nap. His ticket buying luck will become a memory, a legend that all those buying tickets tell each other.

❀ Is that Coups crying in the corner?

Joshua 8/10

❀ You have heard of chick-magnets, and now I present to you, Mr Hong, a ticket-magnet. Joshua has no interest in ticket buying. Rather than spending those hours sitting behind a computer, he could be enjoying one of his thousand hobbies instead. Joshua could’ve made at least four bracelets and watched a full season of anime in the same time span. Why worry over Maroon 5 tickets when he can sing Sunday Morning himself.

❀ Instead, his friends end up giving him their spare tickets whenever someone cancels. Over the years, he has gone to a wide arrange of concerts. It is kind of impressive. One time he went to both a classical and a heavy metal concert on the same day. It gave him whiplash; he almost started a mosh pit as the third movement played.

❀ Considering that Joshua never checks his phone, he wouldn’t even be aware of what concerts are happening. Not that it really matters. Somehow, he will end up going anyway. All concert tickets lead to Hong Jisoo.

Jun 2/10

❀ Have you ever tried buying tickets in a language that is not your native tongue? No? Well, let me tell you, it is hard. Jun has been staring at the screen for the past five minutes, trying to figure out the fine print. He is having a hard time deciphering the very legal and formal Korean.

❀ He is pretty sure that he is misinterpreting half of it; it seems rather odd for a concert ticket site to be talking about saving the cows when he is looking at insurance options. It truly is weird. Still, Jun cannot help but be a bit concerned about the cows.

❀ Before he is able to buy the tickets, he runs out of time. He had tried to call his members, but he should’ve figured that him reading the confusing Korean out loud would result in a weird narrative telephone game where the members have to guess the word from his shaky pronunciation. At least it made for a fun new game for GoSe.

❀ Fortunately, he is favourite child number 1, and the other members have zero faith in him being able to buy his own ticket. They made sure to get him one whilst he was calling with them. Of course, they gasslight him into thinking that, by some miracle, he had managed to buy the ticket himself. They don’t want to hurt his feelings.

Hoshi/Soonyoung: -100000000000/10

❀ I should probably add more zeros, but that would ruin the aesthetics. Hoshi's problems already start upon him trying to turn on the computer. No matter how often he smashes the power button, it does not respond. He thinks he broke it, but in reality, Hoshi doesn't understand the concept of a charger. Nobody told him that computers need energy to function.

❀ When Wonwoo told him that the computer needed to be fed, trying to explain the concept of charging and electricity, Hoshi tried giving it a piece of his fried chicken. He left it there for a full hour, but it didn’t eat it. Hoshi thinks the laptop might be mad at him for letting it starve for so long. Someone, please help this man; he is crying.

❀ Maybe instead of using his computer, he can use his phone to buy tickets. Oh, wait, no. He tried showering with his phone because he thought it was waterproof. Why did he think it was waterproof? Nobody knows. He has put it in rice to see whether it will turn on again. The others haven’t told him yet that it is hopelessly fried; they don’t want him to get another phone only to ruin it within seconds.

Wonwoo 100000000/10

❀ With his gaming set-up and ridiculously fast internet, Wonwoo makes ticket buying look like a sci-fi film. To the untrained eye, watching Wonwoo buying tickets might seem rather boring. To those more experienced, his skills at clicking on the right things at the exact right time are insane. Internally, he has an entire dramatic inner monologue when he does, recounting his months of research on how to optimize ticket buying.

❀ It has become a game for him; he has an insane track record for buying the best seats, and at this point, he does it more so for the thrill. He resells them to the members, increasing the price a bit as he does. He doesn’t tell them, of course; it makes them feel indebted to him, owing him a favour he can cash in during GoSe, whilst he, unbeknownst to them, is making a decent profit. Truly, he is hitting two birds with one stone.

❀ It is only after Wonwoo uses his hard-earned money to buy five extra computers to further optimize the buying of tickets that the other members begin getting concerned. They ultimately decide to hold an intervention for him, explaining that his obsession with ticket buying is borderline unhealthy. So far, he is doing well. He hasn't bought a single concert ticket since the intervention.

Woozi/Jihoon: 9/10

❀ Concert tickets seem to magically appear on his doorstep, paired with letters full of admiration. Woozi has no idea how they got there. Whenever an artist is going on tour, the tickets seem to materialize out of thin air without fail. He fails to realize that by being the legendary producer Woozi, THE Lee Jihoon, everyone wants him at their concert. He truly is a humble king.

❀ To be honest, he doesn’t really want to go. Unless it happens to be Bruno Mars, he would rather stay indoors, focusing on his own music. He decides to give all the free tickets to Joshua, figuring that it would be a waste to throw the tickets out. However, he stopped giving Joshua the free tickets after he discovered that Joshua was pretending to be him. Not that anyone believed him, but still, Woozi no longer wanted to be associated with the guy who was shamelessly dancing around, executing the cringiest of dance moves.

❀ On the one hand, it did somewhat work. The artists have stopped inviting Woozi to every single concert that they hold, afraid to get his insane friend instead. Joshua, to this day, claims that it was all part of his plan.

DK/Seokmin: 1/10 but 1000/10 for the vibes

❀ DK is truly trying his best to get tickets for the concert he wants to go to. He has invited all his friends over to buy the tickets together. Everyone brings their own laptop to increase their chances of getting good seats. However, by the end of the night, it has kind of turned into a bit of a party.

❀ Initially, DK put on a playlist to decrease the tension and stress that everyone was feeling. That being said, as time passed, the tickets were kind of forgotten as it turned more and more into a karaoke session. Suddenly more and more people seemed to appear, somehow hearing of this dope party that was being held at DK’s. DK surely didn’t invite them, but the more, the merrier, right? He can’t help but feel like he is forgetting something as the night progresses, but it must probably not be that important.

❀ It hits him only the morning after. It is not completely hopeless, though. When DK goes online to share his funny anecdote with other fellow fans, he inevitably ends up charming someone who has a spare ticket. They end up inviting him along because, well, we all could use some little DK in our life.

Mingyu: 7.5/10

❀ He thinks he is really good at finding resell tickets for cheap. What he doesn’t know, however, is that everyone takes one good look at his profile pic and decides to risk it all. Unknowingly, Mingyu has broken up a lot of friendships with his posts innocently asking whether anyone has a ticket to spare.

❀ He has no idea that concerts are essentially all dates. The other person always treats him so nicely. They get him food, flowers and give him so many compliments. Honestly, he doesn’t understand how people can be so pessimistic about the world. Look at how many wonderful people are in it, treating him so kindly.

❀ Unfortunately for those who intend the concert to be a date and the start of a new relationship, he is too oblivious to see it as such. At the end of the concert, he will simply shake their hand and thank them for the fun night, never to contact them ever again. Still, nobody gets truly upset about the outcome. His obliviousness is kind of charming.

The8/Minghao: 5/10

❀ It is all up to faith. Does he understand the Korean on the website? No. As a result, Minghao has decided to make peace with whatever comes out of the ticket buying experience. He has meditated quite a bit before the tickets go on sale, trying to tell himself that it won’t bother him if he doesn’t get the tickets. He is cool, calm and collected.

❀ He makes all his decisions based on a coin flip. Is he struggling to choose between two zones? Coin flip. Should he click the first or second option for insurance? Coin flip. He has a very pretty dice that he can roll for the choices with multiple options. In other words, Minghao puts his trust completely in the universe so that he doesn’t have to admit that he has no idea what he is doing. Honestly, the method allows him to, at the very least, make quick decisions regardless of the outcome. Consequentially, he outspeeds everyone else on the website.

❀ Does it work? Half of the time. Sometimes the universe seems to be favouring him, giving him incredible seats. Other times he is sitting in the nosebleeds, squinting at the stage as he is trying to make out the artist. He comforts himself with the thought that he is there for the music, not the visual experience.

Seungkwan: 9/10

❀ Welcome to Seungkwan’s military mission to get concert tickets. Drill Sergeant Boo has decided that he will be assembling the best team to get the concert tickets he desires, and there will be nothing stopping him. Not only did he insist on everyone meeting up at the place with the best Wi-Fi, but he also made an entire overview of the best zones and seats, including information on which seats tend to sell out the fastest.

❀ He has set five alarms for when the tickets go on sale, and if anyone dares to goof off, they will meet an early grave. This is a life-or-death situation! Sergeant Boo has no time for those that slack off or test his patience. If you are not taking this seriously, you do not deserve to see Adele in concert.

❀ Let’s just hope that he gets his tickets through regular ticket sales because if not, he will set up an intelligence mission in order to find out as much tea as he can on someone to blackmail them into handing over their tickets. Is it legal? Not really, no, but all is fair in love and war or when Beyoncé tickets are on the line.

Vernon 8/10

❀ Getting tickets is really no problem for Vernon. All he has to do is connect himself to the internet. He is an AI/NPC, after all. It is incredibly easy; all he has to do is hack into the system and get the tickets before they even go on sale.

❀ Okay, okay, all jokes aside, Vernon, with his refined music taste, mostly attends obscure bands. He is not even snobby about it; he genuinely enjoys their experimental music. Most of the time, the band's tickets do not sell out because the band is, well, questionable at best. Wait, you have not heard of Order of the Metaphysical Rat? They are really good! What about the Tree Rioting Bishops? No? Well, he had a blast at their last concert; you should totally join next time.

❀ Occasionally, he stumbles onto real gems, bands that are on the up-and-coming and about to blow up. He somehow manages to attend their concert at the right time, and when he checks the tickets the next year, they've tripled in price.

❀ However, more often than not, the concerts he attends are an… experience. Dancing Politics truly was something special with their remixing of political speeches, and his ears are still ringing from the Screaming Orchestra. He doesn't understand why none of the other members want to join him.

Dino/Chan: -1000/10

❀ He is incredibly determined to get the tickets, but Dino has a massive problem: he is a boomer at heart. He is not hip and happening and has no idea how this whole process of buying tickets works. What do you mean that they do not physically mail concert tickets any more?

❀ To be honest, he was kind of hoping one of the other members would take him instead. This whole concept of the internet is truly beyond him. He literally just figured out how the landline works; he blinked twice, and suddenly there is something called the internet.

❀ Somehow, in his attempt to get tickets, he clicks on the wrong thing, and now his computer has crashed. He has no idea how he managed it, but it is refusing to respond. So now he's paying for a hefty bill to get his computer fixed instead of the tickets.

❀ It gets even worse when he trusts a Nigerian Prince emailing him that he has some tickets to resell. Yeah… Dino gets scammed out of a lot of money. It is safe to say that the other members have decided that he no longer gets to shop online.

masterlist

[merp-blerp]

A Gaylor/Kaylor Interpretation of "Cowboy Like Me" because it's National Day of the Cowboy

Overblown Analysis Under the Cut ↓

"And the tennis court was covered up // With some tent-like thing // And you asked me to dance // But I said, "Dancin' is a dangerous game" // Oh, I thought // This is gonna be one of those things // Now I know // I'm never gonna love again"

The narrator, who I'm just going to call Taylor (for simplicity's sake even if it might be more of a fictional/metaphorical interpretation of her and others), seems to be at a very high society party. Mentions of a tennis court make me think of a country club, a club for sports and social events that I believe are often populated by well-off people. Country club specifically makes me wonder if there are any ties to Taylor's country music roots. I think country club imagery could represent the rich industry she's in and the tennis court party is a party or gathering people in the industry are having.

Taylor's lover asks her to dance at this party, which could be dangerous if the people at the party don't agree with their type of relationship. Or maybe it's dangerous because Taylor knows she'll fall in love with this person, or she's already in love with this person and doesn't want to fuel the fire in her. It could be "one of those things", a situation that would be hard to go through or get out of.

I like how this line directly parallels the opening lines of "Wildest Dreams". In that song, Taylor believes the relationship will end poorly due to the circumstances she and her lover are in, so she plans ahead for the heartbreak so it will hurt less. "You know how scared I am of elevators // Never trust it if it rises fast // It can't last" (from "Labyrinth"). But in this song, now she's on the other side, knowing how everything went down, but I'll talk more about the last bit of the line later.

Taylor's lover asking her to dance seems to indicate that they are much less concerned about the danger of such an action. In my "But Daddy I Love Him" analysis, I state that Karlie always seemed a bit louder than Taylor and more willing to be seen as queer in some way, even if through the male gaze or in a way that still upholds her closet.

I find it interesting that you can't really tell if this is supposed to be Taylor and her lover's first-ever interaction. It seems ambiguous if they've met before or not. There are theories that Kaylor met in some way before 2013, so maybe that unclearness is reflected here.

It's also interesting that Taylor opens this song with "And". And what? You haven't said anything else. It seems like she's omitted something in the story that would've come before the "And".

"I've got some tricks up my sleeve // Takes one to know one..."

This line seems to connect to "Mastermind" or "New Romantics", as Taylor schemes to get the person she wants. Tay's used card game imagery plenty before. Often, she uses it as a way to communicate how honest someone's being, showing their cards (like in "The Prophecy" and "Cornelia Street") or hiding their cards because they aren't being transparent (like "Say Don't Go" and "Foolish One"). Taylor might not want to fall in love, but she wants the person in general, so she's got tricks up her sleeve. In "Mastermind" she's sure she wants the person physically, but their deep love for one another and committed relationship seems to have happened by mistake almost. À la "I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this" from "Paper Rings" or "We were supposed to be just friends... I was supposed to sweat you out" from "Glitch".

If she and the lover are both queer, it would take one to know one, as queer people are typically pretty good at finding each other through flagging, better than a straight person could due to a lack of knowledge. "No proof, not much // But you saw enough" (from "You Are in Love").

"You're a cowboy like me // Never wanted love // Just a fancy car // Now I'm waiting by the phone // Like I'm sitting in an airport bar"

I also mentioned in my "But Daddy I Love Him" analysis that cowboys have tons of queer history attached to them that often get erased in favor of something more digestible to general audiences, similar to Taylor, her brand, and her music. So Taylor knows that her lover is a cowboy like her, as in queer like her.

"Never wanted love // Just a fancy car" communicates to me that Taylor, as well as her lover seemingly, never wanted to fall in love because it would jeopardize their careers to be in the kind of committed queer relationship they wanted, so why welcome love with open arms if it'll hurt so bad? Plenty of Taylor's songs speak about trying to fight her feelings and ultimately failing, including this one. She's not saying she's never been in love necessarily, but that she's never wanted to be.

The fancy car could also be a light reference to "'Cause all the boys and their expensive cars... Never took me quite where you do" from "King of My Heart". She wanted the shininess of making her own name and fame through bearding with boys, like a "fancy car".

She seems surprised that she's so serious about the relationship because she didn't intend to fall in love, despite clearly wanting this person and having "tricks up my sleeve" to get them. Maybe she expected to "sweat" them out, like in "Glitch". But Taylor's now waiting by the phone just to get their call, so anxious to hear from them.

The "airport bar" is interesting. In an airport, you're supposed to get in and out, not sit around as if it's a hangout space, like a bar. Even if they have bars at the airport, I don't see a lot of people sitting around there for a while. But Taylor does use it that way, sitting at a "bar" when she shouldn't be. It's odd behavior, much like waiting by the phone. Similarly to the airport, you're supposed to go to it when it rings and then leave when the conversation is over, not sit around by it. Taylor finds her behavior odd and compares it to what would be equally odd things to do.

"You had some tricks up your sleeve // Takes one to know one // You're a cowboy like me..."

Taylor reveals that her lover is also as cunning as she is. This line reminds me of "So I kept my cards close to my foolproof vest // But you called my bluff (But you called my bluff) // And saw through all my tells (And saw through all my tells)" from "The Joker and the Queen", which itself reminds me of "But then you called, showed your hand" from "Cornelia Street". Maybe the lover called Taylor as she sat by the phone and was honest about their tricks. The lover knows Taylor's next moves, much like how Betty knows James's, and is ready to play the "dangerous game".

"Perched in the dark // Tellin' all the rich folks anything they wanna hear // Like it could be love // I could be the way forward // Only if they pay for it."

The dark is the shade of the closet. Both she and the lover rest there. I find it fun that perching can be seen as a bird thing, which could tie to "The Albatross".

One way to see it, the "rich folks" are industry people. Taylor and the lover tell these people the things they want to hear. Maybe those things could be lies about just how close they are to calm worries about their romance and the scandal it could cause. They tell them these lies as if they are protecting their love. "Like it could be love". The love Taylor didn't want to have initially.

Taylor was Big Machine's first artist. She was "the way forward" for them as a label. The way to get them ahead in the business. They could've paid for it by giving her money as an employee, but also paying for it as in to suffer for a wrong, as Taylor left Big Machine after they reaped the benefits she brought and betrayed her after, paying for it by having their rep as a label tank due to the bad press from their betrayal.

"You're a bandit like me // Eyes full of stars // Hustling for the good life, never thought I'd meet you here // It could be love // We could be the way forward // And I know I'll pay for it."

A bandit takes things. It can also be a synonym for cowboy in some instances. If Taylor and her lover were "Hustling for the good life" as bandits, they were trying to make it in their fields and "take the money" if you will. From a Kaylor standpoint, "hustle culture" was starting to pick up steam around the time they met.

Women in the industry are often questioned if they got their success through fair means, accused of "sleeping their way to the top", using money to get themselves there, or being "industry plants". Some people want to hate successful women and can't possibly see them as getting to where they are naturally. I don't think Taylor is saying she and her lover actually did those things to get where they are, but is saying she and her lover have been accused of those things. I've seen people accuse Taylor of being a spoiled rich kid who got famous thanks to her father's money, which could've been beneficial of course, but completely ignores how Taylor's image spoke to many people and continues to do so. Meanwhile, if we take this from a Kaylor perspective, Karlie has been accused of clout chasing, using Taylor.

"Eyes full of stars" means having a lot of dreamy fantasies to me. Taylor and her lover had big dreams of making it in the industries they're in. I do wonder if you could also take this line as in "seeing stars", which is when you see flashes during/after being hit in the head. Taylor has dealt with the brunt of a lot of blows from critics about dumb things like being too successful, being too nice, being a "victim-player/playing the victim", being "too skinny" or "too fat", etc. Both she and Karlie were bullied as kids and can be bullied even today for rumors and petty things. It also reminds me of "I thought I was better safe than starry-eyed" from "loml", a line that I think is about Taylor once believing she was better off safe in the closet rather than out and putting herself in danger even if the idea of being out made her happy.

She knew she'd get the lover, but never expected or wanted the love that their relationship gave her. Now she is admitting "It could be love" and that their relationship could be the way forward to happiness. But she knows that she'll pay the price for being herself, like intense bearding or more mental/emotional pain.

"And the skeletons in both our closets // Plotted hard to fuck this up // And the old men that I've swindled // Really did believe I was the one..."

The skeletons and old men are industry people again. If they are old people, I like to see Tay calling them skeletons as if to say they might as well have one foot in the grave 'cause they're not only old but cruel. They are in the lovers's closets because they know about their relationship at this point and plotted hard to tear them apart, either as a couple or tear apart their faith in trying to come out or believe in themselves, etc. The phrase "skeletons in the closet" means something bad that you hide away. So the old men are people they have left behind and would like to keep in the past, so Big Machine in this interpretation.

Taylor swindled these old men by being the way forward and then ditching them as soon as she could without keeping their good name. They really believed she was the one that would make them big, but she ended up being their downfall too, as if she'd be passive about their betrayal.

Alternatively, the old men could be some of the beards Taylor's had, as some of them were significantly older than her, believing that being attached to her would make them more famous, but she brought their image down after the "breakup" with songs that general fans see as pointing to them. I admittedly prefer the former, but thought I'd mention this idea.

"And the ladies lunchin' have their stories about // When you passed through town // Oh, but that was all before I locked it down."

The ladies lunchin' are Taylor's squad to me, discussing Kar passing "through town". I've said in several analyses now that I interpreted the "town" in TTPD songs to be Taylor's tours and the fanbase that gathers there, and I've thought about this metaphor potentially expanding to Tay's past albums too. Tay's friends have their stories about Kar going to Taylor's tours. "Lunching" to me feels similar to saying a tea party in this case, and tea parties in slang can be gatherings to gossip. So Taylor's friends have juicy stories about Karlie at tour; maybe having to do with Karlie "being loud" and not holding back her love in dark crowded arenas/stadiums. I know I've heard stories about Kar visibly flustering or blowing kisses at tours. There was also the "Karlie Kam" during the 1989 World Tour which featured lots of Taylor's friends and Karlie, so the squad has their stories. The ladies lunchin' could be us Kaylors too, honestly, as we do discuss Tay and Kar at tours or literally in towns.

"Before I locked it down" could be many things. It could be a reference to the "love lockdown/blackout" theory. It could be a reference to marriage, as marrying someone could mean making the ultimate commitment and agreeing to be together forever legally (ideally), locking it in place. It could be a reference to the COVID lockdown and Loverfest, Taylor's plan for another tour, a fandom "town gathering" if you will, forcibly canceled, which could connect to the last line's interpretation.

"Now you hang from my lips // Like the Gardens of Babylon // With your boots beneath my bed // Forever is the sweetest con."

Taylor's lover hangs from her lips like a folktale that has no technical proof, as the Gardens of Babylon have no conclusive evidence of where it was, despite historians seemingly believing they existed. There's nothing to point at to definitively say they existed, so some might not believe they did due to that, but some still believe anyway. Very much like Kaylor and being a gaylor. Sometimes there's no proof, you just know.

Boots beneath the bed could be sexual, like leaving a bra at someone's place. But it could suggest domesticity, living with a partner and having your clothes around, or not living together all the time but leaving your things at each others' houses like a second home. Kind of like leaving a typewriter at someone's apartment *wink* *wink*.

"Forever is the sweetest con" could be a call back to Taylor's fear of love and how she thought it was a con that would get her in trouble when it actually turned out to be pretty sweet for her. It could also be taken in a sad way, as she and her lover weren't able to keep things feeling next to normal forever; Taylor bearded again after taking a break during the early stages with Karlie, the love lockdown happened, and the sparkling summer rusted with no coming out. Now their love must be fully elusive and "unprovable" to the general public.

"I've had some tricks up my sleeve // Takes one to know one // You're a cowboy like me // And I'm never gonna love again // I'm never gonna love again // I'm never gonna love again."

"I've got" and "You had" becoming "I've had" could just be Taylor recounting the past, but it could also be Taylor saying she has a new coming out plan brewing since the old one fell through. She's had the plan for a while now, and it takes being queer to know about it. Takes one to know one.

The "I'm never gonna love again" could be taken in multiple ways and I think that's kind of cool. Not every gaylor is a Kaylor and some believe Taylor isn't or was never with Karlie romanticly, which is fine as long as we're all cordial with our different beliefs. If someone believes they were together, but broke up, they could see this line as Taylor declaring she'll never love again, either in a dramatic forlorn way or in the sense of just being aware she'll never feel the exact same for anyone else. But as an LSK, I believe they are still together and see these lines as akin to "And who's gonna hold you like me? // Nobody" from "TTPD". She never wants to break from Karlie so she'll never love again with someone new.

This song is like a choose-your-own-adventure story, where you can believe whatever you want about it. It could be a breakup song or a love song depending on how you see it. Much like being a fan of Taylor and participating in the fandom. You believe in whatever story you please and Taylor will never really confirm or deny anything, at least not to date. You can believe in the general storyline, you can believe in gaylor, you can believe in certain relationships she might've had, or do none of that and just enjoy the art. This song really encapsulates that spirit.

[themcomicsofficial]

Another Welcome Home theory idea!

I hade this idea on my head for a while!

Let's get do it!!!

Main page:

We're back at the Main Page, same as usual still no Eddie though--with Wally Darling, happy as a clam!

News Page:

However, as we scroll in the news page it says that the WHRP will be doing to research and finding evidence of Welcome Home to be "put on hold" temporality due to "technical complaints" from employees and staff. You know what makes it odd? The Question Answer wasn't mentioned!!!

Media:

However, there's an upside to this...THEY ACTUALLY FOUND AN AUDIO RECORDING OF RONALD DORLAINE!! Dated in the year, 1972. Where talks in a peaceful, fatherly-figure type of person and see's how he touched children's hearts with his show, Welcome Home with his characters, how he treated them as his own kids. However, as the recording ends, Ronald isn't what he think he is...

Merchandise:

Another storybook record! This time it's on Wally Darling teaching the ways on how to paint with his calm voice--At the 19:50-20:00 he gets distressed on WHY you haven't responded to him after trying to call you. It gets darker, and darker, and darker...As Wally ALMOSTS breaks character with a shout at the end. As the record gets back on its regular story.

However, the WHRP also recovered ANOTHER supposed audio of an episode of Welcome Home. This time it's Howdy and Barnaby talking about how they are good at doing their jobs but however, Howdy starts to break character on how like it's an endless cycle for his life. Sure, he has a mental breakdown but that's how the recording ends...

Away from Prying Eyes:

W talks to us again! This time it's on side effects he's taking from the pills to keep him awake for looking for Welcome Home...which is totally unhealthy for W...

In the website it shows pictures of papers, pills, merchandise, and walls drawn in crayon of eyes and spirals.

One slide has the sleeping pills, a modern box of Crispy Sweets, and plushies of the Welcome Home characters.

It seems the black goo must've got to him as well...

W tells us that the Question Answerer is "sick and tired" of looking for Welcome Home and says he will close down The Playfellow Exhibition if this keeps up and cut the Restoration Project's funding due to his anger and frustration leaving W with a final sentence.

"YOU BETTER FIND EVIDENCE OR ELSE I'M SHUTTING IT DOWN!"

-Q.A.

However, W asks us what ever DID happen to the old website? W tells he couldn't remember what went on the old website...

But, there is a hidden link on the fifth remember on W's sentence...

As we click it...

The Old website:

As we return to the old website...It doesn't look like on what we remember...It's moldy, covered in black goo, infected with creepy crawlies with the letters jitter and glitch but where's Wally? He's not in the front page! All we see is the WH logo damaged and worn out...

The Old pages:

The Neighborhood:

The other eight houses are covered in black splats with Home's eyes shaking and staring at us...As we click him, the goo splatters on screen...Leaving Wally's eyes staring...With text that say...

"I SEE YOU"

The Playfellow Exhibition

Remember the WHRP told the progress has put "on hold?" Well unfortunately, there's hidden texts and a photo gallery in it...the texts say when you highlight them it shows the employees saying they cannot stand it, they want to go home, and the still hear a PHONE RINGING...

The photo gallery shows what's going on in one employee's home as we see what's going on, as the gallery shows two glowing eyes, shadowy figures with puppets hidden in the corner of the basement and the hallway, a deformed Barnaby hiding in the dark, Julie Joyful's hand crawling out of a door, and...a '60s-'70s TV set turning off with two hidden pairs of eyes...Finally, ending with black goo writing that says "IT'S ME, NEIGHBOR..."

Media:

We hear the recording of Ronald Dorlaine again we see his true colors as a greedy, self-centered, type of person who doesn't care what kids like as he shouts verbal, emotional, mental abuse to his staff so he can money from Marlo...

The Transcript page:

As we click the Transcript page we see the lines are covered in black goo and the letters are all over the place...

There's a jumpscare of Sally Starlet's corpse dangling with strings all over her, lifeless...

Merchandise:

We see a big photo of an attic with the Wally Darling puppet laying down lifeless...

As the user zoom out of the page we see the Poppy Partridge puppet deformed and damaged with ooze coming out of her mouth. On the left Frank Frankly without his head...

As we scroll down on the bottom of the page...

There are puppet parts in a pile of ooze. Those are what remains of the other puppets...

With a text that fades in that says.

"I STILL SEE YOU..."

Man...I'm tired! This is longer then I expected!

Welcome Home is owned by Clown Illustrations.

[berkmansimagines]

Glitch

A/N: I'm so excited about the new season 4 trailer that just dropped! I'm posting this lil drabble to celebrate 📱

Summary: Barry’s phone gps glitches out after a job, leading him to you…

Pairing: Barry Berkman x hitman!reader

You and Barry were supposed to be just friends. Not even friends, more like business partners. You two teamed up on a hit together. It was meant to be a one time thing. Your handler told you to cut off all ties with Barry as soon as the job ended. But you weren’t always good at following orders… 

You have been going behind your handler's back, secretly hooking up with Barry since the night you finished the hit. It’s been going on for the past couple of weeks and you’re not even sorry. You two can’t seem to stay away from each other. Barry doesn’t live in your part of town but you go out of your way to see him. You don’t brave LA traffic for just anybody.

You were supposed to sweat him out. When you started hooking up with Barry, you had no idea how long it would last. You assumed the fling would just fizzle out like they all do, but it hasn’t. The situationship has been heating up and you don’t want it to end anytime soon.

Because of your line of work, you’ve never been the relationship type. You can’t tell anyone what you really do for a living and you didn’t want to start a relationship built on a lie. Being with Barry is different. He understands you in a way that no one else can and you don’t have to lie to him about your job. 

If Barry was just some random hook up, you would’ve cut him loose weeks ago. He means more to you than that. You and Barry haven’t officially defined your relationship yet, but you think that you’re starting to develop real feelings for him. And that kind of scares you.

You keep your feelings for Barry close to the chest. You’re playing it cool, acting a little coy around him. You were the one that insisted on keeping the relationship a secret and you don’t know where Barry’s head is at. He might want to break off whatever you two have going on so he could date someone that he doesn’t need to sneak around with. You’ve considered the possibility that he could be falling for you too, but you don’t want to get your hopes up. You think you have no chance. People like you don’t get a happily ever after. 

You haven’t heard from Barry all day. You thought about reaching out to him but you were the one that texted last and you didn’t want to appear desperate. To get your mind off him, you went out to a nearby bar. While you were sitting alone at the bar, some dudes tried flirting with you. But they gave nothing. And Barry was always on the back of your mind. You would have rather spent the night with him… 

You only had one drink before taking an Uber home. The driver drops you off across the street from your apartment building. As you walk towards your place you can’t help but admire the beautiful night sky. The night is so starry, blood moonlit. It feels almost fake, like something you’d only see in a movie.

Then, from the corner of your eye, you spot a familiar looking car parked in front of your building. That’s Barry’s car. You scrunch your forehead, confused. The two of you didn’t make plans tonight. Why is he outside your place?

You slowly approach the vehicle. When you get closer you see Barry sitting in the driver’s seat. He looks kinda rough. You gently tap on the window and Barry almost jumps out of his seat. He didn’t see you coming. He rolls down the window.

“Uhhh… hey Y/N,” he nods, trying his best attempt at acting casual.

You raise your eyebrow, crossing your arms against your chest.

“Barry… What are you doing here?”

You look Barry up and down and notice his hand is bleeding pretty bad. You immediately soften your face, putting your guard down.

“Hey, what happened to your hand?” you ask with concern.

Barry shakes his head.

“It’s nothing. I was on a job earlier…” he sighs.

You nod your head, understanding.

“Sorry I just showed up here. My phone gps fucked up. I thought I selected my address but I must’ve accidentally pressed yours by mistake. And now it’s not working at all,” he quietly explains.

You notice his phone on the dashboard. There’s blood all over it. No wonder it’s not working. Even if it was, Barry is in no shape to drive. His hand is still bleeding. He clearly needs your help.

You take a deep breath and then-

“Come up to my place with me. I can stitch your hand,” you offer.

Barry’s eyes widen.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to put you out,” Barry tries.

“Trust me, you’re not putting me out at all,” you insist.

You and Barry lock eyes. Your heart skips a beat. He makes you feel nervous but in a good way. None of the guys you talked to at the bar tonight could make you feel the way you do in this exact moment. After a beat, Barry nods his head and gets out of the car.

“Thanks Y/N. I’m, uh, I’m kinda glad I ended up here,” Barry says sincerely. 

You bite down on the bottom of your lip to stop yourself from giving him the biggest smile. You’re still trying to play it cool.

“Yeah. Yeah, me too.”

[theneighborhoodwatch]

I been having so much fun thinking and looking up things with this new update, I have a big theory about the bugs and some though about some of the glitch that happens in the audios on some of the official content (maybe we have to form a phrase or hints of the next update, posible through Eddie, as wally asking for purple in the "just so" segment) but with way

Soo I know a ot of people say much about how Wally's message talk to us directly bc he's being sentient and trying to reach us (posible through the red book) and the QA can hear his callings through the phone, much of this is how Wally is trying to interact with the REAL world, with US the humans. (Also as the message progress he sounds more distorted and in distressed)

So that made me think about the bugs tapes and how different they can be compared with what we seen only the public knows, for instance they sound more clear, like your hearing a recorded video or passing conversation, but my point is that they sound so free and casual like just living in their own world,

I think (besides the point that they're maybe in a capsule world unaware of all this) I have two options:

1 this are the first time when wally start to being more self aware of his surrounding, friends and his world making him disassociate bc some of the audios sounds more fainted that the other and as they progress they were becoming more clear and loud

2 OR we're seeing through him, like asides of him just being there it looks he barely moves and speak zero times until someone else call him up (I think they don't notice much bc he's normally a calm fellow and just interact when spoke too) like he's snapping up to them again (I mean he could just being in his own head I been there before and now but something about us seen and hearing this, I don't think it was supposed to)

Either way I believe this moment all were from the same day (Barnaby and Eddie telling thing that happened in other tapes) I'm unsure if this are from the past or recent time but something is clear for sure: he's getting distant and quiet and something is coming (maybe he's getting more focused on seeing and start to get distracted from his reality)

At least Barnaby and Home start to notice.

On a side note I don't think neither wally or Home are evil or the villains from this story but I do think something sinister and dark is influencing on them big time (the black mold maybe)

If this has been sent to you before feel free to ignore I been having so many thoughts about this and just wanna see what you think

See ya!

i don't have much to say to this that you haven't already said yourself, so just imagine that i'm nodding along emphatically. as sweet as it is to see the neighbors freely interacting with each other, there's also this sort of. aimlessness? to it all. the reason behind their world being constructed in This Very Specific Way is no longer there, but the universe still functions as though it is, so you have these characters acting out the general structure of a typical episode, but there's no actual overarching plot or lesson (at least, none that we see) because who's gonna be there to see it anyway? but - if you were made for that kind of show, what else are you going to do? can you do anything else? is getting the show back, or at least an audience, really the answer here? questions that i think the neighbors will have to grapple with once more of them start to Notice Things.

as for what is actually going on in these videos, i think i lean more towards the first option. i don't see wally or home as particularly villainous, either - but desperation can drive well-meaning people to do some terrible things.

[ciaossu-imagines]

OMG the way that my phone froze so I couldn't scroll further and didnt see all the mini event rules I'm so sorry omg 💀 to reword my previous Blush Blush ask, is Blush Blush and pretend dating taken??

That’s completely fine! I understand things happen and glitches definitely happen here on Tumblr, so it’s all cool! This wasn’t taken at the time so I can definitely do this AU up for you. I hope you don’t mind, but I guessed the character to go with based on your previous ask, and hope this isn’t too much Nimh for you or anyone else. Also, I have totally not been watching rom coms lately…nope, not at all!

So, Nimh’s job is listed canonically as a PA and that was kind of the jumping off point for this AU. So how this is set up, in my mind, is that you, the reader, are someone important. You can be important in whatever field most strikes your interest – maybe you’re a big writer, an influencer, an actress or singer, a celebrity chef…whatever floats your boat really. And Nimh? He’s your reliable, if a bit skittish personal assistant and he has been for a long time now.

Honestly, you kind of intimidated Nimh. It’s not that he dislikes you, it’s just that you scare him a little. But he’s been your assistant for so long that he knows everything about you, knows all your little quirks, your likes and dislikes, knows all about your family and your life. So, when you end up needing to go to your exes wedding, an ex you’re still not completely over, and you need a date because you can’t handle the mortification of showing up alone to their wedding, like a lonely loser, you offer Nimh time and a half for going with you. Of course, the conditions are that he pretends he’s your steady, serious boyfriend so that nobody knows that you’ve been so busy with your life, and so hung up still on that ex, that you haven’t dated since them.

And all goes really swimmingly, actually. A bit too good though, in all honesty. You hadn’t realized before going just how many people from his family and your own, not to mention your shared mutual friends, would be in attendance. And with Nimh being such an attentive ‘boyfriend’, with the stories the two of you sold and how he not only seemed to guess your every need before you knew them (as a result of having worked for you for so long) but also made sure to say wonderful things about you all night, was it any wonder that the invitations started flooding in for you and your boyfriend to come to dinner here, to go do that with another couple…heck, even your own sibling got all piss-pants about how they couldn’t believe you hadn’t brought Nimh around to meet the family.

Now, in both yours and Nimh’s mind, this dating thing was supposed to be a one night only thing. It put Nimh higher up in your good graces and got him a generous paycheck, so he’d had no issues with it and you had just been glad that the crisis had been averted. Neither of you had ever planned for it to be a continuous cover and it threw you and Nimh off. The minor crisis had become a major one and you found yourself needing to dangle that major overtime pay in front of Nimh to get him to agree to keeping the charade going. You weren’t exactly thrilled about it either, to be honest, but admitting what you’d done and looking like a fool in front of everyone?? Not something you were willing to do at all.

So you and Nimh continue on with the fake dating. And everyone always comments on how solid the two of you guys seem, how great you are for each other. A few people even jokingly ask when the wedding will be. And while your wallet is feeling it, the thing is that the more time you and Nimh spend together, the closer the two of you are getting. You realize you enjoy his company more than you ever thought you would. However, it’s Nimh who realizes first that he’s starting to develop actual romantic feelings.

Romantic feelings that he’s absolutely sure at this point, months after the initial first fake date, that you don’t reciprocate. So, he does what any self-respecting man does in that situation…he quits. You walk in one day to find a note, kind of scribbly and hesitant, with a few darker spots on it where Nimh might have just cried on it, confessing his feelings and declaring his immediate notice and termination from the position of your PA.

But Nimh was wrong and it’s something you have to wake up and realize yourself, especially now that he’s, for all extents and purposes, gone. You end up realizing that, if not love, you had still fallen and developed some pretty serious feelings for him. So, you set off to find him and convince him to come back to you, both in work life and in your personal life. There’s zany hijinks and comedic dialog before you reunite with him, of course, some sappy speeches, though, of course, Nimh eventually finds himself unable to keep himself away any longer and the two of you become official.

[just-a-normal-regretter]

Can. Can I ask to hear more of the it was only Tuesday AU? It sounds really neat (plus powers in the real world is my JAM).

Thanks for the ask anon! o7

And yeah, I'd be happy to talk about one of my many crossover fics (seriously I have a ton lmfaooo).

Recapping "For Me, It Was Only Today": CL/MLB AU with combining lores, Lyoko powers sprouting irl, and some Odd/Adrien rarepair shipping

Okay I'll admit straight off that I didn't realize how much content I made in the trio AUs for a CL/MLB crossover. I thought it was just Cherrybird with all the stuff I wrote up but I'm looking at this one and Strays and it's hitting me my notes are so deep haha

They were so thought out that I got stuck for a moment thinking about how I'd explain this but here I'll try my best:

I mentioned this above but this fic of the trio I do plan to mix the lores together without going uh, too crazy. I don't want to reveal my hand given it's supposed to be a big plot point properly unveiled in this version's take on the episode Franz Hopper (I had to specify episode but it's also fun adjusting Hopper the character in this lore shift).

If this got posted this would likely be a fusion type of crossover I think.

This fic in particular is limited to Ulrich's POV given I want to have the story be about the Warriors seeing Odd's shifting relationship with Chat Noir. The wacky lore is just stuff that goes on in day-to-day. Also sorta open ended to leave room for additional content given the lore of this particular fic is pretty big + the cast leaves ample other stories to tell from their perspectives.

But I digress, we're talking about the Ulrich POV for this fic in particular.

I'll first start off by focusing on the format of this fic in particular. There should be about 12 chapter to match up with the Subdigitals album because I'm a bit corny and wanted to pair that up haha

Each chapter takes the premise of a episode (whether it be CL or MLB) and meshes it together with the crossover/lore shift.

An example I can throw out is the first chapter, which would just be Ulrich and Odd chatting while watching some of the events of Prime Queen happen from their phones (given Nadia did host her segment etc etc).

The CL powers though I agree I'm also a big "powers in the real world" enjoyer haha. Sometimes I just think about this AU in a bubble without the crossover and ponder the shenanigans that can crop up if you just play the power exposure as comedy instead of the angsty potential it is.

Love this AU because the kids are not alright. They have to adjust to shifting into things very much not human, despite having some of the basic human traits.

Odd gets the worst of it given he's a literal cat-boy in Lyoko. The Digitization process is subtle at first but then it becomes extremely difficult to hide that he's growing purple fur, he's nursing intense migraines whenever a Future Flash decides to crop up, his vision nearly landed him some glasses, etc.

Yumi and Ulrich don't have it as bad, but the pains that settle in once Telekinesis and Super Sprint respectively show up for each of them is exhausting. Their clothing tends to get shifted by their exposure, so there's a bit of a running gag of swapping shoes out so they don't constantly lose them (at one point Ulrich has more sandals than shoes lmao)

I also toss in some new abilities because as they grow older aka as the chapters progress in the fic. Odd deals with camouflage that glitches whenever his emotions get out of control (it changes the color of his purple fur like it's a mood ring), Ulrich has to keep a certain mask on him (the one on the back of his S1-S3 outfit) just to make sure he's not phasing through the earth every few minutes, and Yumi has to be very cautious when it comes to stepping in shadows in fear of getting stuck in them.

Digitization (i.e. the term Jeremie coins to explain the shifts the four are going through) is not completely defined all at once. It takes time and as they grow older, their forms will only grow stronger and more defined.

The process isn't immediate for anyone. It shows up with frequent scanner usage, though it isn't until the events of Frontier that it truly settles in that Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi are not exactly humans anymore.

Will also mention that I abuse the concept of TransWatches that Evolution introduced and rehash them to be a temporary solution to let the kids blend in as proper humans. It doesn't prevent some of their glitches from leaking out though, just hides away their outfit changes or their cosmetic changes (i.e. Odd's fur or Yumi's makeup).

Aelita does not immediately experience Digitization given she only used the scanners once then stayed on Lyoko for a long time. Throughout S2 she'll deal with her own changes and will catch up in time with her creativity ability being very uh, destructive when it comes to her nightmares making the power flare. This fic in particular glosses over it given it's not her perspective focus but I feel like I should mention Aelita since I don't give her a lot of love in these recaps ;-;

I also feel extremely bad for Jeremie since he always has the weight of the world on his shoulders all because of his decision. He's the leader of the group and sometimes his plans don't pan out which result in him being extremely cautious to give them another shot unless he's forced to.

One of these plans was trying to enlist Ladybug and Chat Noir for help at the very beginning of this mess. A RTTP stopped the duo from trying to get rid of the machine to prevent XANA from ever harming the real world again. So it's obvious why he wouldn't be the biggest fan of Odd turning around and trying to court Chat Noir.

I'll talk about the Chat Noir in the room. Why him? Why not Ladybug? Well besides my own shipping agenda, I do have a bit of a fic logic haha

The fic in particular starts in the midst of MLB S2. Ladybug and Chat Noir have been established in Paris enough. The whole reason Adrien gets involved is due to Fluff.

She's the one able to sense all this time phenomenons and wants to know more. Fu is already busy with training Marinette to be the Guardian atp, so he decides to give this investigation mission to Chat Noir to satisfy Fluff's curiosity.

Hence Adrien gets his own time companion and has to keep this secret from Ladybug (Fu doesn't want it to leak out to anyone that Chat currently possesses another Miraculous, that and he worries Ladybug would become distracted if she found out that Chat is working on other things not involving her).

MLB S2 is working around the same time as CL S1. So thanks to Fluff's Miraculous, Adrien can feel the time shifts too. He just can't completely remember things.

This is how Adrien gets to remember some of his interactions with the Warriors, and how he and Odd start to bond a bit. A Great Day is when Fluff can finally fulfill her satisfaction and Burrows herself, Adrien, and Plagg into these Time Phenomenons.

After that the shenanigans can properly ensue where Adrien can remember everything after a RTTP has been done. He also has to give Fluff back as she's perfectly fine with these phenomenons now that she can properly access them in her Burrow.

Adrien couldn't leave well enough alone though, way too curious about why these things were happening in the first place. It's why he continues his investigation to the other plot points that happen generally in the fic.

I'm sorry if this one seems pretty jumbled haha. I have been having some issues with sleep so my brain was just all over the place trying to convey this recap without like giving up everything plotted out.

Once again thank you for the ask anon, and thanks to anyone who reads this o7

[helpimhyperfixating]

Photos And Crushes p3 !!! 😫😫 I love the first two so much :,)

Thank you both so much! It means a lot that you liked it given its one of my favourite works I’ve made >w<

So originally PaC was meant to be just that two parter, but then my brain said “horny time 😏” and I decided to make a 3rd part so that I could fit in a smut XD

However… sadly after writing the entire chapter out, my phone glitched and everything on it got wiped, including the last chapter, leaving me with only an old draft. I kinda lost steam after that because I was so sad. Felt like everything that I rewrote was worse than the original

But I still plan to finish it someday!! I have a big chunk (like 2/3) rewritten! So yes, here is the start of the third chapter as a sneak peek ;3

This is not smut btw so its safe to read

-

Walking around town, Jotaro sighed. It was good to breathe fresh air again after he had been unable to leave the house for three days thanks to his grandfather and mother not letting him leave because of his injury.

Had it been just his mother he would have been able to just brush past, but the same could not be said for Joseph Joestar. The man was built like a brick house despite his age and would thus easily overpower Jotaro now that he was missing the full use of his left side.

It was just that… the young Kujo wanted to see you.

After getting shot and him taking you home, he hadn’t seen you due to being stuck inside. Especially after what happened in the forest though, he really wanted to. You never even properly got to talk it out.

“Hey, mister! Mr. Jotaro!” A young voice suddenly sounded from his left and the man nonchalantly turned, seeing Jack and Tommy running at him while waving their hands.

Jotaro scowled a bit, having preferred if they addressed him a little more formally - he wasn’t their friend after all - but it’s kids, what can you do.

“What is it.” He asked as he leaned his right side into the fence he was standing next to, Jack and Tommy’s eyes falling to the sling his arm was wrapped in, the left side of his trenchcoat just draped over his shoulder, leaving the sleeve empty.

“Whoa, what happened?!”

“I got shot.” Jotaro deadpanned and the boys’ eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

“You did?! D-Did it hurt?” Jack nearly yelled that out and Jotaro barely managed to stifle an annoyed groan.

“Yes. Now what did you call me for.” It was a demand, not a question and the boys quickly snapped back on track.

“Right! Have you seen Ms. Y/N?” Tommy piped up and Jotaro furrowed his brows.

“Not in three days. Why?” He asked, a little suspicious.

“W-Well, we were supposed to have a lesson yesterday, but she never showed up...”

That caught Jotaro’s attention. For, you never missed a lesson. Teaching those kids was the highlight of your week, much to his past chagrin. So, to hear you missed a lesson? With no prompt or explanation as to why? That sat wrong with the man in black.

“We’ve been asking around if anyone knows where she is but no one has seen her.” Jack now spoke and Jotaro kissed his teeth, mulling things over as he straightened up.

“I was headed to her house anyways. I’ll see what’s up.” Jotaro informed the boys just out of courtesy, since they did come to him for help after all.

“We’ll come with you!” They perked up but Jotaro scoffed.

“Fuck no. Go do whatever it is that you do, I don’t want to have you snot-nosed brats loitering around.”

“O-Oi! What did you call us?!” Jack called out, offended, but Jotaro just raised a brow.

“You heard me. Leave me be.” With that, he turned on his axis and started walking, continuing down the street he was before the kids showed up.

Yet a worry spiked in his mind and gut. His eyes drifted to his left arm and his breath hitched slightly. The sheriff had informed Jotaro they caught the two guys, but they were part of a gang. Would the others come after you?

His thoughts took up so much of his time that he didn’t even realise he was already standing in front of your house.

Looking up at it it seemed.... empty.

Quickly crossing the small path to the door, Jotaro knocked.

No response.

He tried again, this time a little firmer, yet still no response.

Deciding ‘fuck it’ he walked around the back, having to hop two fences before he reached the back door. It did not have a lock and Jotaro knew that so he simply twisted the doorknob and opened the door, stepping inside a moment later.

The entire house was dark and cold, some items strewn and flung about, but only a few.

“Y/N?” He called out, just in case, but as he expected, no answer came.

Something on the dining table suddenly caught his attention and he walked up to it.

It was a paper, something written on it in your handwriting though a lot messier, as if you were writing it in a hurry before being pulled away at the end, the pencil dragging over the paper and leaving a messy line.

Turning it around to face himself, Jotaro read your note.

‘Aunt sick

Gone f-‘

After that it was already illegible and Jotaro lifted his head, scanning the room once more. There really was no sign of either you or your family and so he turned around to walk out of the house, hopping the fences once more as he held the note still in his hand and read it a few times more.

So your aunt was sick and you went to visit her? If you couldn’t even visit him to say or even leave a proper letter, only this messy note, then you had to have been dragged off by your parents in a hurry. Was it that bad? Or was this a coverup and did that gang actually come after you? No, why would they just take you and not leave a ransom note or something. It couldn’t be that.

“I figured I’d see you snooping around here at some point, Mr. Kujo.” A crackly male voice suddenly said and Jotaro looked up from the paper in his hand to see an elderly couple looking at him from the house next door.

Jotaro creased his brow in question at them, not having a clue who they were or what they wanted and the woman chuckled, now speaking up. “Next time, don’t just break into someone else’s house. You can simply ask around. I saw them leaving in a right hurry three days ago. Wagon loaded and storming off.”

Looking back down at the paper, Jotaro’s suspicions about you being dragged off by your parents were now confirmed and he curtly nodded at the couple, stuffing your note in his pocket and turning back into town, walking away.

And just like that, two weeks passed.

[thebigshotman]

*…WELL. I SUPPOSE THAT IS ALL OF THE TIME WE HAVE TO INTERACT WITH THE PAST FOR THE TIME BEING. I AM SURE MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO DO SO WILL PRESENT THEMSELVES…HOWEVER, MY HOLD ON THE RIFF GROWS THIN.

*I TRUST ALL OF YOU HAVE SAID EVERYTHING THAT YOU WANTED TO HIM…AND SEEN HOW BETTER OFF HE WAS BACK THEN, TOO. YOUR ATTACHMENT AS AN AUDIENCE TO A BROKEN PUPPET FASCINATES ME. TRULY.

*BUT NEVER MIND THAT FOR NOW. IN THE MEANTIME, I SHALL TAKE MY LEAVE BACK TO…ELSEWHERE, SHALL WE SAY. WE WILL MEET AGAIN SOON. FAREWELL FOR NOW.

The connection to the past is severed, the image of a rattled but still somewhat confident Spamton fading from view in a glitching swirl of purple, pink, and yellow. Through it all, distorted fragments of time stick out audibly as you are gradually returned to the present.

*Thank you!! Thank you, everyone…I’m thrilled to have been rated the number one salesman this past year!! I’d like to thank…thank…

*W-What? Don’t get cocky?? Mike, I think I can afford to be a little cocky right now-

*…Huh? Arguing with someone on the p-phone? T-Trust me, you were mishearing things! Everything’s [[100% certified]]…I-I mean, fine…what the hell was that?

*…Please. I don’t know if you can [[F1]]-Help, me, but…a Lightner made you, right? I don’t know what else to do…

*You “understand what I’m going through”?! No you don’t, ‘Delia!! Your success has never been hung on teeny tiny little [[$5.99 door hinges]] that could fall apart at any moment!! …Please, leave me alone for now. I just need to call him back…

*…Huh? What’s this little thing doing in here? Looks like…some kind of jewel…

*Mike. I know you’re there. I saw something. I saw Heaven. How do I get there?! How do I get back everything and keep my-

*WHAT [[store-wide savings are happening now!]] T0 M3?!?

*H-EY HEY, SWA[[Easels]]…IT’S…ME!! YOUR [friend request-] FRIEND, SPAMTON!! LISTEN-

*SWATCH, [[don’t leave me here!]]!!! MANAGER, QUEEN, [anyone…]!!! I’m burning!! Don’t let me—

*HA…HA…HAEAHEAHEAHEHAEHAEHAE!!! 1’LL GET THERE ONE DAY!!! I’LL G3T THAT [workout ready body] AND GET TO [Heaven] 4ND THEY’LL ALL [[you’ll be sorry~]]!!! TH3Y’LL SEE I’M ST1LL A [[BIG SHOT]]!!!! JU$T U WAIT…

There’s another manic, sped up cackle, much more like the ones you’re accustomed to, before everything goes silent and dark. And then…

The roof’s finally finished loading, separating himself from that always dark sky he hates so much. Although, lately it’s seemed just a little less oppressive. All that’s left is for the rest of the store in fix itself. Considering ruined shelves are still clipping against the ground like that were just destroyed, that could take a while…

*…[Hazelnut] HASN’T [stop on by!] T0DAY…SHE 4LWAYS DOES ON HER WAY [[homes outside the city]]…

Despite that disquieting thought, Spamton G. Spamton-occasionally known as “Spaul”-doesn’t move from the spot behind his desk. He’s back to being the broken, plastic puppet that’s familiar to you, with a glitchy voice that’s unable to properly form coherent sentences. His wide smile seems a little strained, though, and his glasses have a certain glimmer to them. He’s not moving-because what would it look like if he showed up to her job unexpectedly?-but is absolutely concerned for her.

That’s when a headache inducing pulse of garbage noise, static, and memories pangs through his head suddenly, making him throttle backwards with an uncomfortable glitch and onto the floor as a result. Knocking his systems offline as they process whatever just happened for just long enough for a certain someone to speak through him.

*…Is anyone listening? If you can hear me, please, help-

The static is forcefully booted out of his systems, and he jolts upright while rubbing his head. Everything’s fine-well, relatively, anyway-but there’s something just a little different. In his head, in his memories. A certain section of the garbage and out of tune nonsense has cleared, and it’s as if a few cherry picked moments from his past, from his height as a big shot, happened only a day ago…

He weakly turns to the audience, squinted marbles appearing in his glasses as he points at them.

*…WH4T DID YOU [[chaos enjoyers]] 0F AN [studio audience] DO TH1S TIME…??

[jenatwork]

The Inherent Horror of the Minimum Wage Night-shift, or: Why FNAF Lost Its Way

This meta has been percolating in my brain for at least three years now, so why my brain chose today as the day to word-vomit about it, I’m not sure, but here we go.

My introduction to Five Nights At Freddy’s was not primarily that first Markiplier video. It was, oddly enough, a 50% Off blooper reel, in which Rei talks through various things he had to calm Nagisa down from (”Everyone hates the bear!”) - the video ended with a Freddy jumpscare that I was not prepared for. It was the only thing on the list that I’d never heard of, and I was intrigued. So I went looking, and then I found the Markiplier Let’s Play.

As someone with an intense sensitivity to music and atmosphere in media, I found that first game incredibly unsettling, in the best way. The soundscapes, the grainy camera footage, and the too-late realisation that the player-character is trapped alone in a building with things that are moving around on their own was, for me, a perfect recipe for a horror game. The knowledge that the jumpscares are inevitable, and the way the tension builds as each night progresses, showed a game that seemed incredibly well crafted.

It’s a recipe that has been adapted well in games like I’m On Observation Duty, or The Closing Shift, where you play as a lone worker on a night shift, aware that something has gotten into your place of work and it’s only a matter of time before you come face-to-face with whatever it is.

The way the first FNAF game reveals its lore also works perfectly well, for me, largely because there’s very little of it. All you learn about the animatronics is that they have an unnecessary ‘free roam’ mode at night and there’s an issue with their programming which leads them to interpret you, a human present in the pizzeria after hours, are an exoskeleton that needs putting back into its character suit. There’s tidbits of information about missing children, and the fate of the Phone Guy, but that’s it - there’s no souls of dead children inhabiting the suits, no purple guy, no unfeasibly sentient robots, and absolutely no Remnant. 

I can suspend my disbelief enough to accept animatronics with a glitch in their programming. But everything else? It’s too far. I don’t need the souls of dead children inhabiting mascot suits, or ‘security puppets’, or dead serial killers inhabiting crusty old costumes. What’s scary about FNAF is that you’re trapped in a building, at night, with things that are dangerous because of a glitch in their programming AND YOUR EMPLOYER KNOWS THIS AND DOESN’T CARE!!!

The horror of the FNAF world isn’t uncanny valley mascot characters, or ghosts; it’s the criminal negligence of Fazbear Entertainment.

I’ve worked late-night jobs and volunteered at overnight shelters, and the unsettling feeling of being alone in a huge building at night is creepy enough, without ghosts or robots.The experience of walking down a long corridor, turning off lights as you go, knowing you’re supposed to be alone but always secretly wondering if you might not be, can be terrifying. I’ve worked late nights alone when people have come into the building because they’d swallowed a bottle of pills, changed their mind about wanting to die, and seen the lights on and came in to get me to call an ambulance. I’ve volunteered overnight with rough sleepers when someone started having a seizure and I had to call an ambulance, administer first aid, and avoid waking up everyone else. And while I wasn’t scared by those people, I was scared afterwards by the realisation that I was incredibly vulnerable as a lone worker on minimum wage (or no wage) with no training for the kind of things that happened after dark.

Watching Let’s Plays of FNAF, TCS and IOOD instantly threw me back to those late nights alone in a huge empty building, wondering what I’d do if it turned out there actually was someone in the building who wasn’t supposed to be there, and knowing that my employer had no issue with me being a vulnerable lone worker on minimum wage.

I appreciate that the inspiration for FNAF was people comparing SC’s characters in a previous game to creepy Chuck E Cheeze mascots, and I appreciate also the unsettling vibes of obstensibly friendly mascots looking directly at you with something that could almost pass for sentience.

I do not appreciate shifting the scares to a cobbled-together backstory about a serial child killer who also invented unreasonably advanced robots, was killed by said robots because they were possessed by the ghosts of the kids he killed, came back to life by possessing another robot suit, came back to life again as a sentient virus in a VR game, came back to life again in the same robot suit that had already been burned, with other sentient talking robots that might also be possessed by other dead kids and a sentient talking robot with a grabby hand in its belly that killed a kid thrown in along the way. 

I thought that understanding of the Fazbear Entertainment negligence had been picked up again in Sister Location - it started out so wonderfully funny and creepy. But then they gave a voice to one of the animatronics - a voice that suggested actual sentience, not just a programmed voice that repeated the songs it sang during the day like the creepy singing in FNAF 1. My disbelief was no longer suspendable. It came back somewhat in Pizzeria Simulator, but disappeared again during the final monologue over the fire ending. It never even had a hope for Security Breach - AI on a par with Data from Star Trek does not make sense as entertainment in a kids’ theme park. Security Breach had moments of effective atmosphere - specifically, in the underground sequences which revealed both the tunnels and the old restaurant - and I liked the contrast between the public spaces and the staff-only spaces, which clearly showed knowledge of how unsettling it can be to be in liminal ‘back room’ spaces like the corridors behind shops in malls (where I have also worked, and they can be creepy af).

This is all reflected also in the many fan games, which tend to focus on creating new creepy mascots or convoluted tasks, rather than on creating an unsettling atmosphere.

It’s fairly obvious that FNAF diverted off-course and rerouted itself towards mascot horror because characters sell a lot more than unsubstantiated adult fears. Compare that with I’m On Observation Duty, which seems to get better with each sequel because the developers know what makes it scary - empty rooms with the threat of some unspecified thing, and the fact that you pay such close attention to each image that any change can feel like a jump-scare.

Which is a very long-winded way of saying that FNAF is yet more proof that most stories don’t need a sequel, I guess.

(Also, I’m aware that I’ve likely enraged a few FNAF fans by essentially saying that the ghost-kids are nonsense and the lore is a waste of time. If you love FNAF and have an urge to tell me how wrong I am, I’ll happily read your rebuttal, but abuse/rudeness will be ignored.)

[toonbly]

hiiii im making a self indulgent ass post w/ all the fun little details i packed into tip the ferrymen pages up til today (excluding all the stuff thats foreshadowing for later spoilers) im gonna put it all under the cut though!!!

so hi. funny little bg details in ferrymen that i think is fun:

pg2 - Russel's grave! his last name, Marek, is named after an NPC in a really old dnd campaign my buddy jay ran for us back in high school

pg8 - there's a lot here so im just showing all of it LMAO. ambrosia bar back alley in the bg, one of eddie's murals is on the wall, eileen's missing poster is on the left, and as a lil spoiler: one of the ghosts in the background is gonna be a major character in arc 2!

pg20 - one of joey's drawings is of a younger nathan and the other is a blue cowboy, if you know what thats a nod to you know lol

pg20 - Eddie's gifts for the fortunes include a cat angel statue, white lillies (often used in funerals), and a blue candle. most of this is just supposed to be a nod towards who's leaving these gifts

pg33 - this is kinda hard to see due to the coloring (which i plan on going back and fixing at a later date) but the title of this book is "the wonderful world of elevators" which is a taz reference

pg37 - this is more a production fun fact but i made the eyes on the shadow creature in esther's portrait by just heavily editing a photo of my eye lol

pg37 - as eddie sneaks away from the vargas's, he glitches out which is meant to show that he's using his shapeshifting powers. foreshadowing!

pg45 - foreground detail so everyone noticed it but eddies just kinda chilling here when the vargas's enter andy's library

pg46 and pg81 - bim bim the bear's tears match esther's death injuries, he also copies joeys expressions throughout the first arc!

pg52 - the author of this book is mai's dad, arthur!

pg54 - eddie's "tell" when she's shapeshifted as someone else is that the scar over her eye stays no matter what. this isn't the only instance of this, but emily's disguise makes it the most obvious!

while we're at it-- eddie can mimic the blank eyes of ghosts because he knows they have blank eyes from watching paranathan, but he doesn't know what their death injuries like so they can't mimic them.

pg60 - the environments in sarah's station are made of cardboard cut outs, mimicing the kinda toy-like feeling of a giant train model

pg68- anime sparkles

pg71 - my favorite example of bimbim mimicking joey's expressions

pg74 - this is obvious i just really wanna point out nathan blushing when he sees how fucking tall eddie is

pg76 - when stumbling across the recreation of the murder scene, joey and eddie stare at the replica of the murder weapon in horror while nathan looks ahead at the portrait on the wall. nathan has seen this scene before back when it actually happened, it wouldn't be shocking to him but the museum of grief lizzie's made for herself would. eddie and joey, who have never seen the scene before, focus on the replica weapon.

pg83 - joey and esther bein BUDS

theres a few for page 84 so here we go:

one of eddie's murals is on a wall next to an ad for spectech, the mural is mocking eli

glenn and henry from a certain dnd podcast

more missing posters but theyre mega small so lol

pg86 - this is not a small detail i just really, really wanna point out nathan's cut off expression when eddie says this and how joey reacts to it being able to see what the audience cant. makes me insane

pg93 - ghost boxers. this isn't obvious but its 10x funnier if you know that its paranathan merch

pg100 - the newspaper changes to read "He's dead you're still here" when nathan starts to dissasociate

pg104 - this was a self indulgent lil thing for me but my players characters in our interstitial campaign are hidden back here!

pg114 - one of the background ghosts from pg8 is right here highlighted in red

pg117 has two things!

one of the background characters is holding a paranathan phone case

steve and alex of mc fame. this reference wasnt intentional at first but a friend pointed it out while i was coloring and i thought it was funny as hell and just ran with it

pg118 due to A Shenanagin in the tip the ferrymen discord server, corporate art style babe ruth is now a thing in this comic

pg127 - eddie seeing eli in the same room as them and just immediately deciding to leave

theres a bunch more but those are all foreshadowing for BIG spoilers later and this is mostly lil easter eggs/goofs/etc HFJSDHFKDS

[wildcatofgreen]

Corazon was as interested in this as much as she could be--luckily they had some popcorn, and spirits know you can never miss a good show without some fuckin' popcorn!!!

She stuffed her face joyously as she watched her sister and that bastard panda fight.

Though... he certainly was bouncing around more than he should've. Was the T.V. broken or something? Because a lot of the times it'd just cut to when he was doing something. Like, it cut to him doing his stupid throwing-card technique right off the bat. Or, it cut to him dodging out of Carol's little slam thing.

Wasn't this supposed to be a live recording? Was Zao's infrastructure really that shitty???

...Wait no. That... Was this actually live??? Carol was reacting to these glitches???

Uhhhhh.

Uhhhhhhhhh.

She almost can't watch this holy spirits this was getting bad. What the fuck.

She continues to munch down popcorn during the proceedings, uuuup until Spade starts to open his trap.

. . .

Okay so that's a trap, right.

Like if she does something she probably just super dies, right.

She's not gonna do it, right?

...

No of course she does it--fuck her little sister is a moro--HOLY SHIT

SHE CAN FEEL THAT FROM IN HERE. WHAT WAS THAT???

The popcorn's on the floor now--what's left of it, anyway. Damn it.

It... doesn't look like there's much else that's happening during the fight. Oh boy.

The mercenary starts to wander over to the dresser, picking up yet another potion.

...He announced it was a draw??? Huh???

Okay yeah no, she's going the fuck out there right now.

The mercenary pockets the potion before dashing out the doors, skating over to where her sister lays on the ground--she is completely unconscious. Almost expected--who the hell could stay conscious from a blast like that?

What even happened? One moment, Spade's talking shit, the next they're on the floor.

The merc pours the potion down her sister's throat again, lightly slapping the girl's face as she does. Come on, come on, wake up girl. Come ooo--

"HACK HACK COUGH"

...

Right onto Corazon's face, huh.

Cool. Thanks.

"I feel... so woozy... "Coryyyyy?" She has her hands loosely around the older wildcat's back, "Did... did I win?"

"Uh," she pauses. "Not... reall--"

"You SHOULDN'T HAVE," a very pompous and annoyed Mayor Zao is being lifted down from a platform on four wires, his arms crossed, his face frowning very hard, "But against all of the odds, you... you...," he starts yelling, "WHAT DID YOU EVEN DO?!?! WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!"

"...What?"

Her sister seemed very out of it right now.

As she should. There's probably not a soul in the world who entirely understands the events that just transpired.

"AND YOU!!!!" Zao pointed over to the scarfed panda's body. He looked to be entirely out cold, but that isn't stopping Zao from getting off his platform and kicking him, "SOME FUTURE BATTLESPHERE CHAMPION YOU ARE!!! YOU CAN'T EVEN WIN AGAINST THAT STUPID CAT!!!

"OH EVERYTHING WAS GOING TO GO SO PERFECTLY!!! A SEASON OF HAVING THIEVES IN THE BATTLESPHERE, IT WAS GOING TO BE A TOTAL TAKEOVER! BUT THEN, IN THE LAST SECOND, WE GET THE LAST THREE CHAMPIONS--not including Kalaw--TO TAKE DOWN THESE EVIL MENACES, AND THEN THOSE CHAMPS FIGHT IN A BATTLE ROYALE TO TAKE HOME THE TITLE!!!!

"IT WAS PERFECT!!!!! IT WAS GOING TO BE PRIME TIME--"

"So, wait," the mercenary pointed a finger at the red panda, "You weren't even entertaining keeping Spade for long?"

"What? No. He's a scarf--that's super bad publicity.

"Weeeeeeell," he put a hand to his chin as his head tilted slightly upwards, "It depends on how well he actually preformed--that would be my backup plan. If he was actually good--"

He put a hand to his ear.

"Uh huh. ...Wait, they can't hear me though, right?" He looks frantic at the mercenary, "YOU'RE NOT RECORDING THIS, RIGHT?"

"No sir." She raised a brow.

"Okay. See, we're goood!" He stepped away to a corner to continue the apparent phone conversation, "So what if they saw me kick him? I kick things all the tiiiiime..."

The younger wildcat tried to get up, but the mercenary just kept her down.

"Chill, sis. Chill. You ain't ready to start walking around yet."

A groan came from her. Corazon merely pat her head.

"Rest a 'lil bit longer, sis. Rest."

...

It was around ten or so more minutes before Spade did start to finally stir. He groaned as he sat up, holding onto his head.

"What the hell just happened."

Corazon squints at the panda thief, "Dunno, you tell me, Spade."

The panda blinked for a moment, before his frown turned to a smile, "Hey, never thought I'd see you again. Long time no--"

"Cut the shit--what the fuck did you do?"

He blinked again. "I don't know. I don't have memory of anything that happened after I started running at Carol. Did I win?"

She shook her head.

"Carol won?"

She shook her head again.

"...Then, what happened?" He took a minor glance around--mostly at all of the plastic glass everywhere. The audience wasn't much better--either frayed or confused, or in some rare cases, frustrated?

"Somethin' happened between... y'all's fuckin' gems? I think? Shit ended up in a ti--"

The younger feline groaned again, "...Cordelia??? Is that who that was?"

Blinked. "Sis what are you talking about."

"I saw like... this old dragon girl, before I passed out. I... Iun't know--"

"OKAY!!!" The little bastard of a mayor came waltzing back over to the trio, "I think the only thing we can do about all of this is pretend it all never happened and go about our days as normal, right?"

"What?" The trio said in unanimous confusion.

"This was fun and all, but things have to end! And thi--"

"Ya must be kiddin', right?" The feline turned to face Zao, a grimace on her face, "After all that, all that fuckin' stress ya caused me... we jus' gonna throw it away?"

"I mean. Do you have any other bright ideas? Because my people are telling me there isn't a very easy way to salvage--"

"Rematch."

"Sis, what?"

Zao's eyes practically changed right into dollar signs. "Uhm, say that again??? A little louder this time?"

"A rematch. "I mean, what's the worst that could happen? I lose? Seems like ya were already gunnin' for that anyway."

The panda scoffed. "You really are something, huh, Carol? Don't know when to quit, do ya?"

She finally started to sit herself up, heaving a large sigh out of her lungs. "Picked it up from a mutual friend. Ya know the one."

"You know what happened out there, right? I wasn't exactly taking it easy--"

"So? I've fought worse, 'less ya forget. Fightin' a teleportin' goon ain't gonna be nothin' the second time aroun'. Dun't fuckin' underestimate me."

"Spicy." The panda couldn't help but chuckle.

The mercenary looked... uneasy. Carol's stubbornness was going to be the death of her, she swore.

"Alright." Spade nodded as he stood. He walked over to the feline and put out a hand to her, "When's the rematch then? I'm game to bust your shit one more time."

Carol took the panda's hand and pried herself off the floor, giving him a firm, painful hand shake. Corazon could see him wince in pain--she pointed and laughed.

"The twenty-seventh sound good?"

"Pffft, your birthday?"

"What? I think gettin' my job back an' beatin' your ass at the same time is a pretty good birthday present--dun't'cha?"

"Heh. Cocky as ever."

He started to close the gap between them, tightening his own grip on the hand shake.

"Wanna make it more interesting?"

Carol's strength overpowered him ten times so, so when she tightened her own grip, he backed off just a little bit.

"How so?"

"Well. For one, if I win... "I get to keep your little object."

Her other hand instinctively went to her pocket, gripping onto the gemerald tight.

"Then it's only fair if I get'ta keep your stupid ''Diamond Ace'' when I win, eh?"

"Sure. That's easy."

She bonked her forehead against his, causing him to break his grip on the handshake and stumble backwards--or, he would, if she didn't bring keep him close.

"An' since you're so deadset on fuckin' me over, I think an eye for an eye is only fair, yeah?"

"Wha--"

"When I win, you quit the Scarves."

"HAHAHAHAHA," the mercenary couldn't help but laugh out, "THAT TWO BIT PUNK COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT 'EM!!! CAROL I'D ALMOST SAY THAT'S CRUEL IF IT WEREN'T HILARIOUS!!"

This devious smirk was stuck on her sister's face--it was vengeful. Corazon could get used to that kind of Carol.

The Scarf looked uneasy at the thought, finally slipping his hand away from the former Scarf. He looked around, as if trying to find some sort of out, some sort of way to back down from it all.

But, after a moment, he relented.

"Fine. If you win, I'll quit. Easy.

"But with how much of a wash today was--I doubt you'd--"

She grabbed at his scarf with her now free fist.

"Yer gonna be washin' with the fishes if ya keep talkin'. Got it?"

A sheepish, nervous grin was his only response.

So, she let go.

And, she let out another sigh.

[liminaldreamscape]

Charging Lucid Dreaming Oracle

Card 26 | Digital Interface

Initial Impression

Leaping out from one dimension to another

Breaking free

Worldly/Material restrictions

Associated Dream

Night of May 19, 2024

I once again had a bunch of dreams that I remember snippets of.

In the first, I was with a South Asian man and his son who I knew to be my neighbours (they were not my actual neighbours). I was talking to the boy and he expressed disappointment in my being brown because he was used to being the only brown boy in school and he liked that. I asked him if he was mad at me for being brown. He said no. I mentioned to him that I have two younger brothers who are also brown.

In the second, I was in my parents' old house with my brother and cousins. We were all going to go out for the night, as it was our last day together. I went to the bathroom on the first floor and realized that I needed to change my pad. I asked my cousin, Shahnza, to slip a pad under the door for me, which she did.

It was raining hard and my cousins went to sit in the car while my brother and I were getting ready to join them. My brother, Ali, showed reluctance to go and he ended up asking for us to go home instead. I told as much to my cousin's family. We all hugged and said goodbye.

Ali and I started walking in the direction of where my car was parked. I pulled out my phone and Google Maps, only to find the route was a loop. It turns out, we had already driven to the hospital, which was where my car was parked. We turned around and walked into the hospital instead, happy to not have to do the walk.

In the last dream, I was inside a building that is hard to describe in terms of its purpose. I was with my family and some strangers, and we were being given a tour by an older, white man. During this tour, we were in a vault or locker area of some kind. I accidentally stepped onto an elevator that I wasn't supposed to and got separated from the group. I could still hear them, though, and the guide seemed unphased by what happened. He assured the group I'd find my way out.

Sure enough, I jumped from shelf to shelf in this narrow shaft until I found the exit. At the end, I came across this woman dressed in a revealing catwoman/cat burglar outfit. I knew her to be here to steal. She seemed distressed. Not wanting to blow up her spot, I left her be and caught up with the group.

I came upon a changing room, specifically the women's changing room. I heard the guide say, "Wash up if you want to become a billionaire". I said hell no and started running through the changing room and showers, trying to find the exit. There was so much water and I was getting soaked despite my attempts. I ended up finding the entrance to the men's changing room, turned around, and eventually found a cafeteria area that connected to both changing rooms. As I exited, so too did a woman who was also soaked and seemed like she had ran here similar to me. She cried out lightheartedly, asking why there isn't a place to dry. We laughed slightly and awkwardly at the situation.

Oracle Keywords

Miscommunications, numbing, obsession, being transfixed, technical glitches, overstimulation, developing a healthy balance

Connecting Pieces

Keywords and initial impressions line up