#it was such a fun simple story that i had put a lot of research into and then. and THEN. chapter 3. logan's pov. it's always the nerd!!!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

art · 2 years

Photo

Creator Spotlight: @still-life-mostly

Muhammad Hardi Saputra, familiarly called Hardi, is a self-taught miniature still-life photographer and stop motion artist. His work is a mix of craft, comic, and fantasy elements. It aims to bring peace and tranquility to the viewers through their imaginations. His childhood dream was to create pictures that would make people happy just by looking at them. He has found a way to do exactly that by combining the beauty of miniatures with the art of photography. The stories he tells through his photographs are full of life and give the viewer a sense of nostalgia. He loves crafting and creating art that has a story behind it. To him, each piece has a life of its own, and he allows it to speak for itself. He says, “Art is a collaboration between the artist and the viewer. The work you do is only a part of the journey.”

Check out our interview with Hardi below!

How did you get your start in photography and stop motion?

My hobby started when I was still a kid. I was fascinated by claymation on TV. Around the year 2003, when my sister got her first smartphone (it was Nokia 3650), I borrowed my sister’s phone to make a stop motion with my tiny robot pencil toppers. I didn’t use photos and turned them into videos. Instead, I used the r cord and pause button immediately. So the stop motion is basically a compilation of 0.5 seconds videos. It was really fun. Then when the smartphone got faster, my pause and record button trick didn’t work anymore. My stop motion video-making ended, except for my photography.

Then after I got into college, I found a photographer sharing his works on Tumblr, and I knew that day that I wanted to be a photographer. Then, my parents bought me a laptop and camera around 2013. I started shooting some photos. When I saw a looping cinemagraph video on Tumblr, my old stop motion video ideas sparked again. So I researched on YouTube to figure out how to make a looping cinemagraph GIF just by GIMP. After some trial and error, I managed to get it working. So I used my laptop to make my first ever looping cinemagraph GIF video.

Later I ran out of stuff to make a cinemagraph, so I experimented with stop motion with any objects I could find in my bedroom. After a while, I realized I could make animations using paper. These small moments are captured on my Canon Eos M., and this is how my photography journey began. So, I thank Tumblr for giving me the inspiration and a platform to share my stop-motion GIFs.

What do you wish you knew when you first started out creating art that you know now?

I have learned that investing in a new laptop would have been a better choice if I had to choose between a laptop and a smartphone. I used to buy a new phone every two years, and as a result, I didn’t have enough money to upgrade my laptop. I realized that my photo and video editing must be faster, so I can have more time to make creative choices like what kind of color should I tune, which object I could animate and so on. This new smartphone only solved the social pressure to keep up with what everyone was doing.

Now, I saved my money to upgrade my laptop so I can create more content in less time. I also stopped watching smartphone reviews because they influenced me to buy a new smartphone. I decided to learn more skills like 3D designing or photo and video editing on YouTube instead.

What is the hardest part of your process?

I use resin 3D printers to create my subjects. The process of printing them is really simple, but it does take a lot of physical work to get the prints looking their best. Sometimes they got like blemishes that need to be sanded down or parts that need to be glued on. These steps aren’t exactly my favorite parts of the process, but the results are totally worth it!

How has your style developed over the years?

My first stop motion GIF is this blue butterfly. I put my camera on a table and made a butterfly out of paper. It was initially quite challenging because the camera moved when I pressed the shutter button. Luckily the touch screen can also trigger the camera, so I touched the screen lightly so the camera didn’t move. After that, I got a loop of about 1 second of motion.

Then, I made another butterfly. This time I use the photo levitation technique in my stop motion video. I use wire and remove the wires frame by frame. GIF with floating subjects takes much more time to finish a frame than the first one. However, the result is really rewarding because it’s more natural looking.

Right now, after I got my 3D printer, I chose astronauts as my main subject. At the moment, only the secondary subject moves, such as flying rockets, clouds that are moving across the sky, and ocean waves. In the future, I look forward to making a moveable astronaut, probably a robot, because they have joints. Or a wiggling alien or any kind of sci-fi space creature that could be explored in a galaxy far away.

Have any of your projects surprised you with its outcome?

The project that surprised me the most with its outcome is this Astronaut Diner GIF. The color looks like what I wanted. I didn’t know that adding checkerboard tiles could make me feel so nostalgic. I sanded, painted, and glued every piece of the tiles. It felt like building a miniature interior set.

My favorite part of the project is the coffee steam. I use a tiny piece of thread from a cotton ball to make it look like the steam coming from the cup. I animated the steam using Photoshop. I chose to animate the steam because I thought it would be an interesting way to add movement to the image. I didn’t think it would look very realistic if no movement existed.

Biggest pet peeve as a photographer?

Batteries. Sometimes when I was shooting some frames, my camera or flashlight battery died because I forgot to charge them before I started shooting my stop motion photos. I have to restart taking photos frame by frame because the camera angle will lightly change after I take out the battery.

What does your work set up look like?

My photography setup is just a table with one flashlight in a softbox and another flashlight in an umbrella. I use a Canon Eos M camera to take photos. I enjoy taking photos in my bedroom because it’s straightforward to set up. For example, I just set up everything on the table and snap away! It’s also very easy to clean up because I just have to put everything back in place when I am done. The setup in that photo is the setup that I used to create this article banner photo.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

John Carey of @yesterdaywasonly. Because I probably wouldn’t know Tumblr if he didn’t make a Tumblr profile for me to follow. I follow him because he shares wallpapers, and I am still using photos from his website as my laptop wallpaper.

Thank you so much for stopping by, Hardi! For more of his creations, check out his Tumblr, @still-life-mostly!

#creator spotlight #photographers on tumblr #stop motion #still life mostly #astronaut #butterflies

489 notes · View notes

troomtroom101 · 5 months

Text

Toon Quest Theory PT.1: Who is Pib and the meaning behind the Book of Life

okay so I know @toontails announced their return (idk your pronouns im sorry!!) but I recently reread thru the Toon Quest story and I’m finally clicking some stuff together that I’ve been wanting to maybe throw out there!! Please guys listen to me i have been thinking of this for weeks, TQ has so many open ends and mystery that it’s not even funny. I’m a person of wanting to understand things so I made this post to share my thoughts with you guys, and yes I did research don’t make fun of me!!!

so, to start off first and simple. I wanted to get down to the point where the Book of Life is first mentioned, AA mentioned that the Book of Life dosen’t randomly select its holders which makes sense because the book is a lingage and it somewhat of a heirloom (ok probs not the best wording but still) it was also mentioned that the Book of Life chooses its holders like I said, generational wise but also because of the attributes that the subject brings to the team. I couldn’t find the screenshot but AA answered an anon ask at one point stating that. Now if we look more into the team we can understand why exactly they make up the team they are now, instead of a group of goofballs we actually do have a pretty well looking team.

Oswald’s attribute would be his luck. Which is seen in the first chapter when he managed to save everhine in the van from the semi truck crashing into them, which follows with him cheering that he still had his luck.

Bendy’s attribute from what I can assume, would be the fact that he’s a demon, and from what AA has stated/revealed the strongest one on the team (though Bendy himself might not know that) I’m taking it that in this AU, Bendy isn’t created from the ink machine but as it was said from AA he was accidentally taken from his home and placed on the surface (I can’t find the screenshot of the authors confirmation but trust me!!) I say that because Abel is after Bendy, which was also stated. And I’ll also go into why he might be after Bendy in my next post. But bendy’s attribute would be his strength and the fact that he’s basically inhuamne. Not to mention toons are hard to kill as is and since he’s a toon demon, it’ll take a lot to really kill Bendy and I’m sure we’ll see more of that in detail with future chapters.

Donald’s attribute would be his bad luck, which may be bad but is actually a good thing as in one of the chapters his bad luck basically murked the spirit spider that was chasing after them in the cave sequence.

His attribute clearly comes in handy when it’s needed. Not to mention it weighs out Oswald’s good luck with his bad luck. Creating a balance.

For Cuphead and Mugman, it would have to be because they harness power to shot their peashooters, and because as stated they defeated the Devil some years ago. Though with their character turnaround with tagging along with the TQ gang, this makes them a great advocate with knowing some plans about the opposing team.

And Panchito would have to be for his intellucal integrity as he himself was the one to even put the band together to begin with. Traveling overseas just to find one of them. His morals seems to be very strong and I believe there’s more to his character as he was the first one to recive the book and get any sort of information about it, as he claimed that the thought of the book came to him in a dream that he has had for years. Which would make sense why the book would go to Panchito first out of everyone because his person is uplifting, loyal and fairly responsible (in a way)

the book clearly harness some spiritual power as AA has stated. It’s not just a book, so I believe the book is what sent Panchito these visions. Also he’s good to and that it’s clear he’s a sharpshooter. Maybe even as good as Bettigan.

And moving onto Y/n. Her attribute, as we all know. Is undetermined because she’s a human. Not a toon. She dosen’t have any cool tricks, she dosen’t entirely have magic as it was said that she was supposed to, but lo and behold. She dosen’t. And she never will, as AA has confirmed. But inside the story it was say MULTIPLE times that the reader was supposed to be given a power to help her.

it’s refered to as a mark and how it was supposed to be given to Hector, but because of time and how he and his group couldn’t successfully go on with the plan of figuring out what Ruby Falls was (the death of his friends) he came to a witch in the woods to send a message to Y/n about how her having a mark would help her defend herself from darkness and save mankind.

But as we noticed, Y/n has no power and so far has been fighting and defending herself based on her agility and luck. As it’s seems multiple times, she’s not very good in combat unless the other toons are with her to back her up. But by herself on a 1 on 1 combat, she fails exceedingly bad at defending herself, which I won’t bash her too much as she’s just a teenage girl who’s revealed to be a homebody with no friends, fighting against various combative individuals who clearly has more training and knowledge in the ring than she does. You’re not gonna wake up one day and be able to take down Batman. But there is one thing about her that I will point out. That she’s very observant and can very much tell when things are off in certain situations. As stated by AA.

Reader is indeed a fast learner as when Ruck was teaching her archery, she was able to develop a knowledge on how to properly use a bow and arrow. And I must say. Archery is very much a tactile and difficult field to get in as it takes a lot of body strength and muscle strength, but with little time she had. She was able to adapt very quickly as seen with her being able to successfully get bullseye during the Warrior Falls contestant picking for the finale’s.

Though that dosen’t mean we’ll run right over the fact that Y/n dosen’t have magic as states as she was suposoed to have. It even concerns her to a point of questioning why she dosen’t have it. Does the book decide not to give her magic? Does it often happen for these quirks to just not show up. It was clear that someone or something is suposoed to give them these quirks as Hector denied wanting to have it as he stated he would save it for Y/n. Which also comes into play that this is probably a one time use.

So where is it? And who has it? Well. Who else is the only one in the series that has magic? Well, we have Bendy. Who’s able to bend liquids (which from what I see it’s preferably ink) and he can also make portals.

But this can also be because of the fact that Bendy is an actual demon and harness power that not any ordinary toon can. But that also makes me say. Do you know who else has the ability to create rifts and portals?

And y’all look at this FUCKING KEY WORD!!! PUDDLE

I swear this is not a COINCIDENCE!! I make this side by side comparison because at some point it was mentioned that Bendy would be the one prone to betray Y/n. Now I don’t wanna point fingers, but I believe Bendy may be a reason why Y/n is powerful. Or 1 of the many reasons. Because my second reason is going to be Pib. As it was said that Pib plays a big role and sort of a fairly meaningful role to not only Y/n, but to everytbing. Now, I don’t wanna be that guy but I really do want to say that Pib is actually a good guy and Y/n is a bad guy. AA did at one point said that Y/n is morally grey and that she dosen’t really care to be a hero, meaning that Y/n dosen’t wanna put her life in the line for just the sake of it.

which may seem like a bad thing but, honestly? We’ll probably get more into why the reader may feel this way and why she may essentially reach a point where she feels this isn’t really fit for her. Pib isn’t exactly a bad guy because their only objective to them is to kill Y/n. That’s it. They don’t care for the book. They don’t care for the situation or who has the book, but it’s just to kill Y/n.

and the opposing team also wants Y/n dead as well. And only her. They don’t care for the others but just wanting her dead

I’ll get into later why I might think why they want Oswald out of everyone. But that’s besides the point, I find it concerning that Y/n has such a large bounty over her head when she hasn’t done anything to anyone or from what we know and have been seeing she’s pretty much innocent. Before I get into Pib, I also want to put on the table why I may think everyone wants Y/n eliminated first.

I’m chapter 5, Argus states that when she kills Y/n, the book will be in her possession.

She claims that when Y/n’s dead her bloodline will be no more, now I want to say she’s refering to Y/n being the last of her generation to hold the book in her possession, but now that I thought more on it, maybe when Y/n dies, the book just automatically releases its hold on the others making it accessible to anyone. So in some sort of way, Y/n has to be a key, a valuable key and asset to keeping that book locked. Whuch can explain why Ruck is trying him damn hardest to teach Y/n under the time he has to defend herself properly seeing she has no power to properly do it. Because if she dies. Everyone is shit out of luck, anyone in the world can just access the book. Which can explain why the villians want Y/n dead so bad. if break the lock. You have access to the riches. Now that’s if the others will still be there to defend the book from being taken still.

which moves back to Pib. Now we all know. The books signature glow is a yellow/golden light or aurora. It helped them navigate where to find eachother. Certain locations and even a piece to Ruby’s Heart. This book is basically its only navigation. But who else has that certain golden glow to them.

In the recent sneak peek, Pib was able to tug some hair from their head and use the essence of it to creating a golden line to lead them to where the TQuesters are. The same navigating line that they used many times to help them travel around. And Pib’s glow is yellow and golden. A color that's assossiated with the book. Maybe Pib is also a keeper of the book, and maybe the magic that was supposed to be given to Y/n was handed to Pib somehwere along the line. But who would have given this power to Pib. The only other person I can think of, would be the main villian. The man in the trenchcoat. As he was the sole purpose of all of this happening to begin with. Though he has little screentime. It’s clear that he’s going to be a big problem. Pib’s power was also stated that it’s just about as strong as Bendy and Abel. Abel being a literal arch Angel—which is mentioned that Abel’s sole purpose on earth is to kill dark magic that’s located in the Shadow Realm. A split between physical world and the spiritual world. Which I can assume is where Bendy came from as well as Zip and Zot as they were confirmed to be from the shadow realm. I belive the things from this world are dangerous and cannot be contained. Which is why Abel is even present to begin with. He’s role is to destory anything that’s from that world. Including Bendy. Now why he has such a hatred towards Bendy, I don’t know.

Not to mention Abel is at the top of the list of things that is very hard to be defeated so it’s safe to say that the book refering to angels being able to banish darkness, Abel is what it’s refering to.

Pib and Abel works hand in hand because they both have the power to do a lot of damage. I’ll make pt2 going over more bc I need you guys to hear me OUUTTTTTTTTTTTT

@toontails I WILL NOT BACK DOWN UNTIL I FULLY UNDERSTAND

#toon quest #Theory #big brain moment

19 notes · View notes

netherworldpost · 10 months

Text

@cha0tician when I was Evil Supply Co., we had a newspaper for nearly two years.

Physically printed on large paper. It was part of a subscription box — Mister Ghost’s Highly Enviable Monthly Parcel of Simple Yet Amazing Wonderments

(Fun fact I came up with that name at a bar in one go and did not edit it — it was the pure first draft)

This was a 4 page (1 sheet of paper front/back) and folded into 11x14.

Subscription billing services add costs to the already base $0.30 + 2.9% processing of cards (fairly industry standard pricing), making inexpensive products affordable.

Two sheets of letter sized paper and a thin envelope is roughly one ounce, so a newspaper is probably 2 or even 4, driving up postage considerably.

Even printed black and white (instead of color) the pricing was difficult.

Newspaper ages quick (it’s very acidic) so back stock decays fairly rapidly…

…and this one trick (storing bundles of newspaper) is key to driving your studio-mates wild with passion for you!

The problem with having submissions is two fold — ensuring originality (vs stealth plagiarism) and having a clear focus on the stories.

My stories are very focused and narrow… it’s one of the reasons I change/am changing the name of the company.

A lot of people saw ESC and walked in the digital door looking for true crime and/or horror and got queer monster utopia and were disappointed. Which is fair with the name, and so in this second act I want to give a more straightforward “this is who we are and what we do.”

It’s all a really careful balance.

Going back to the pricing a moment — if the retail price is even as high as $5, after processing fees and postage, it’s maybe $0.50/issue profit into the coffers to keep the company going.

Miss one deadline (as a subscription your deadlines are right, and printing takes 1.5 - 3 weeks) and your customer numbers take huge hits.

Complicates the whole thing.

The last few Mister Ghost boxes ran late because of all the above, and timed with an industry decline of subscription boxes, hurt the whole company bad.

Advertising is… tricky. I would have to hire someone to exclusively work on ads.

The alternative I am working on is just having it as an occasional promotion.

That cuts out processing fees and taxes (it actually helps taxes as it’s a marketing deduction).

Just every once in awhile, on a non-specified time scale (alleviating all production deadline issues), printing a small run. “Okay the papers come in today, we have 200, so include them in the next 200 orders.”

It’s tricky (what isn’t!) because it’s not going to be “the next 200 orders get…!” because frantic ordering Creates Problems (I don’t want to tell #201 they should have been faster)

I keep coming back to the ideas of surprise and delight.

You won’t see a gnome every time you go to the forest — you won’t see them hardly ever — but once in awhile you will and then it becomes a truly magical day.

So once in awhile maybe you get a newspaper or a small painting or a foil sticker in your order, or you are a customer who hasn’t ordered for us and I say “hey rather than give Google more cash let’s take a month of ad budget and print glow in the dark stickers and send to people.”

(This is from my business ramble side blog)

I don’t know if “surprise and delight” will be effective marketing.

Maybe it is but it’s too expensive to keep up and it ends up folding the company entirely.

Maybe it’s wildly successful and we continue to survive to make the world weirder.

I want to be honest and open on any public domain research and development rambles that they easily could fail — have a significant chance of it. There are no guarantees, at all, that any of this will work.

It has to be said “the reason these things are not common is because the risk is, to put it mildly, extremely high.”

Without this honesty I am nothing more than a snake oil salesman peddling false hope about making the world a weirder and more fun place.

But what if it does work?

My risk tolerance in business is…

… significant.

This makes me fun to shop with but, hm, complicated, to invest in — which is why i don’t take investors, and when folks kindly offer to toss a few bucks to help us get going, I decline and ask them to shop at an artist store who they have always meant to buy something at but always forget.

I am uncomfortable enough with “we are going to launch.. someday!” — I cannot stand the thought of taking possession of someone’s money without clear lines of “you will get X by Y day.”

All of this is a massive, significant, frequently overwhelming risk.

But.

But!

If it does end up working?

It’s going to be magnificent.

I work on this company because doing this work makes me more “me” than if I didn’t. It’s part of my fabric.

These public domain research and development posts (and future blog versions which can go into more detail) are my way of (hopefully) giving back.

I can’t make a subscription newspaper work but maybe someone else can and then I get to subscribe to it and my world gets weirder because I can read it ;)

But

Whenever I go down these paths

I always want to be very careful and explicit:

Very few things are impossible

Most things are more difficult than they seem

I don’t have all the answers but I might be able to help start the conversations that get someone closer to them

41 notes · View notes

archivalofsins · 1 year

Text

So, that was really something wasn’t it? I bet no one was expecting all of that. @doctorbunny had been looking into all of that since our conversation on June 4.

All this from a simple inquiry- It must be surprising for those that weren’t expecting it. So, for the Mahiru lovers out there, how was it? What did you think? Is it doing super great? Is it heating up inside those heads of yours? If it isn’t yet, then how about going for seconds-

Let’s talk about ARGs! ARG is short for Alternate Reality Game. There have been many across the internet from Everyman Hybrid to The Cipher Hunt in 2016. I’d assume the Cipher Hunt is more well known. It was an international scavenger hunt attached to the American animated series Gravity Falls. Gravity Falls is a good example of ARG media overall.

A lot of the series involved breaking codes put after the end credits, playing sound backwards to uncover hidden messages, and of course taking it frame by frame to possibly discern what was coming next. This all culminated in the 2016 Cipher Hunt as a sendoff to an amazingly fun series that not only entertained viewers but prompted them to think more about how they consume and interact with media. That’s the point of every good ARG to give the audience a chance to interact with the media in a way that usually isn’t possible which allows the audience to feel like a part of the story as well.

They’re also really fun when it comes to scratching that deductive reasoning itch for those that really like to go in depth with their media consumption. When some say it’s not that deep, ARGs are there to resoundingly say not only can it be that deep, but it is. So, we’ve got the where from This Is How To Be In Love With You now let’s talk about the why?

Milgram, for all intents and purposes, can be described as an ARG. Many, like myself, concluded that the ARG aspects only went as far as our votes but it’s becoming more and more apparent that this is not the case.

Yamanaka said this in regards to Mu’s case,

“Mu-chan had a lot of specific scenes. Her character is also pretty different between her MV and her voice drama. How you interpret her character changes depending on how far you pursue this character. Even in the real world, for example with news stories regarding murder, you’d have very different opinions depending on if you just read the headline, vs when you view the whole thing, vs when you do more research on the person.”

Generally, one’s opinion of someone/something changes based on how informed on a topic they are. That is what I believe was the gist of what Yamanaka was getting at. To use Yamanaka’s example with news stories, the headlines of news articles are usually inflammatory and a reduction of the overall point of the article. This is because they seek to grab a person’s attention and give them as much information as possible in a very short span of time or as few words as possible.

In Milgram’s case, the MV’s would be the headline and the voice dramas would be the article.

However, articles aren’t that trustworthy either, news publications lie all the time and cherry pick information to better frame the point they’re trying to get across. Continuing forward with Yamanaka’s example in situations in which a murder is being reported, depending on the news outlet one could get very different framings of the situation. Be it a different framing of the victim or assailant.

This is something Milgram fans should be used to because a vast majority of them do it. It’s not much different from what many people have been doing with the Milgram theories they type up or put on YouTube. Each person displays their own unique perspective framed by their own ego and biases. So, we have the headline, we have the article, but what about that last thing?

“When you do more research on the person.”

Well, we have multiple examples of Milgram fans doing exactly that. The most recent one being the post DoctorBunny put out. It’s exactly what it says on the tin do more research compare the voice drama and the mv look out for inconsistencies key locations. Those are the ARG aspects that have been overlooked. Either for being too time-consuming, too wordy, or just going further than one expected.

It’s every fan that’s gone hey have you seen this tiny detail in this scene, please don’t bring up the socks in After Pain, hey um why did Kotoko go change clothes before going to help that girl, who’s that guy you can vaguely see in Kazui’s mv during that sort of distorted part, hey doesn’t this image resemble- and so forth and so on. That’s the doing your own research part that hasn’t been neglected per se, but it has been overlooked.

Each music video has enough information that for what may be detective work for people outside of Japan may come off as common place things or child’s play to people who live in the areas the prisoners were in before. Many people that live around where Mahiru is from probably would’ve been able to tell most of the places in her mv from a glance. See that’s the thing about common knowledge, it changes depending on where you’re at.

A good example of this is,

In the previous post DoctorBunny mentioned how I brought up the store Mahiru was outside of was a 7-Eleven.

I saw something that came off as commonsense to me, but that same thing won't be common to someone else. Not because they're uninformed but simply because it does not color their world view. It's not something they see every day so why would they be familiar with it? This is one of the reasons it's so enjoyable to see other people's opinions on Milgram from all over the world. Because those personal experiences shape how one will interact with the media.

Hell, a few years back I probably wouldn't have been able to tell it was a 7-Eleven myself, but I moved to a place right across the street from one so the colors in the corner and the outdoor setup were familiar.

This is why it's important to collaborate with others and discuss things because it can lead to new and interesting discoveries. I didn't really think I contributed much to the search since I was just around speculating stuff for the most part, but it was fun to be involved!

Now this may sound like a disadvantage for fans living outside of Japan, but it comes with its advantages. Because when someone is around something all the time it’s easier to take that information for granted. Chances are no one would really ask about why Mahiru was in these areas. After all these are everyday places, nothing special. They wouldn’t really take into consideration that these places are sort of tourist spots. Because there are a lot of places in the world that have a tourist industry but that doesn’t mean locals can’t enjoy the things connected to that too.

It wouldn’t clock as suspicious because honestly, it’s all rather normal right? People go places all the time, it’s no big deal. However, attaching these habits to that of someone we’ve explicitly been told is a murderer creates a different story. So, what does where Mahiru has been tell us about her as a person and a murderer?

Let’s start with the question that led to all of this where does Mahiru go to college? It’s not 800 degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria, the place she claims to be her university’s terrace. Although there is a possibility that they could not get a picture of the school to use and chose another location. However, there are many pictures of the campus online that they could have chosen.

I still can't fully rule out that they'd need certain permission to use that sort of image and couldn't get it.

Q.16: How did you meet your lover?

Shidou: In our neighborhood. We were family friends so that was our relationship.

Mahiru: We met eyes at the university terrace. I really felt like it was fate.

Despite all that- Mahiru's school is more than likely Aoyama Gakuin University or based on or around it. As DoctorBunny stated previously there were two schools in the area of the pizzeria.

The second one was Kokugakuin University. This school has no religious ties but seems to have some ties to Shinto beliefs. For those curious about the second school considering, it's a likely candidate for Mikoto's college. Here's its ratings, website, and a comprehensive history of the institution.

For brevity, I'll be putting both schools' information right beneath this. Mahiru's school will be first and Mikoto's possible one second. This serves a point outside of bringing up Mikoto again I swear.

20/07/15

Amane: Eh, my studies? I enjoy it. To me, studying is something I do for fun. Do you not think the same, Mikoto-san?

Mikoto: Not at all! It’s just a means to an end…… I just did the bare minimum needed to get into a good company. I actually went to an arts uni that had a pretty low subject requirement to enroll, and from there I studied curation and…… uhh, you don’t really know what that is huh. Hmm. Since your way of speaking is so mature, I keep forgetting I need to explain myself properly……

Amane: It’s fine. If there are any words I don’t understand I can look them up later. An arts university, though…�� Does that mean you’re good at drawing, then? It may be a bit rude to say, but that’s rather unexpected.

Mikoto: No, not really…? I mean, I could do the bare minimum needed to pass the entrance exam though. Even though it’s called an arts uni, there’s still subjects where you don’t need to draw at all. I’m the sort of person who tries to be efficient, so I worked backwards from the job I wanted to get into and chose to study subjects like direction and management~ ……ah, I’ve done it again……

So, from this conversation we can gather a lot about where Mikoto went to college and it's shaping up to sound a lot like this place. So, good for him and his possible bachelor's degree. I say possible because he more than likely graduated at twenty-two and then got a job. So, if he started college immediately after graduating high school then that would be four years and he'd have a bachelor's degree.

However, like I said in those messages this ain't about him. Anyone with a keen eye would realize the difference in schools here. Mikoto's possible school has a 39% acceptance rate and that's a rough estimate because the school doesn't disclose its acceptance rate at all. Mahiru's on the other hand-

Whoa boy that's a smart girl a college with an 18.3% acceptance rate as of 2015 according to Google and it's not that much higher on the edurank website sitting at 19%. It's a Christian university private and in the top 50% in 13 subjects.

Notable subjects are

Physics Rank:

#42 of 274 In Japan

#222 of 1,879In Asia

#677 of 4,082 In the World

Engineering Rank:

#70 of 278 In Japan

#446 of 2,117 In Asia

#1156 of 4,624 In the World

It's a long list but most importantly-

Q.14 What was your major in university?

Shidou: Medical school.

Mahiru: Faculty of literature.

Q.04 Other than Japanese, what other languages can you speak?

Shidou: English and casual conversation level German.

Mahiru: I chose to learn Chinese in university but well... I don’t think I can go up to speaking.

"Die."

This is why Mahiru says she chose to learn Chinese because in her school English is mandatory.

I think this more than extensively proves that this is the school Mahiru was more than likely going to before being brought to Milgram. It's a rather good school overall. So, how much does a school like this cost?

Well, that's a pretty penny. A semester there in the spring time of 2019 would run a person 759,100 jpy or 5,241.06 USD. Either way this would be a difficult amount to pay on her florist job alone and she states this-

Q.15 How much do you earn?

Shidou: That’s not something you should ask other people.

Mahiru: I’m living on an allowance from my family……

So, it's safe to say the ones footing the bill for her schooling are her parents. Unlike Futa who complains about his classes saying,

"Storm Pazuzu　（＝Futa） A L L M Y C L A S S E S A R E S O D U L L.

W A S T E O F M Y S C H O O L F E E S.

Storm Pazuzu　（＝Futa） Everyone else there is an idiot so it’s boring"

Mahiru is never shown complaining about the cost of her tuition and with a semester price that high well she should be. This coupled with,

Q.05 Did you have a good relationship with your family?

Shidou: Yes. It really was a family as happy as you could dream of.

Mahiru: I think I was what they call a "sheltered girl". I'm thankful to my mom and dad, but perhaps they were a little strict.

Q.17 Tell us about your dating history.

Shidou: I don't remember much but, I had one girlfriend in kindergarten, and in elementary school I had two relationships. I started going out with my wife in the 2nd year of middle school, and we've been together ever since.

Mahiru: I attended a girl's middle school and a girl's high school, so I didn't date anyone until I started university.

From discovering Mahiru's school we've discovered several things. Her family is financially well-off, probably not as well-off as Mu's but maybe around the same area. Given the similarities in upbringing that Milgram has felt necessary to drag to the forefront in regard to these two characters this trial.

Her parents were overprotective, maybe a bit smothering. So, as a kid Mahiru more than likely didn't have much room to go out on her own and experience certain things such as dating.

We've learned that she chose to learn Chinese but more than likely does know English given this school's curriculum. Something that was heavily alluded to throughout "I Love You" not only through the song but the cd casing as well.

Look at her nice english/romaji handwriting of her name in comparison to the others. What nice penmanship!

"Clothes Food Shelter + Love and Miss you." - "Clothes Food Shelter - Love and Miss you."

Let's get subtracting, shall we?!

What do I mean by that well let me explain. Notice anything weird about the words inside the cd case?

Clothes food Shelter + Love and Miss you.

Certain words have been left in lowercase. Also, English is a very fun language where certain symbols have double meanings. The "+" symbol has been used to supplement for "and" just like "&". This is possibly yet another ARG element. To be precise, a code that Mahiru has put into her song. A fairly simple one at that. She tells us how to solve it within her song lyrics. Yep, that's why I highlighted those plus and minus signs. Basically, I believe we're meant to subtract the lowercase words from the uppercase ones to get the real message.

"Clothes Shelter + Love Miss. food and you."

This would basically be read as, "Clothes, shelter and love miss. Food and you."

When Star sent me the image of the cd case that was my first thought after hey why are some not capitalized. So, the next thing anyone would think is Gunsli that makes zero fucking sense what does that mean? Oh, but it does make sense. Let me run it down for you. However, for that we're going to have to go all the way back to This Is How To Be In Love With You.

Where we see Mahiru go through her hierarchy of needs just as she lists here.

"Clothes, shelter-

"Do you really think you know what love is? If you do, let’s just overheat together the things that I only want to say to you, and the things that I want from you- Is love."

and love-

"If you don’t hug me, even our hearts will start drifting apart. I pretended to be a good girl, but really, I don't want to say "I'm ok"."

Then with I Love You added into the mix,

"My love, it scored an own goal, destroyed my love and me with its weight."

miss."

And that's a miss folks! An own goal is a term used in soccer or football to describe when a team scores in their own goal.

"Own Goal noun- (in soccer) a goal scored inadvertently when the ball is struck into the goal by a player on the defensive team."

In contrast, who's the one that has always been associated with food-

"Food and You." - "Tell me, oh tell me why, can’t I just do it right."

20/06/08

Mahiru: Shidou-san…… you’re really good-looking. Personally, I think you’d be better if you ate a bit more, but you’re slim and tall, and well put together to boot…… You must’ve been super popular up until now, right?

Shidou: ……yeah, that’s true…… I did my share of fooling around in the past.

Mahiru: Oh~? That's not the sort of answer I'd expect from you. I've got it! Somebody told you that if you replied like that people wouldn't resent you as much, right?

Shidou: Haha, I’m surprised you guessed. ……it seems that no matter what guise I put on, it’s meaningless against a woman’s insight.

Mahiru wants some meat on those bones~ Well, everyone has a type, and he was looking rather thin before she started feeding him.

Go on eat that up, it's good for you! That's all I could really gather from that though. However, it's a fun little tidbit if true.

Now the second point of interest I wanted to discuss from the information gathered was The Imperial Palace Run.

WHOA BOY THAT'S AN ATHLETIC GIRL!

One Lap is Five Kilometers (3.1 miles)

The distance of the route is just the right length for running. The path is also beautifully paved and there are no traffic lights at intersections, so you can run without breaking your pace. There are slight hills in about three sections of the course. These moderate ups and downs will create a satisfying change of pace during your run.

The Imperial Palace Runing Route is a five-kilometer route that loops back in on itself. In the video provided in DoctorBunny's post the area Mahiru is running in the opposite direction of is at the beginning of the run. Basically, runners start running in the direction of the sign she is running away from. As she is running away from it this means Mahiru has completed at least one five-kilometer run.

Given the lack of people Mahiru and her love probably went in the morning which is the recommended time for runners to go to not disturb others and be able to run as fast as they like. This explains why the sidewalk is mostly empty. However, runners are still encouraged to run in a straight line together and not side by side to be considerate of others. This explains why he is not next to her as she is running behind him.

I don't know about you but running for three miles over hilly terrain doesn't sound like being bad at exercise to me. Mahiru also says,

"I've never run so much in my life."

So, they very well may have done multiple laps around the area. However, it can at least be safely discerned that Mahiru has finished one lap around. So, she gets to beat the stupid and weak allegations today good for her or bad depending on your point of view. Because you know what this means, right?

"How could weak little Mahiru, someone who could only complete a five-kilometer run, ever move a body", is beginning to sound really weird. It's not surprising that Mahiru would say she's bad at exercise. Mahiru has consistently stated she's bad at everything, it doesn't mean it's true. She just lacks self-confidence and repeatedly diminishes her own abilities. Most recent example,

Q.15 Have you contributed to society?

Shidou: I had thought my work was a contribution to society.

Mahiru: I don’t think that there’s anything that I can say with confidence.

Discussing Mahiru and looking into all of this was a lot of fun! I was happy that I could be helpful! I really didn't know how much I helped until the post was put up. To me it just felt like hanging out but ya know in a good way considering certain revelations that may not have been the best phrasing ha, ha...

I was really impressed by all the creative methods DoctorBunny searched for information and I never thought such a small inquiry would lead to so much. I feel like we've learned so much about Mahiru and a little bit about Mikoto along the way~

I hope my insights on this can be enjoyed as well as I've kind of been holding off on saying anything for a good while now. I also hope I didn't rush DoctorBunny into posting too much. Also, I would recommend looking up walking around videos on YouTube of your you may be pleasantly surprised by what you find. The running route one kind of dropped me down the rabbit hole and I ended up looking up some for my city just to see what they were like.

They're calming.

#milgram #shiina mahiru #kayano mikoto

81 notes · View notes

tuliharja · 1 year

Text

I decided to join an art contest in the Genshin Impact server that I’m part of. The art contest had two themes “Goodbye Sumeru” or “Welcome to Fontaine” which you could pick either one. I decided to go with the “Goodbye Sumeru” theme. To put it simply, I did extremely poorly in the contest. Despite that, I hope other people who will see this artwork, will appreciate this because making this artwork wasn’t that simple.

Artwork: @tuliharja

Note: I’m fine with reblogging, but ask me first for my permission, if you want to repost my artwork.

More of my thoughts/things about this artwork under the cut.

I rarely do large pieces like these, especially when I’m busy. July-August are often a very busy months for me because most of my friends/loved ones have special days and I usually draw them gift artworks. I also had a lot of real-life things going on, so thinking back to everything…joining the art contest was basically a gamble, what came to timewise. I had to do a lot of research when drawing this picture, and looked at several reference photos of the characters their clothes, and such. Also, I had to wrack my brain when I shaded the whole pic because it has been a while since I have done black and white artwork. Despite that, it was very fun shading it.

Anyway, I picked the theme “Goodbye Sumeru”, because instantly when I read that theme name, I had this image of a traveler (in this case Lumine) and Paimon waving from the distance to Tighnari and Collei at the Gandharva Ville. It started with them at the Sumeru, so I thought it would only be suitable for our heroine and her best companion to wave goodbye to them! Of course, I had to Nahida in the picture, because she was such a big part of Sumeru as a whole. I also instantly imagined her ‘hovering’ on top of Lumine and Paimon as if blessing their journey to Fontaine. This all created the centerpiece.

Once I was done with the centerpiece, I started to think about all the other friends the traveler and Paimon had met along their journey at Sumeru. Originally the picture was supposed to have two additional friends at the sides of the centerpiece, but because of time issues and the lack of space (this drawing is drawn on A4-size paper, which in the end isn’t that big), I settled to ones that appeared most at the Archon quest/I felt played key roles in the story/balancing reasons.

The first additional friend that I wanted to draw was Dunyarzad at the bottom left side. She played quite an important role in the main story quests, so choosing her felt very natural. But what would Dunyarzad be without Dehya who acted as her bodyguard? She became an important ally along the journey. For balance, I started to think of all male characters who appeared in the main quests and played important roles. I figured if I had Dehya who was from the desert, Cyno could be a good counterpart. Not to mention he was quite impactful in the story -at least in my mind. Alhaitham played a big role in the quests and represented in a way opposite of things, so I settled for him. I also considered Kaveh, but because he played such a small role, I scrapped him quickly away. Same with Wanderer, even though at the end of Sumeru's main quests he played quite a big role. Because of that, Nilou also scrapped away very quickly as I felt she didn’t have any ‘good’ counterpart.

Originally, I had also planned to all Layla and Jeth into the picture, because they would have represented the side quests and all other ‘memorable’ (at least to me) moments outside of the main quests. But as I stated earlier, they got scrapped away, mostly because of space issues.

All in all, making this artwork was an interesting experience. There are a few things I would have done differently, if I would had more time, but despite those things, I’m still quite satisfied with the ending result.

55 notes · View notes

fuckyeahgoodomensfanfic · 8 months

Text

Good Omens Fic Rec: stalwart sun, wily moon

Anthony J. Crowley is a world-class art thief with a complicated past who, until now, had been pretty content with going through life as part of a prolific black market art trafficking ring. He enjoyed the thrill and danger of the hunt, especially if it meant he got to travel the world, play with state-of-the-art technology, and make enough money to afford anything he could ever want. That is, until a simple logistical hiccup leads him straight into the path of one Aziraphale Fell, former Head Conservator of the British Museum turned antique repair shop owner. Suddenly, there's a space in Crowley's life that only Aziraphale seems to fill, but his clandestine life of crime paired with Aziraphale's industry connections and indomitable penchant for good seems like a relationship doomed to fail. Little do they both know, the strands of friendship, morality, and deception in their shared circles of the London art world are interwoven in even more complex ways than either of them could have expected...

Length: 369,866 words

AO3 Rating: Mature

Best for: Safe in Public, Slow Burn, Human AU

Triggers: Past Abuse, Violence

Read it here, fic by dustnhalos

Note: this is a locked work you must be logged into AO3 to view

*Minor Spoilers* This one was recommended to me by @aq-uatic! I had just posted about Fakes and Forgeries, which is another art thief AU, so they sent this one over for me to read! This story is a powerhouse! Not only does it boast a very engaging plot, but it is also well-researched and well-planned! A true epic.

The length of this story is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, I loved the rich details and care put into the descriptions of artworks and settings, making it very easy to immerse myself in the world. I was also grateful that the climax of the story unfolded slowly, without rushing through towards the end. Having details gradually presented made the payoffs even greater. On the other hand, sometimes it became a little too wordy for its own good, crossing a line where it started to feel like a Wikipedia page. Additionally, it wasn't the right time and place for me when I tried reading it in shorter increments during breaks between working and cleaning. I was getting frustrated by the slow plot progression in those 20-30 minute spans. Once I committed to only reading this in larger blocks of time, I had a lot more fun with it! (ironic note to make on an extremely wordy rec post eh?)

I particularly loved the characterizations in this one. I found all of the side characters to be excellently written and, more importantly, welcome. There was never a moment when I felt annoyed by the appearance of a side character. The relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley is integral, but their plot line isn't the only one worth reading. Canon characters are conveniently rewritten into their new places, but don't just feel like names attached to OCs. Deep down, they remain the characters we know, just with new backstories. Warlock was a particular favorite of mine. Speaking of OCs, they're great here! I was very intrigued by the new characters, and their histories to our characters. Crowley's backstory was heartbreaking, and I loved the mystery of putting all the pieces together.

One small note I'll make about Aziraphale and Crowley: my favorite detail of their relationship in this story was their passion for fashion. It's refreshing to see Aziraphale described as fashionable rather than merely 'old-fashioned'. He possesses his own sense of style and takes great pride in it, which was very much appreciated. The fact that they can keep up with each other in style, knowledge, and culture, was so enjoyable.

Safe in public, but keep in mind what I said about pacing. Maybe shorter blocks work for you, but for me I really needed those longer sessions with this. It's also written as ace friendly! The mature tag is for violence/themes there is no sexual content here. Oh and this features amazing artwork as well!! I actually recognized many of the pieces included and had no idea they were tied to this story! I really enjoyed this story, and I'm constantly impressed with the stories you guys come up with.

Read it here, fic by dustnhalos

#good omens #good omens fanfiction #good omens fanfic #fanfic rec #aziracrow #good omens fic rec #aziraphale x crowley #stalwart sun wily moon #dustnhalos #extra long #no spice #slow burn #human au #safe in public #criminal au #artist au #one sitting #antique au #ace friendly

22 notes · View notes

darbyoakana · 21 days

Text

An Overlord's Tail - Chapter 5

Summary: Plans for a big party are made. You and Alastor get closer.

Warnings: This story is 18+, minors can fuck right off.

Other Notes: The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) - it can be found on YouTube.

Darby Link Tree

Chapter 5: Celebrations

“Uggggh. They are from Vox,” he said dryly.

“Yeah. Today would be our anniversary of sorts. Feel free to light them on fire,” you said dismissively.

“Very well,” Alastor said, grabbing the bouquet with a grin.

Alastor exited the building from the front door. To no surprise, there was a drone fluttering around the hotel. Alastor waved and smiled. The roses combusted in green flame. He left the burning roses on the stone walkway and returned to the lobby. He dusted off his hands and made a content sigh.

Today you had your monthly meeting with Alastor, Charlie, and Lucifer to talk about new amenities, catch them up on things around the hotel, and the usual business. Lucifer held a chair out for you, sitting you next to him. Alastor entered, not through the door, of course, appearing from the shadows. He was hard to read, but you felt you had gotten familiar with his little tells. And from what you could see, he didn’t like you sitting next to Lucifer. He said nothing and sat down on the other side of the table next to Charlie.

“So I was thinking it might be nice to introduce some physical activities. Something to keep residents busy, out of trouble, and maybe a way to let off some steam when things are frustrating,” you explained. “I think a lot of them are doing well, but taking a close look at yourself can be difficult.”

“Oh that's a great idea!” said Charlie. “What did you have in mind?”

“A gym might be a good place to start. Maybe an indoor pool?” you looked at your list. “And for people who need a more tranquil place to process, we could add a courtyard garden. Is yoga still popular? We could have a rotating exercise class schedule,” you flipped your notebook page. “I think when you take some of everyday stress out of their lives the sinners will have an easier time focusing on redemption. It’s hard to work on yourself when you have other factors bogging you down,” you flipped to the next page. “And, farther down the line we could talk about a spa of some sort. Make the hotel more of a resort.”

“I am SO on board with all of this!” Charlie exclaimed. “Dad?”

“Excellent recommendations,” Lucifer said, putting his hand on your shoulder. “You’ve been a great addition to the hotel, thank you for your hard work.”

You didn’t need to look over at Alastor, you could feel the sharp icy daggers of his glare.

“Thank you, Your Majesty!” you said kindly. “And as for any resident disputes… I think I have them all resolved,” you pulled out a few business cards. “But I did do some research and found a couple of highly recommended counselors that we could commission to mediate any cases that are outside of our abilities.”

“Oh man, I am so happy Vaggie hired you!” Charlie squealed. “And that Alastor didn’t drive you out.” She chuckled, elbowing him.

“A simple decision. She proved to be more useful than the others.” Alastor acted uninterested. You rolled your eyes.

“And the last thing, Charlie’s birthday is coming up. Did we want to do anything? A large party might be a great opportunity to promote the hotel and give the residents a chance to have some fun?” you asked. “I’m sure one, if not more, of the Sins would be willing to help.”

“Oh, what an amazing time that would be! I’m sure a lot of us could use a fun night out!” Charlie beamed. “Beelzebub’s parties are a little too much for me. But I bet Uncle Ozzie would be interested! We could make it real fancy!”

“That sounds like a marvelous plan,” Lucifer smiled at you. “I do love to dance, it’s been a while.”

You scribbled some notes down on your pad, your pen was not disbursing ink. You scribbled harder. Lucifer noticed a yellow pen appeared in his hand. It was a thick pen with several click-down buttons that allowed you to change the ink color. The top of the pen was embellished with a small rubber duck. He handed it to you.

“Oh, thank you! How cute!” you said. Alastor’s eye twitched.

“No problem, happy to help,” he gave you a warm smile then hopped out of his chair. “Well if we are done, I’ll go see Asmodeus about this party.”

Lucifer stepped through a portal and was gone. You liked Lucifer, he was charming and nice. For someone who rules Hell, he really didn’t fit the job description. You imagined he’d be more like the overlords. He was always friendly with you but you kept him at a distance for the obvious reasons; the seething deer across the table.

“Oooooh, we're all gonna have to go shopping for something to wear!!!” Charlie hugged you and spun you around, excitedly. “I’m going to go tell Vaggie!” She skipped away.

“I think that went well,” you said to Alastor as he got up out of his chair.

“Hmm, indeed,” he said flatly.

“What’s got your knickers in a twist?”

“That man is an idiot. Every moment I spend near him I feel myself getting dumber.”

In truth, you knew that wasn’t really why Alastor disliked Lucifer. Alastor had to work hard to gain the power he has and to maintain an image. Any weakness and his enemies will take advantage of it. Lucifer on the other hand is the most powerful being in Hell and doesn’t seem to want the job. He doesn’t have to hide his feelings or who he is to maintain power. You could see that being something Alastor envied. He was wasted potential in Alastor’s opinion. You shuttered at the image of what Hell would be like if Alastor was in power. Yikes, you thought.

You returned to your desk to start on the party planning. As you passed the bar you stopped. There, hanging from the ceiling, was a large chandelier made of deer antlers. Alastor followed through on your previous suggestion. Candles were placed sporadically, melting wax into the grooves.

“Quite charming, really. Don’t you think?” Alastor asked, suddenly next to you.

“Very much so. What elegant taste you have.”

“I have to agree,” he smirked at you. You smirked back.

“Hey, toots! These just came for you!” Angel was holding a bouquet of roses. “Someone has a secret admirer!”

“Ugh. Throw them out,” you said.

“What? Why? They’re so pretty!”

“Check the card.”

“Alright…” Angel looked at the card and became immediately disappointed. “Uggggh. They are from Vox,” he said dryly.

“Yeah. Today would be our anniversary of sorts. Feel free to light them on fire,” you said dismissively.

“Very well,” Alastor said, grabbing the bouquet with a grin.

__________________________________

You were surprised to see that movie night with Alastor had become a weekly event. Wednesday nights, after everyone retired for the evening, you two would secretly chip away at the stack of horror films in your collection. You enjoyed explaining the changes and advancements in movies since Alastor had died. But watching movies at random didn’t give him a clear timeline. You wondered if you could find some films from his era.

“And what will we be watching tonight?” he asked.

“Actually, I hunted down a movie that I’d like to share with you.”

You took some time to explain who Alfred Hitchcock was, that his career covered six decades, and how to this day he is considered one of the most influential people in cinema history. And that his work helped pave the way for the horror/slasher genre.

“I couldn’t find a physical copy unfortunately, so I downloaded one. We’ll have to watch it on my laptop.” You sat together, leaning on your headboard, with your laptop between the two of you. “So this movie is called The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, it’s Hitchcock's third film. It came out in 1927. I thought you might want to watch something from your time period since you’ve been watching so many from mine.”

“That's… very thoughtful of you.”

“Did you ever go to the movies when you were alive?”

“Yes, once my mother took me to see a Chaplin film.”

“That's so cool! My parents loved the movies, we went almost every week,” you both sat in silence for a moment. Both thinking of your parents before you changed the subject. “Oh and this right here,” you pointed to the small, almost unnoticeable USB dongle on the side of your computer. “This blocks Vox’s signal, so he can’t spy on us. I have one on the computer at my desk too.”

“Oh, now that is handy. Where did you get something like that?”

“Velvette had them made. She was working on a project and didn’t want Vox snooping. They work like a Faraday cage I guess, but it's specifically for his signal or code, whatever it is he’s made of. But it doesn’t block anything else so we can still use the internet.”

“And I’m guessing Velvette didn’t just give them to you out of the kindness of her heart?”

“Haha no, I don’t think she has any of that. Or a heart for that matter. So I guess you can add thievery to my list of sins.” You shrugged dramatically.

You found the movie to be artistically interesting. You’d never seen a silent film before and had expected it to be boring and slow-paced. It wasn’t what you were expecting at all. The lack of dialogue left things up to interpretation and body language. You definitely did not expect there to be as much romance as there was. Alastor seemed to enjoy it as well.

“That was surprisingly good. I didn’t like the ending though,” you said.

“What would you have done differently?” he asked.

“Instead of him being innocent, I would have made him the killer like they suspected. At the end, they think he’s innocent but then give you some sort of clue that it was him all along and he fooled everyone.”

“Hmm. I like that ending better as well.”

Of course, the idea of a serial killer getting away with his murders, fooling everyone, and getting everything he wanted in the end appealed to Alastor.

“Did this remind you of being alive?”

“Oh yes, things have changed so much since then. I sometimes forget the taste of it.”

“Do you miss it?”

“Being alive? Heavens no. Maybe a thing or two, but I’m doing quite well for myself here,” he smiled. “Do you?”

“Yeah. I do,” you said somberly. “I miss my friends and family. My life felt full,” you sighed. You could feel tears building in your eyes. “Here I feel like... I’m just floating around. No real purpose. Empty and lonely.”

“Well,” he placed a hand on your thigh, above your knee. “Nice thing about Hell is, you have an eternity to change that.”

You leaned your head on his shoulder.

Alastor couldn’t help but to feel that the hotel was making him soft. He had started to care about others, to some degree, and it tasted like bile in his mouth. But when you placed your head on his shoulder, what he felt was different. Protective and possessive were already strong traits of Alastor. But there was something more, something he couldn’t put his finger on. The need to care for you, for your wellbeing. You weren’t just another soul he owned and controlled like a pawn. He wanted you to feel fulfilled like you had when you were alive. He wanted to be your purpose. He’d dated around here and there when he was alive, mostly to please his mother. But it was difficult to be close to someone and keep such murderous secrets. Everyone was always kept at some degree of distance. And his need, craving, to kill took precedence over all else. But here in Hell he didn’t have to hide. You knew exactly what he was and were still here, sharing your warmth with him. He didn’t know what to make of it. He only knew he wanted more.

He laid his head on top of yours.

#hazbin fanfic #darby oakana #hazbin x reader #alastor x reader

7 notes · View notes

baronetcoins · 9 months

Text

I feel like I win when I lose—Director's Commentary

In what is rapidly becoming a tradition of mine, I went on a research Bender for my Yuletide fic and there are so many details I want to point out and discuss—so I will. This year I wrote I feel like I win when I lose for @avengingmariner and I did loose my mind over it, but in a fun way. Join me in my descent into madness below the cut.

My brief was "you must put my man laurence in A Situation" and I somehow landed on the core nugget of "Napoleon finds Laurence in his darkest hour, instead of Tharkay"—mostly because NGL I haven't read further in this series than Victory of Eagles. I'm working on it, just not there yet.

From that point I just sort of... started writing and felt out where the story wanted to go, and then I kept falling into research holes. Here are some of the fun pieces of information I learned in rough order of where they popped up in the fic.

There was chicken set aside from the dinner he was supposed to have had hours ago, before an urgent missive had pulled him away—a simple roast bird, born out from what local provisions had been found

The WEEK I was working on this, Max Miller of Tasting History put out a video on Napoleon. I wasn't able to work in a lot of detail about the food here just because I couldn't make it flow into what I was writing, but there's so much I wish I could have talked about. The weird thing with chicken! Apocryphal stories about how dishes got their names! His drinking habits! The inherent whatever of breaking bread with somebody who's supposed to be your enemy! Now that I'm writing this paragraph I feel like I need to write another fic about food.

And then I Made chicken marengo the week after because I was curious. It was fine?

le mistral noir

Now this bit owes its thanks to Kangoo, my resident French correspondent. I was talking to him about what could be a nickname the French soldiers used for Temeraire, and he suggested "le mistral" which he described as "(very cold and often violent wind that blows into france from great britain, known for cleaning the sky of clouds and also wrecking your shit) (also the name of a fighter plane)" and I went "oh, that's Perfect". And I wanted to be able to explain that reference. Because it's So Good.

He blinked around at the courtyard of brick building before being hurried just as swiftly into a fine bedchamber where he was given a cold supper and the opportunity to wash himself. With little else to do, he fell into another restless sleep.

This was a fun bit of gamesmanship to think out—where would Napoleon want to set the treaty signing in order to send a message? And in order to think about that, I had to learn more about how the government of Britain worked in this timeframe (polisci major hat incoming).

In the US, authority to make treaties is vested in the executive branch, but the legislative branch has to ratify them. I did not know how that worked for the British, because their system mystefies me to this day. Luckily, I found this paper which explains how it worked in 1938, and there isn't much reason to expect it to have changed in that period, so the answer is "at least in theory, the authority rests with the Crown".

Based on that, I figured he'd want to make a point by holding it in a royal building as opposed to Westminster, so I went with St. James' palace which has been used for state stuff forever. Unfortunately, the details for the interior of St. James' are scarce. I was looking at 1860s watercolors to try and squint out a layout.

It was a dress uniform of aviator green, with gold braid and buttons as well as twin epaulettes. He dropped it as if it were a hot coal.

This was perhaps my longest diversion. I'm not intimately familiar with the internal culture of the military <understatement, but I knew having Laurence be present in any form would be read as a huge statement. So what kind of statement would you want to make? Ultimately I went with "the biggest 'fuck you' possible", so Laurence in a British aviator's uniform.

Then there was the question of fringe or no fringe. Which didn't even make it into the fic, but was an interesting diversion. You see, "captain" is a term that connotes a different level of authority in the Army vs the Navy. NATO has a standard rank scale I was able to squint at here, as it tries to standardize across branches and countries. Captain in the British Army is an OF-2 rank, but Captain in the British Navy is an OF-5 rank. What does it represent in those terms in the Arial Corps? I have no idea! This impacts nothing here other than if one or both epaulettes would have fringe on them.

He wandered the hallways, passing French soldiers who saluted him and English dignitaries who ignored him or glared at him in turn. In desperation he returned to seek refuge in the room he’d been left last.

The medal Laurence gets is that of the Légion d'honneur, and nominally military personnel in uniform are supposed to salute other uniformed personnel wearing it, regardless of ranks involved. That was too good of a detail not to gesture at.

The Wikipedia article

I picked Jacques-Louis David entirely because he's my favorite artist of this time period and location, though the fact he did official work for Napoleon was a bonus. I'm very interested in the uses of these really formalized displays of image-crafting as used for propaganda, and also it's just fun to think about. Spent ages looking at Wikipedia too to get the formatting and the style of writing right, which I think I did.

The Title

Really, it just made me laugh, so it had to stay. I mean the song is also fitting and I think it's the sentiment I wanted to gesture at emotionally, but it is also funny,

#my writing #talking about words #temeraire #rambling #whoo BOY that one got away from me

15 notes · View notes

deadtiredghost · 4 months

Text

so i turned a oneshot into a series. and that exploded into a whole thang in my brain but I'm probs not gonna write it any time soon so i am deciding to post some stuff here.

rottmnt Leo centric cause this is all based on a few fics I wrote.

This is just a fun what could happen after the movie outline but darker than I think rottmnt will ever go.

the kraang left Leo with a badly cracked shell and some lasting issues in his left leg - Mikey painted his cane blue

Leo started doing independent research into mystic medic shit after the kraang attack. the team medic headcanon fr and I think CJ would deffo also know medical mystics which spurs Leo on

Leo spends a lot of time with CJ, coparenting fine with Casey after they figure each other out - makeup is the main thing they share in common because Casey has beautiful red eyeliner and Leo has his own beautiful red stripes.

Casey and Raph bff propaganda! they finish off the foot together or smming.

Triceraton arc:

the triceratons are fucking huge in rottmnt, like Leo doesnt come up to their ankle huge, and I see Raph using his hologram things to get bigger to fight, Donnie supporting him like in the kraang fight, Mikey using his super-strength to do damage and Leo initially being all flashy like he usually does but eventually realising that the only way they are going to have any chance is to use his portals to straight up chop the heads off of the triceratons - a CJ and Draxum approved plan.

cue angst and guilt - theyre like, 19, 18 & 17 respectively. they have encountered death before but never actively and intentionally killed anyone.

but like Leo would absolutely live in pain if that meant his family would be safe. and we have seen this time and time again.

#just super soldier problems:

and then the transition from these two alien invasions back to shutting down the run-of-the-mill villain of the week is jarring, and all the bros have a bit of trouble adjusting to non-leathal levels of strength

its good when they're just up against meatsweats or smming cause he got a similar mutation and can take their full force punches while even some yokai just need a gentler touch.

i'm thinking a teenage baxter stockboy is particularly difficult for this chaotic team to deal with because they're loud and violent by nature, while they need to shut off his tech without significantly hurting him

none of them are good at steath apart from Leo and none of them are good at tech apart from Don so to avoid raph eating more metal Leo decides to split the team up, which is met with resitence of course, but Leo is the logical planning guy and Raph and Mikey let emotion cloud their logic more than half the time.

I want Leo to get frustrated at how his family dont quite understand what he is trying to get at - #just ADHD things.

He needs to learn to be better at communicating, but his family also need to understand that he's not trying to procrastinate or goof off, it's kinda hard to explain something, even if its simple, when your brain is going a mile a minute and its so clear in Leo's brain what he wants that he forgets it isn't clear in other's (does that make sense? taking from personal experience here)

I also want Leo to learn in this conflict to stop relying on himself to avoid his siblings being in danger, because while he had told Dr Feelings over and over he got it and he wouldn't - he totally would and still hasnt stopped putting himself down to keep his family afloat.

Don gets an arc! its about being in an unhealthy relationship!

Don dates Kendra for a time. I think canonically Don would have a crush on Kendra, but it's not a healthy relationship and no one in the family likes her, which just allows her to isolate Donnie from their family etc. Kendra doesnt return as a 'villain' just an antagonist for Donnie personally, because the Purple Dragons cant just vanish from the story entirely.

imma give Donnie a Timothy as a friend because I feel bad for hurting them.

Rat King Arc:

like every villain in rottmnt, the Rat King is a significant issue they have to deal with. He is a human who wanted to discover the mysteries of Yokai and went crazy with empyrean use.

Unfortunately he can mind control rats... cue splinter angst as the family need to fight their father who is trying to kill them.

Big Mama makes a deal with the Rat King for Splinter becuase he is profit. Leo has to deal with her one way or another, so he makes a bet.

Unfortunately for Big Mama Splinter has a really bad back and Raph is very aware of his constant complaining, so he takes advantage of that to restrain him in battle, and then Splinter manages to snap out of the mind control because Raph smacks some sense into him (and some magic) - after Raph got mind controlled they all did some mind-protecting-techniques with Draxum for a while.

This whole Rat King arc is particularly hard on Raph :[

they go home happily ever after with some fun new trauma of their dad trying to kill them.

BISHOP!

next there is bishop, because Baxter is just a kid, he is barely a threat, and Donnie would just wipe any evidence of them off his tech of course? HAHA, nope. because bishop gets involved.

it takes a hot sec before they take Bishop seriously tbh. it was always a fear but as they had gotten more integrated into the Yokai city they had gotten too relaxed, relied too much on Donnie's tech and gotten too focused on their social/academic lives. so the government snuck up on them.

theyre about 22, 21, 20 at this point in time - they have already met Yuichi Usagi, Jennika and Leatherhead, and Donnie and Mikey are currently attending Yokai Uni.

So theyre all settled and "retired" from ninja stuff when disaster strikes and Leo and Raph get kidnapped by Bishop. Time for the pb&j duo to get them back!

Tigerclaw Arc:

I have more ideas involving tigerclaw but those ideas hindge on the ending of the Bishop idea, cause I have conflicting ideas for how it could end.

japanese assassin sent to kill the last few members of the Usagi clan so Leo gets involved and gets a new villain all to himself. (either Leo looses a leg to tigerclaw or Leo had already lost a leg to Bishop and is adjusting to his prosthetic still while fighting tigerclaw) Mikey, Raph and Don meet Kitsune, Alopex and Venus respectively during their trip to Japan and figuring out who has sent tigerclaw to attack their friend.

Haha. I threw Kitsune in there because she is another interesting villain and I would love to see rottmnt Mikey interact with her and slowly realise she isnt one of the 'good guys' and challenge his worlview that 'everyone who helps him must be nice and a good person' - tho i'm conflicted as to whether or not have her as a villain or just a criminal that fucks off to never be seen again

after all this they go get therapy.

Hope u enjoyed, just my brain has been circling these various scenes in my brain since 2024 started and I'll probs never get them onto paper, digital or otherwise.

if anyone felt inspired to write anything with one of these plot ideas in mind, feel free to! Would absolutely love that!

8 notes · View notes

ice-cap-k · 1 year

Text

Glassy Eyes

This is where I start getting carried away.

Fanfic of a fanfic. Based on Sixteenthdays' "From the Archives" series. Supposedly takes place after their story Immersive Story Telling.

Their tumblr

Seriously, their stuff is good. It puts this story to shame. I highly recommend you go check them out.

Cross-posted on AO3 here: Glassy Eyes

____________________________________

[Click]

[GRIAN]

Huh. Would you look at that? Did someone drop off another statement last night? Scar? Scar!

[Sound of door opening.]

[Scar]

What’s happening?

[Grian]

Did you leave this on my desk?

[Crinkling of paper.]

[Scar]

Hm? Oh, that wasn’t me. That was Impulse. He said Ren came in yesterday and dropped it off in a box at the front desk

[Grian]

(Indignantly) I was here yesterday too. Why didn’t he just come on in for an in-person statement like last time? It’s so much more satisfying when it’s in person.

[Scar]

He showed up after you left. And even then, it sounded like he was in a rush. Impulse seemed worried about him. It was like he just dropped off the box and ran out the door.

[Grian]

(Scoffs) Fine. Fine. I’ll have to talk to him about it later. Thank you for telling me.

[Scar]

Any time!

[Door squeaks closed]

[Grian]

I suppose a new statement is still better than a stale one. Statement of Ren D. Dog regarding an escape room experience. Original statement recorded yesterday, apparently, October 5, 2023. Statement begins.

[GRIAN (STATEMENT)]

Before I get to the important bits, I just want to apologize at the beginning for the handwriting ‘cause I’m going to write this in a rush. I probably shouldn’t be taking the time to write this at all, but you people listened and believed me when I told you about my escapades in the sewer and you’re the only ones I can think of who might know something about what I saw or have some sort of connection. I really hope so. I could really use some direction here.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. You’re going to want to know everything, so I’m going to start with the group chat. Er, ok not exactly the chat, but there’s a group I’m in where a bunch of friends plan out fun little outings. I’ve known most of them for years. Good people. We’ve had lots of fun times together. Sometimes we make a day of fun little games. Simple stuff like tag with Nerf guns and extra steps. Other times it’s a huge event that takes a lot of planning, organizing, and a venue.

Two days ago was our last meet-up. It was one of the bigger events we had planned for the year. Some of the fellas in our group had never been to an escape room before, so I figured we had to do something about that. I’ve been to a handful myself. Escape rooms are just good fun, honestly, and are great for big parties. The best places know how to break up big groups of people into littler groups and space them out so they can work through each room without catching up to the people who went first.

I took it upon myself to take charge of the planning. Nobody seemed to have any issue with me handling it this time around so as far as I was concerned it was up to me to throw the grooviest get-together of the year.

I found the place immediately. There was an ad that popped up in my “recommended” section on the forum I use to do research for my podcast. It was for a brand new escape room about to open up on the edge of town. There wasn’t much information available, but that made sense. It was a brand new business. There wouldn’t be any history on the company that a quick Google search would be able to provide. But there was a phone number on the ad, so I made a few calls. Talked to the owners about renting the place out for the day. It sounded like a good one. Cool concept. They were more than happy to set it up and stagger us out in groups as we went through the challenges. They sounded so excited to have so much interest this early into their launch. We got everything all squared away, and I let the fellas in the chat know the date and the time.

Everyone else seemed really into it, too. They pitched in their share of money to cover the costs. It didn’t come out to be that much per person since there were a lot of us and the company only charged a single lump sum for renting the place out for a day.

But the day before we were supposed to go, one of my friends had to back out of the arrangement. Poor thing fell sick and didn’t want to expose us to something nasty. I felt bad for the dude. The least I could do was offer them their money back. I could have covered their share on my own but they didn’t want it back. They just told me, “go ahead and take someone else in my place. I don’t mind.” At that point, everyone in our group chat who wanted to go was already going. Then someone suggested that, since I planned this one out, I should ask a friend of mine who wasn’t already part of the group to join in on the fun. Everyone was cool with it. Excited at the idea of a possible new addition to the group, even.

So I called up my good friend BigB. We used to hang out a lot back in university, but I hadn’t seen him in a while. This felt like a good opportunity to catch up. BigB said, “sure thing, man,” and we were set for fun times ahead.

So the big day rolls around and we get to this place and meet up with the others. Greetings and introductions go around, and we get ready to rumble. The host comes out to meet us. She explained the game and what we could expect. Our whole party would be divided up into groups of two. There would be timers running for pairs to try to solve all the puzzles in a room. Either they passed in the time limit, or the time limit would run out and they would be ushered to the next room. Either way, it would free the place up for the next pair to come in and try their hand at the reset puzzles. Then they walked us through the safety measures. Each room had a buzzer by the door that could be hit to let the workers know that you needed to get out. It would unlock the door and deactivate any machinery or whatever fancy doohickies they had in the place. Sometimes people get claustrophobic or anxious in a confined place. Especially when put under pressure.

It was all super chill and fun at first. A bunch of us hung out in the lobby while we waited for the first few pairs to go. When it was me and BigB’s turn, the host waved us over and we went in the door together.

BigB might not have been to an escape room before, but the man was absolutely brilliant. We made it through the first two rooms at lightning speed. The challenges weren’t too difficult, in retrospect, but they weren’t super easy either. It seemed like every time I got stuck in a rut, too caught up on a detail to figure things out, B would pat me on the shoulder and point out something I missed. We never went past the time limit. He was always a pretty observant guy when we hung out at the theater, but I never really stopped to appreciate it until now.

I kept marveling at how different it was compared to other places you see nowadays. It was honestly pretty clever. They modeled the inside like some big dollhouse. Fancy decorations and plastic furniture and all. There were mannequins set up to look like a setting with people. A few of the figures that were supposed to be little kids even had dolls of their own in their plastic arms.

It was in one of these rooms that B first pulled me aside. I had been trying to puzzle over a lock on the fake kitchen’s fridge. I’d assumed it would be like before, and that he’d blow my mind with some silly detail I had missed, but instead, he told me that the doll was looking at us. He pointed to this little glass doll in the lap of a mannequin kid. Its head was sort of tilted towards us. The glassy eyes glittered.

That creeped me right out. Sent a shiver right up my spine. But I also figured it was just a prop. Maybe even part of the puzzle. So I took what he said pretty seriously. I think that might have surprised him that I believed him so easily.

I tried waving my hand in front of the doll, moving around the room, I even picked the thing up. It didn’t seem to follow me as I moved, and there was nothing I could find that was off about the doll, so I shrugged it off and said maybe it was just a red herring. He didn’t look too convinced, but he didn’t argue. We ended up finding the key in a cake and moved on to the next room.

It was a bathroom. It was kind of small for the two of us, but we searched the place for the next set of clues. At some point, I opened a cupboard under the sink and nearly jumped out of my skin. There was another doll, sitting pretty on the shelf facing outwards to smile at some unsuspecting fool like me who opened the door. It spooked me so bad, that I bumped into the full-body mirror hanging against the wall and it came crashing down.

Broken glass got everywhere. I was ok. No cuts or anything. BigB was spooked something fierce. He looked me over to make sure I was ok. I mostly just felt bad about damaging the place's property. I was already rehearsing an apology and coming up with a payment plan to present the owners with when BigB got distracted. I asked him what was up, and he turned me around.

Behind where the mirror was hanging was a small door. Only a few feet wide. Maybe two feet tall. It reminded me of the house I grew up in, where my bedroom closet had a little door for easy access to the plumbing in the bathroom on the other side of the wall. It looked like those tiny maintenance doors. You couldn’t walk through it, but it was big enough for someone around our size to crawl through. There were no cobwebs like the one back in my old closet. This one looked nice and clean. Almost like it was well-used.

BigB thought we should hit the button near the last door. We could contact the hosts, let them know we broke the mirror. Our round would be forfeited, though. I wasn’t ready for that. We were only halfway through, and up until then, our rounds had been fantastic. The stuff of legends.

If I’m going to be honest, the little door also got me curious. We were in an escape room. How was I supposed to know it wasn’t part of the game? For all we knew, we had accidentally skipped a bunch of steps that would have eventually told us to move the mirror. I said as much to BigB. He seemed hesitant, but then I said that if the door ended up leading to nothing more than a bunch of pipes, we’d move on. I was at least hoping we could finish up with this room or go until our timer ran out before we contacted the hosts. Just to make things go a little bit longer. Beat one more riddle for the sake of my own satisfaction.

He actually agreed. So I kneeled down, brushed some of the broken glass bits out of the way, and he opened the door.

There was a whole tiny corridor on the other side! Like a mini hallway. BigB saw that and elbowed me in the side. “Looks like you were right. We just skipped an entire room.” He crawled in first, and I followed.

The hallway ceiling sloped upward almost immediately so we could stand back up and start walking again. This part of the building was noticeably different from the rest. Up until then, the rooms had been homely and tacky. Plastic and overstuffed. Full of dolls and cheap props. The walls and floor of this hall were grey concrete and hard edges.

The dolls were still around, though. Mostly the smaller ones. None of the mannequins. A mix of plastic and porcelain faces stared blankly out at the wall from lines of shelves.

The further we went, the less put-together the dolls seemed to be. There would be a cracked cheek here and a few missing strands of hair there, but before long entire swathes of shelves were full of doll bits. Not even entire dolls. Just their arms and legs and heads all lined up.

I had also noticed that the hallway seemed less well kept than the rest of the building. The door had seemed clean, and I suppose the hard floor did too, but clear strands of what looked like spider silk were hanging from the ceiling. Memories of what I saw with Doc were still pretty fresh in my mind, so when I started noticing doll parts tangled and left hanging in thicker knots of strands, I could feel myself losing my nerve.

I tried suggesting to BigB that we turn back. I’m pretty sure I made some excuse about how we must have accidentally found the storage rooms. We hadn’t seen anything that looked like a clue or puzzle since we came through the door. But by now BigB seemed hooked. He begged me to go just a little further with him. He just wanted to check the place out. If it was just storage, then as long as we didn’t mess with anything there was no harm in being there. We could always go back once we got to the end.

I couldn’t say no to him. I just couldn’t. His reasoning was sound, sure, but there was a spark in his eye that I just didn’t have it in me to douse. He was really curious about this place for some reason I could no longer fathom. But I was the one who suggested going through the door in the first place. I could ride this thing out a little longer.

I tried. I really did try.

We didn’t go very far when BigB took the lead. He mumbled something I didn’t hear. When I asked him to repeat, he called back a little louder, “The dolls are watching us again.”

Every hair on my body stood on end. I looked at the dolls hanging from the ceiling and at the ones lined up against the wall, and rows upon rows of eyes stared down at us. The plastic faces remained unchanged, but this time I could visibly see the painted marbles in the eye sockets moving to keep pace with us. Disembodied doll heads turned in place to continue staring.

But BigB kept going. Even as I tugged on his arm. I asked, no, demanded to know how he wasn’t freaked out, but he just shook me off. “We’re almost to the end of the hall,” he said. And he took my hand. “There’s something there. I can see it. Can’t you? Don’t you want to know what it is?”

I don’t know what came over me, but it was almost like the moment his hand touched mine his excitement sort of rubbed off on me. I don’t know how to fully explain it. It was like I was feeling what he was feeling. My fear was still there, but now there was also a burning curiosity. I couldn’t see what was at the end of the hall like he could. I didn’t see the end at all, but I didn’t run away. I let him drag me forward until we passed the threshold of another doorway. This one was normal-sized. There was no door, just the opening. I couldn’t see anything past the doorframe, but I trusted BigB. He seemed to be able to see ahead of us. So it came as a complete shock when I took a step forward and the ground was just gone!

The place had no floor. Both me and B dropped screaming into the black. I don’t know how deep it was or how far we fell, but if there wasn’t a bottom, there at least had to be a ceiling because a lot of those cobwebby strands hung down deep in clumps. They caught at us like vines, dragging at our limbs. My arms are still littered with tiny little crisscrossed cuts from falling through them and having them break across my skin, but they did manage to slow our fall. The two of us hit a point where there were so many little strings that they wrapped around us like a net and kept us from going any further.

I just hung there for a moment, catching my breath, trying to figure out what the hell had happened. BigB was hanging next to me, struggling for a handhold on the strings holding him up. And I think it was right then that I realized that this stuff wasn’t spider silk at all. It was too thick. Not stretchy enough. I think it might have been fishing line. It felt like that. Like thick, clear, plastic lines. They felt about as comfortable as you’d expect a fishing net to be.

We couldn’t see the bottom from where we hung. Couldn’t see the top where we came from either. I could see other things hanging above us and below us. Caught in suspension by the hanging strands. There were a few more dolls. And some rocks, curiously enough. Big rocks, little rocks, literal statues. I didn’t try to make sense of it. What was happening didn’t make sense. I also didn’t spot the human skeleton until BigB gasped and pointed it out.

It was hanging in front of him, maybe two yards away from him and even further from me. It had to have been there for years. The flesh had long rotten off its bones, making it impossible to tell if it was once a man or a woman. Only a few scraps of cloth hung from their arms and legs. It hung splayed out, supported by the plastic wires looped around its wrists and ankles. Another loop wrapped under its chin and around its neck like a noose. It kept the skull upright. Almost like it would be looking directly at BigB if it could, but there were no eyes in those sockets.

As silly as it sounds, the skeleton almost looked laughable hanging there. Sure, it probably spelled doom and gloom for the two of us if we stopped to think about how long they had been down here without anyone noticing. But the way it hung there suspended by its arms and legs, it was like a kid’s puppet. Tossed aside, limp and small and waiting.

“This is it. We’re going to die down here,” B wailed.

I tried to calm him down. Talk it out and come up with some sort of plan for both our sakes. I needed to believe it as much as he did. I started struggling. Some of the strings shifted as I pulled on them, which wasn’t very comforting. Still, the lines were sturdy enough to hold us. Maybe we could climb them? We could go back up and out the way we came. Or if we couldn’t get up, we could work our way down. There had to be a bottom. Once we got down there we could figure something else out.

BigB didn’t really like that second idea. “Don’t go down,” he begged. “Down is so much worse.” Frankly, I was inclined to believe him.

I managed to convince him to try climbing up. I was starting to make some progress myself. The strands weren’t the most sturdy things. I could feel some of them snap or give way above me as I dragged myself up a few inches, but there were tons of them. Even with a few breakages, I was still able to hold myself relatively steady. I think seeing that helped him calm down. He started pulling himself up after me. As he moved, the strings swung a little. He found himself shifting back and forth, swinging closer and closer to the skeleton. He didn’t seem too enthused about it. I tried suggesting he shift his weight a little to the other side. He did, but by then he already had momentum. He swung really close to the skeleton. Within a foot or two, and my stomach dropped as the strings holding its right hand began to quiver.

I thought maybe BigB had shifted something loose above us, and it was hitting the strings holding the skeleton, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. To my horror, the thing moved forward. It hung limp, but its limbs moved independently like a marionette under the skillful hand of a puppeteer. One dead hand lurched forward, wrapping around a clump of the strings holding BigB in a way that would have been downright painful if the thing had had any muscle or nerves left. And then the strings holding the skeleton’s other arm aloft twitched and swung forward to wrap around BigB’s shoulders. The head leaned in, the jaw opened, and somewhere above us a voice said, “What good timing. I’m always looking for good replacement parts.”

BigB screamed. I’m pretty sure I screamed too. Bones rattled as B tried to throw the skeleton away from him, but I could only watch in horror as the puppet strings controlling its arms twisted around B and wrapped him tight. He thrashed. I screamed at him to hang on. I wasn’t sure what I would do, just that I had to do something. The only thing I could think of was getting to BigB, so I climbed. I grabbed at strings and clumps and whatever else I could to drag myself over to him.

In my desperate desire to help, I stopped paying attention to how sturdy the strings were. They were giving out like crazy in my hands. Things above me shifted. I remember reaching out to BigB, but then B shoved the skeleton back and screamed at me to look out. I looked up and saw one of the sharp rocks that had been hanging above us start to fall. I watched as it came down at me. I felt it slam into my skull, and that was the last thing I remembered. It all went black after that.

When I opened my eyes, I was back in the fake little bathroom. I was lying on the tiled floor next to the broken bits of mirror with some dudes’ faces blocking out the light. My head hurt something crazy.

My friends and the hosts had come to get me and BigB when we didn’t respond to the buzzer signaling time had run out. They saw me on the ground next to some broken glass and a gash on my head and panicked. I felt bad. I must have been a sorry sight. They picked me up and started patching me up. And I was grateful for the help. But then one of them asked where BigB went.

I freaked out. I started to point at the wall, shouting that he was still behind the little door, but everyone just looked at me like they were confused. I tried explaining what had happened, how we went through the little door behind the mirror in the storage room, but as I started describing the hall, the owners of the establishment cut me off and told me there was no door there.

The really freaky thing was that there wasn’t. I went back to that bathroom and the space on the wall was empty. I even ran my hand along it, but there were no seams or edges that I could feel. The one owner was even nice enough to peel back the wall paper after we searched for BigB for an hour with no luck. There was nothing there. It was like the door had never been there. Maybe I had just hit my head when I broke the mirror and dreamed it all. But dream or not, we never did find BigB.

Everyone, me, my friends, even the owners, we all practically tore that place apart looking for him. And when we ran out of places to look inside the building, we started combing the area outside for him. We weren’t able to find anything. When it started to get dark, someone called the police. A few officers came out to check the place out. They asked us a few questions and took our numbers, but it’s not like they came up with anything we hadn’t already found. It was like B vanished without a trace.

I’ve been at my wit's end trying to track him down since then. I don’t think I’ve gotten any sleep these past two days. I’ve even started putting up posters asking if anyone’s seen him. Everyone else is pitching in, but I can’t help but feel responsible. I’m the one who asked him to come along on this trip, and I lost him when we were partnered up. If there’s a chance that my dream wasn’t actually a dream, then I even convinced him to go down that creepy hall with me. If anyone should have gotten got, it should have been me.

I know what you’re probably thinking. Doc already left because of something freaky we saw. And now BigB’s gone too. This is different from when Doc left. Doc can handle himself. He’s crazy strong and smart. Doc avoided me, but he didn’t completely vanish. People still saw him.

This isn’t Doc we’re talking about here. It’s BigB. BigB wouldn’t hurt a fly. BigB can stick to himself sometimes, but he doesn’t get lost in projects and vanish like Doc can. He’s just gone.

Well, most of him is. While we waited for the police to arrive, I stuck my hand in my pocket and found something that hadn’t been there before.

I didn’t know what to do with it or how they got there. It makes no sense. The police didn’t bother with them, so I’m leaving them with you on the off chance they might be some sort of clue.

I think they’re BigB’s eyes.

[Grian]

Statement ends.

[Increasingly panicked breathing.]

[Grian]

I… I can’t. I just- I have to go call-

[Click]

[Grian]

I tried calling BigB. I tried a lot. He’s not picking up. Despite Ren’s questionable honesty about his own name, he’s proven to provide accurate statements. At least as far as we have been able to tell. And as much as I wish it wasn’t true, much of what appears in this statement has been backed up with follow-up research.

An inquiry to the police station confirmed that Ren and a handful of others had reported BigB missing two days ago, and considering BigB is a fully grown adult with the right to come and go as he pleases without telling anyone, I wouldn’t be surprised if they continue to drag their feet on an investigation.

As for the escape room establishment, Ren had left an address and printout of the ad he had found online in the box he left at the front desk. I asked Scar to look into it and he managed to contact the owners. They claimed they have no clue how Ren and BigB managed to find the room with the dolls. The walls have been inspected, but no traces of a “small door” are to be found. The wall is solid. There’s no possible way they could have gone through, or that BigB might have ended up in the walls, though they have since reviewed the blueprints they received upon purchasing the building. Upon further inspection, they found that on the opposite side of the same wall where Ren described the door is an empty space. No room is indicated. Or anything, really. Just empty space. They’re currently looking into having a contractor take a look for signs of a boarded-up room. The sooner, the better.

They also provided a little information on the building’s history as it was told to them upon purchase of the premises. This information we later confirmed after searching through public records. Apparently, the building used to house the production of doll parts, which would explain a lot. It wasn’t a full production plant. Too small for that. Rather, it was a hub for touch up work and assembling the doll pieces before they could be sold to local toy shops. The new owners took it upon themselves to use some of the leftover products they found lying around as props in their escape rooms.

Pearl dug through a few newspaper articles in the archives and found that the previous owner had died in a very peculiar accident. I’ll, uh, spare you the details, but it appears they were caught in the wires used for assembling puppets. The place had been left to rot for almost twenty years before the current owners bought the property.

Oh yeah! As for the other gift Ren left for us in the box…

[Dull rattling]

He wasn’t lying. There were a pair of eyes in there.

They’re not really BigB’s eyes. They can’t be. They’re made of glass. They’re those freaky kinds of weighted marbles they use in porcelain dolls. The ones that are made to blink at you when you tilt the things back and forth. I can see why he said they were BigB’s eyes, though. They’re the same shade of brown as his. And have that same gradient effect at the edges where it gets a little darker all the way around his irises. The resemblance is kind of uncanny.

They were definitely made to look just like BigB’s.

I can’t find it in me to have Impulse take them to storage. I don’t like them looking at me, but it feels wrong, somehow, to have them locked away in a dark room. I’ll probably just keep them in one of my desk drawers until we find him.

[Sighs]

I’ll call Ren later if he can stop his search long enough to let me help.

Heh. We should keep a nickel jar for whenever one of us goes missing. Between me and my friends, we’d make a fortune.

[Click]

#whumptober 2023 #prompt no. 6 #recording #“It should have been me”#minecraft: hermitcraft #the magnus archives #creative writing #creepy dolls #missing persons #renthedog #bigbst4tz2 #grian #goodtimeswithscar #horror #the hermit archives #from the archives #escape room gone wrong #Human remains

22 notes · View notes

celestie0 · 6 months

Note

book recs? if you read. biology books are fine as well.

hiii my dear LOL yes i do read but not that often haha. not sure what genres speak to you but i tried to give a bit of a range!!

i just finished reading "pachinko" by author min jin lee n thought it was really wonderful. it's a story that spans multiple generations from a war era to modern era so it was really interesting seeing the cultural developments, i can tell the author put a lot of research into it. i mean i was already bawling by end of the first chapter and i very rarely actually cry when i'm reading books. the minimalistic style of the writing is so lovely i think this book has most influenced my own writing style. it's a hefty n lengthy book though, but so worth the ride

this one is really popular but def worth the hype "the seven husbands of evelyn hugo"! it's about sort of a marilyn monroe type character named evelyn hugo who was a famous actress (it's all fictional though) and all of her love affairs. i love the unique voice that she has throughout the book, she keeps it super real and so those moments of vulnerability from her end up hitting hard. i so very enjoy the way taylor jenkins reid writes aaa i'm reading another one of her books rn called "one true loves" (although tbh it's not that great so far haha)

a romance i read sort of recently was "before we were strangers" by renee carlino and i liked it!! the angsttt ugh. it's a second chance romance ab two characters who met in uni and then went their separate ways and didn't reunite again until they were in their thirties i believe. i love those types of romances where ppl have had a lot of time away from one another, exploring all the growth inbetween is sm fun. tbh there were so many times i wanted to slap the shit outta both the main characters for their horrendously poor decision making lmfao but i appreciate stories like that bc they feel raw and real. def recommend!

since you mentioned bio books i'll shout out my two faves LOL:

"who we are and how we got here" by david reich. i love this book, it's a really amazing collection of geneticists research to account for all the variations in humans across the world and throughout hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. it touches on why diff demographics are more susceptible to certain illness/disease, w explanations ranging from things such as colonization & racism, social isolation and even early language development!!

"the body" by bill bryson. this one is simple n kind of functions as a lil encyclopedia for the body, including famous discoveries and tips on how to take care of yourself. i think it's both a leisure read and also really educational so i loved it. there's stuff like women's anatomy, history of insulin production and there's even a section on food/metabolism which was my fave. it's all in layman's terms so it's suitable for anyone to pick up

i got kinda carried away w this haha but i hope you enjoy reading if you do read any of them! it's overcast where i live and now i wanna curl up with a book :'')

thank you lovely for the ask <3

#celestie rec #anon #asks #bookblr #book recommendations #book review

9 notes · View notes

romanceandshenanigans · 1 year

Text

Writer Q&A Game

Thanks to @clairelsonao3 for tagging me!

1. What motivates you to write?

I'm not exactly sure tbh. It almost feels like a compulsion. There are days where I simply do not feel good in my body if I haven't written anything. Then there are others where I can't bring myself to write because I'm too tired or too distracted from life. Honestly the second I get a clear head and enough time to myself, I'll start writing.

2. A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

This isn't from my WIP, but from a fanfic I wrote a while ago. I want to try to find a way to incorporate it into something. Not sure where though.

“I know this seems like it’s coming out of nowhere,” he said, “but promise it’s not. I’ve had a long time to think about it. A few years, actually. I guess, I just didn’t realize how deep I was in it until about five minutes ago.”

She kept silent, but the simple fact she hadn’t told him to get out gave him the confidence to keep going. .

“I meant it when I said I’m crazy about you. I like that you take your sugar with a drop of coffee. I like how you sing to yourself when you’re happy. I like that you never seem to get cold. I like that you never lose your head under fire, but still need me to get rid of spiders. I like that you can laugh at yourself. I like that you can laugh at me. Hell, I like that you’re perfectly willing to slap my face if the situation calls for it.

I like so many things about you Liz, and that’s just the stuff I found out on accident. I can only imagine the stuff I’d learn if I started loving you on purpose."

3. Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them and what are they like?

I really do enjoy writing Finn. The boy just makes my smile.

Close second is another OC which I wrote for fanfic who I want to save and put someplace else, Lucy. She's my softest girl who has a lot of love to give. Might figure out a way to put her in this regency setting somewhere, but who knows.

4. What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

The first draft spree. The moment when you get an idea and you have write it down as quickly as possible. It's rough and definitely will need some editing, but that rush cannot be topped. It just feels satisfying to exorcise even the smallest of scenes out of my body.

5. What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

Dialogue, hands down. It's at least the part I've gotten the most compliments on.

6. What is something in the writeblr community is most enjoyable?

I've only just started to dip my toe in, but I really do love answering asks. I like seeing other writer's process and knowing I'm not alone. It's just fun!

7. A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

I've been using Scrivener and it's really helped me keep everything organized. I have a very conspiracy board way of drafting, so having all my random snippets in one place really helps.

8. A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

Not sure world building is my strong suit for this current WIP. I suppose I'm enjoying expanding the world of the theatre, but I admittedly need to do more research.

9. What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

Write anyway. It doesn't have to be the scene that's giving you trouble. It doesn't even have to be for the piece you're trying to focus on, just don't get out of the habit of writing. Once you lose that momentum, it takes a long time to get it back.

10. Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters

Gotta give a shout out to @clairelsonao3 for being so welcoming in my introduction to the writeblr community. And @janec23, for being one of the few specifically romance writers to reach out.

But I really can't begin to thank all the people who have followed me from my fanfic blog over to this one. It really means so much to know people are interested in reading anything I put out there.

@flapjacques, @jo-harrington, @can-of-pringles, @handahbear, @auroramagpie, @justanothersadperson93, @sad-cat-hours, @ghostface001, @theowlwhocameback, @mattmurdocksscars, @roruna, @everything-intertwined, @sweetjedi, @arcanerazil, @vibratingbonesbis, @delirious0pandemonium, @llovelykenobi, @geek-girl7, @mixedupanddown

Know that I love and appreciate you all.

I'm also going to leave this an OPEN tag to anyone who wants to do this, and especially invite everyone who I have tagged above. (and

#tag game #writeblr #wip: untitled regency romance #writeblr asks #about the author #writeblr tag game

25 notes · View notes

whump-town · 1 year

Text

Wake Up/Go to Sleep

I'm rusty af and as always, the best I have to offer is angst (and Foyet). I've got zero creativity, zero motivation, and a lousy ass excuse of a story so enjoy what you will and disregard the rest

A measly 5,000 words

“Wake up.”

Hotch forces his eyes open, his heart kicking into summersaults, landing with hard thumps, weakly reminding him where he is. His vision is blurry and tunneled, his quick shallow gasps inaudible to his own ears.

“Hate to do this to you, pal.” With a grunt, Foyet hefts Hotch’s shoulders up from the ground, trying to sit him upright. “Shh, now, you’re fine.” Foyet awkwardly tries to move Hotch into position, fighting now extra weight as what little coherency Hotch had leaves him in a rasped, weak groan. “You just cannot handle a little fun, can you?” Foyet grumbles, shaking his head at the whites of Hotch’s eyes, where the pale lids remain slightly parted.

The apartment has fallen back into silence. Foyet had spent a lot of time waiting, he’d spent a lot of time in this apartment, and this silence was like no other. The walls were thin, for hours Foyet had sat here and listened to occupants of apartments around Hotch’s. Hearing their footsteps as they went from room to room or their voices fussing at misbehaving children or a couple's loud quarrels. But now there is silence. The silence of frightened children pulling bed sheets tighter around them and willing their stiffness, their closed eyes, and held breaths to be enough to ward off the nightmares just under their beds.

Foyet had been watching for a long time.

He knew that no one would come check under the bed of a man like Aaron Hotchner. Not even his neighbors would risk leaving the safety of their beds to stick their ankle out and risk being caught themselves.

Foyet has waited a long time for this.

Tom Shaunessy was a coward and Foyet had known it the moment that he’d seen the man. Everything about him screamed cowardice, but his eyes especially. Shaunessy could hardly look at what The Reaper had done. As he spoke to Foyet in the hospital, Shaunessy had looked everywhere but at him. Casting his eyes aside to the horrors, unable to even look at what the murderer he couldn’t catch had done.

That first phone call had excited Foyet and he couldn’t imagine letting something like that go. Not when this was it, not when Hotch was who Foyet had waited all this time for. The pieces were so simple to put together, it hadn’t bothered Foyet one bit to change up his tactics to explore this new, far more exciting avenue.

Hotch would be the fight he wanted. This would be like nothing before and it’s all coming together perfectly.

“Hey big guy,” Foyet taps Hotch’s face, smiling as Hotch’s breathing labors harder as he comes to once again. His pinprick pupils manage a slow, lazy climb to focus on Foyet. “Let’s get you outta here.”

After calling 911, Foyet had passed out. He’d done the research, he knew how many stabs were too many. He could look at pools of blood and know how much was too much, and how much was survivalable. But there is only ever one way to find out. Foyet imagines that Hotch knows these things too. Perhaps Hotch had never held the knife and found out for himself but Foyet has no doubt he’s an intelligent man. And if Hotch could see now the pool of blood being left to clot and thicken in his off-white carpet, he’d see for himself that he was toeing that line.

Too much and survivable.

But Foyet knew nine was survivable. He could have been a surgeon, he has very steady hands and is precise with a blade. Maybe he would’ve liked that, if he didn’t like this more. But taking a life is a far better thrill than saving one.

Foyet had waited long and hard for a good fight. And now Hotch had proven himself the proper opponent. The fight that Foyet had always wanted. A fight of equals. The night Foyet stabbed himself he’d never flinched, if he had, he would have nicked something, and dying wasn’t an option. Hotch had endured for the same reasons that Foyet had – for what comes next.

And Foyet could excuse a little fainting.

“Come on,” Foyet urges, tapping at Hotch’s pale face, “come on, don’t make me kiss ya’ sleepin’ beauty.” Glassy eyes roll in their sockets as Hotch just barely finds it within himself to find Foyet who smiles down at him, “hey handsome, you ready to go?” There’s no answer coming, not that Foyet is waiting for it. On three, he hefts Hotch up, pulling them both to their feet in a great struggle. Quickly Foyet abandons the idea that Hotch is going to walk himself out, so he prepares for plan b.

With a grunt, Foyet maneuvers Hotch around. He’s never really had to do this part before but he’s had more than enough time to prepare. Hotch makes no noises now, hangs limply over Foyet’s shoulder. Giving no response to the slap Foyet delivers to the back of his thigh as he asks, “you got everything you need?” There’s no need to respond anyway, Foyet is too busy laughing.

Hotch passes out and comes to again in Foyet’s front seat, as Foyet wrangles him out his suit jacket. His vision returns, tunneled and littered in black dots obscuring what little he can see, as the Foyet presses Hotch’s jacket against his chest, forcing Hotch’s limp arms up and around himself, holding the jacket to his chest.

The door slams shut.

—-----------

Hospitals are cold and sterile. The white walls absorb and diffuse, creating an atmosphere that’s nearly unaffected by the change of time, and the passing of guards. Hearts do keep time, a rhythm is predictable, measurable. A steady heart is.

“How long has he been down?”

“Twenty-five minutes.”

The thing about a stalled heart… on the one hand, it stops blood from accumulating further in the thick puddle of the emergency room floor. No pumping heart means the gushing flow has stopped, their John Doe isn’t bleeding himself dry anymore. On the other, it means there’s no blood getting where it needs to be. Blood can be moped up from the floor. For the most part, it can be scrubbed out of fabric. But bodies, people, need blood far more than the floor does.

Mr. Doe puts up a fight. They hit minute thirty-two and his heart finds a weak, but present pulse to beat to. Alive more on the stretcher than he had been as he was wheeled in the emergency room’s doors. They’d lifted him from the wheelchair he’d been pushed in on, and deposited him on white sheets with more color than his face. He’d been conscious throughout it, eyes open and loosely tracking movement. A nurse had spoken to him, and gotten minimal reaction to stimuli. They’d lost him after intubation, a predictable crash, dominos falling in line.

____________________

“He doesn’t look…”

“Alive,” Emily finishes, barely a whisper. She knows what dead people look like. There are days when she spends more time looking at corpses than the actual living breathing people around her. They should be a few more floors down, the morgue would be more fitting. This doesn’t feel like visiting a friend, it feels like identifying him. What’s left of him, that is.

Dave eyes Emily carefully and precedes into the room. How many of Hotch’s hospital rooms has he occupied now in his career? He’d worked for the Beaurea for over thirty years and hardly ever seen the inside of a hospital until he hired Hotch. Which was by no means a mistake, but it was certainly a decision. There’s not much left of that punk ass kid he hired.

Dave’s knee creak as he lowers himself into the chair pulled up the side of the bed. He’d seen Emily here earlier, but now she seems far more content to stand in the corner, further away. Admittedly, Hotch looks bad. He doesn’t just look bad, he’s living in a shadowy in-between. The doctors have cleaned him up on the inside but he’s not in the clear. “He’s a tough kid,” Dave says softly and clears his throat, the sentiment adding to the growing knot of emotion stuck in his throat. On one hand he count the number of times they’ve been in this position, but it’s more than twice. “Ever tell you about the car he drove into a lake?”

Arms crossed, Emily gives a shrug despite knowing exactly what Dave is talking about. Hotch broke both the bones in his lower right leg doing that, he’d hobbled around on crutches for weeks. Scared the hell out of Dave, who had wadded out to grab Hotch by his soaked suit jacket and dragged him to shore, coughing and spitting water up. The story is better than the reality. When Dave tells it, Hotch fought him all the way the hospital, arguing and bickering. That Hotch was downright furious to be carted up in an ambulance and made to stay in the hospital. The reality was that he’d barely managed to get himself to shore, and by the time he was at the shore, in water that would have come to his shins, he was hardly able to keep his head up. Between the freezing water, the sudden impact, and his broken leg, Hotch was in shock. Freezing and shivering. There hadn’t been a lot of fighting.

Dave tells her anyway and Emily doesn’t interrupt him. She’s torn between looking at Hotch and avoiding him at all costs. Half of her is morbidly curious. Laying here, he looks nothing like himself. It’s him, she supposes, but not recognizably, not in any way she’s familiar. So her eyes keep finding him, hoping on some small, silly hope, that his eyes will open and he’ll look back at her with a face she does know.

It’s like being left in the room with a ghost. There is an active haunting happening, unsettled spirits. Looking at Hotch… it doesn’t look like he’s settled. Doesn’t look like his own spirit, or even life, inhabits his body. She wants to leave too, but Dave entrusts her, foolishly, to sit watch so that he can go handle bigger things. Emily would much rather be at the emergency meeting with Strauss right now, even if the Director was there, that’d beat this. But Dave’s decided for her, bastard.

Dave has been gone for twenty mintues when Hotch makes a sudden noise that scares Emily. The room is so full of little noises, she’s grown acquainted to them. She hardly hears the heart monitor, looking up only on the stray beeps. She looks as if she’s got any idea what any one of these machines do, but she has only a rough idea. The leads can be tracked from his chest, so she’s fairly certain of what some of them do, but there are too many other wires. A net of them that she really doesn’t want to understand.

Hotch makes the noise again and Emily, despite her best efforts to look anywhere else, looks right at him. His eyes are open, hardly, but she can hear him breathing, laborious inhales through pale, parted lips. The sound occurs again and Emily watches, she sees his chest catch, the sound choked out again.

“Hotch?”

There comes no reply.

Emily looks out of the room, there are two nurses at the station, both far more prepared to handle whatever is happening now. But she’s not even sure what’d she say to them. It feels silly, ridiculous, to bring them in here and tell them what exactly? That has made a “weird” sound. None of the machines are making any weird sounds, surely if something bad was happening, they’d be the first to know.

Taking a tentative step closer, Emily calls his name again. Only a whisper, all she’s brave enough for.

His chest catches and Emily steps closer, even though she feels the instinctual need to step back. His hand is near the edge, fingers lightly curled by gravity, his wrist up. Not sure where she should be, Emily gets just close enough to nudge his hand with the tip of her finger, “Hotch?” She tries to be within his line of sight, she thinks he is.

He makes the sound again and Emily flinches as it changes, rasping as he tries to pull in air.

“Hotch?” His hand moves quickly, blindly, and wraps around her wrist. “Hotch,” she tries to pull her arm away from him but she can’t. She pulls but his grip is strong, unwavering in strength. She clenches her teeth, feeling the bones in hand grind together. “Please–” she strains, it hurts, feels like he’s close to breaking her wrist, but she can’t wrench his fingers away. “Let go.”

The panick is starting to take hold of her, her brain easily supplies all the weak places she could hit to get him off of her but her fingers stay over his, trying to pry his fingers away. As Emily grows more desperate, Hotch makes a significantly worse sound and then the pain in her wrist takes second place in things that are freaking her out. Hotch’s grip falls slack back to the bed, but his fingers are still visible in their previous placement on her skin. His chest stops rising and Emily stumbles back from the bed, her hand over her wrist, and her feet trying to rapidly take her away.

Emily squeezes by nurses as she runs through the door, not looking back at the sound of an alarm going off.

By the time Dave gets back, the skin on her wrist is purple and pink, actively trying to bruise and immiting a popping sound when she moves the joint. She holds her palm over the bruising when Dave comes up, because he’s already alarmed by the fact that instead of being lead back to Hotch’s room, he’s been deferred to a waiting room.

“What happened?”

Coming out of the room, Emily had been shaking. Typically, that much adrenaline comes along with a good chase. A place to run to, a lot of energy to physical exert someplace. Now she takes it all with her and she has no where to go. Now as Dave comes to a frustrated halt, hand slipping over his goatee and then falling to his hip, Emily feels the force bubble right back up.

“He ugh…” Emily stammers, “he just…” Anxiously, her fingers start kneading the agitated skin. “He… I just but I mean–”

“What happened to your hand?” Dave asks and by the way that Emily’s hand snaps to cover it, he already has a pretty good idea what she’s hiding. “Did anyone look at it?”

Emily narrows her eyes for a moment and looks away. “It’s fine.”

Dave nods his head, and takes the chair beside her. “I’m sure it is,” he sighs, leaning back. “Should probably still get it looked at.”

Emily glares at him, her hand protectively held to her chest. “He didn’t mean to,” she mumbles.

“I wasn’t saying he did.”

Emily looks at him, and then away.

Dave smiles sadly down at the ground. He’d already gotten a taste of the trouble Emily and Hotch could get themselves into together. Even though their relationship had been formed on distrust, even some hatred and anger. The two of them get on like flames on wood, Dave’s not even surprised that she would feel protective. Though, he’s not sure why Emily feels the need to protect Hotch from him.

“It really is fine,” Emily says softly.

“I believe you,” Dave says, “but Aaron–”

“I know,” Emily interrupts. “It’s not broken, he didn’t–” She shakes her head, “it’s just bruised but I’ll– I’ll go get it looked at.”

“Atta girl.”

____________________

Hotch’s breathing sharpens and JJ sits up a little, eyes anxiously darting up to the heart monitor. She watches his eyelashes flutter as he stirs. His hand twitches, jerking against the sheets. He makes a soft noise, inhaling through his nose, and bends his elbow, moving his hand across the sheets towards the left. Twice already JJ had seen him do this. Hotch grunts, agitatedly when his hand comes in contact with the rail. His fingers lazily fumble along the rail until he takes hold of it, wrapping his fingers around it. On the next breath, his eyes open and he looks up for a disoriented moment before turning his head towards the rail.

“You’re in the hospital,” JJ offers quietly, hoping not to startle him.

He turns his head a little at the sound of her voice but his attention remains on the rail. “I know,” he says hoarsely. He stares for a moment longer at the rail and his hand slips back down to the bed. Hotch turns his head to her and frowns. She has no idea what he’s going to say but she can see him thinking, the look on his face. “You shouldn’t be here,” he says softly.

JJ frowns sadly, understanding all that he’s not said. The crinkles of pain between his eyebrows and his eyes. They’re softer than the rest of him. Windows to the soul. “And leave you here alone?” she asks, brushing her thumb across his knuckles. “You wouldn’t leave me here alone, would you?”

Hotch looks away, slightly shaking his head.

“Then what makes you think I’d leave you?”

His mouth lifts a little and he turns his head away, shaking his head.

JJ knows someone else should be here. Dave or Emily would know what to say. They would take one look at him and understand whatever it is that he’s not saying. But JJ can’t. JJ doesn’t know what Hotch’s thinking. It’s just locked inside of him, behind his determined grimace.

“I brought juice,” she offers lamely, looking over until she can find her bag. She pulls the bottle out of her purse and holds it, crinkling the plastic around the bottle. “It’s apple,” JJ says, looking down at it. “I don’t know if you like apple juice but I– well I guess… I just wanted to bring something…”

Hotch doesn’t want apple juice. He doesn’t really like juice. If she was offering some tea or coffee he might consider it a little more. “I’m okay,” he says to the wall.

“Oh,” JJ says softly, “okay.”

Hotch hadn’t been interested in the slightest by anything they had tried to offer him. On the first night, Emily had gotten a few ice chips into him but his defenses were something else in those first twenty-four hours. His control was topsy-tervy. Boarding on crazed and belligerent and then nothing but tears and anguish. But they could be one in the same. They were. And while apple juice wasn’t the first thing she’d brought him or the first thing he’d denied from her, it was still disheartening.

There wasn’t a whole lot that JJ felt she could do. Which wasn’t a new feeling. Their jobs demanded something from them that it did not ask of her. She couldn’t tell like they could when someone was lying or read between meaningless gestures to understand something deeper. She couldn’t even look at her friend and tell what he was thinking, how could she do it with a stranger?

But she could do something. JJ enjoyed bringing snacks. She liked being the person hunting down the one specific thing that Reid would eat if he was too anxious or afraid or just sick. JJ liked knowing that she could be relied on in this way. That when everything else was going wrong she could meet this one need. Hunger. She knew their take-out orders by heart and if she needed to make an impromptu change, she knew what they would want.

Even Hotch. What coffee and a nap could not fix, JJ could. It wasn’t so hard, really, she thought. When it came down to it, a good snack is a comfort. Something simple. And she could appreciate that. JJ thought it was cute, and sweet even how she could spend five minutes making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and she would be in Hotch’s favor for weeks. He’d thank her endlessly.

But Hotch isn’t eating. He has no will to subsist off anything but what comes into his body through whatever they attach to him next.

Head turned from her, Hotch closes his eyes but the crinkle of plastic keeps playing through the room. JJ’s anxious hands toying with it. “Okay,” Hotch sighs. He turns to look over at her, not even sure how to ask for the juice, but she’s already looking up, face lit up.

That feeling in his stomach acts up, guilt tightening in his chest. He’s selfish. Hotch watches her without a word. JJ’s so excited that she moves quickly, grabbing at a paper cup and twisting the lid off the juice. Moving like she’s afraid he’ll change his mind if she’s not fast enough.

“Here,” she presents the cup with a smile, tapping the straw so that it falls forward towards his mouth.

Something in his voice whispers the threat of poison, coils tightly in his stomach. Nausea creeps up, thick in his throat. He pulls only a tiny sip from the straw, forcing it down despite his immediate desire to throw it up.

“It’s important to get fluids in,” JJ says and then glances up at the IV pole, the medications, and hundred other things coming in through the line. Maybe it’s not the same but the way she figures, it’s not gonna hurt, and he can’t stay here so he’s got to start eating and drinking sometimes. JJ places the cup on the tray, close by, and when she turns back he’s still watching her. She’s familiar with this face. The exhaustion that leads to tears, that worn down look on his face.

Hotch exhales shakily and averts his eyes. “You should go home,” he rasps, barely containing a wince as he raises his left arm weakly to his chest. “With Will and Henry…”

JJ pulls in a breath, turning her head as tears unexpectedly begin to sting her eyes. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Will and Henry. What would she do if they were sent away? How would she survive? And it felt selfish to even think about them, to have them waiting at home for her. JJ sniffles and wipes her wet face with the back of her hand. “I will,” she promises, taking her seat again and reaching forward for his hand. Hotch closes his eyes when she takes his hand, turning his head away. “But not right now.”

Hotch keeps his head turned from her for a while. Enough time passes that JJ thinks he might have fallen asleep again but then he sniffles and lifts his hand to try and dry the tears that have fallen against his will. The hand she’s holding moves just enough and he squeezes her hand. When he turns, his eyes don’t meet hers right away. He looks to the wall to her side, mouth opening as he struggles to find the words. But then he looks at her, irritated wet eyes, “Thank you for staying.”

Another round of tears nearly takes her out, they block her vision when she stands, leaning over him gently so that she can hug him. JJ kisses the top of his head, “You’re my friend, Aaron.” She looks at him, down into disbelieving eyes. “I’d do anything for you and you’d deserve it all.”

“JJ–”

“Don’t argue with me,” she says sternly. JJ sniffles and wipes her eyes dry, “I mean it and I won’t be argued with.” She puts her hands on her hips and looks at him, a face he’s often enough. A very motherly glare. “So just deal with it, kapeesh?”

Hotch doesn’t even try not to smile. It’s little, hardly a smile at all but it’s a grin at the very least. “Yes ma’am.”

“Ok then,” JJ says sitting back down. “Now back to sleep,” she commands, “it’s late.”

____________________

Hotch is sleeping. Morgan’s checked and rechecked, he’s just barely an expert but this isn't fake. Hotch had been playing at sleep for the last two days now, successfully warding off his visitors. Morgan had been his roommate for the first four years he was on the team, he could tell when Hotch was really asleep. Somehow, Prentiss could too. Morgan wants to know why, and he’s got a pretty good visual given every story Prentiss has ever told him and Hotch’s extreme need to relieve some stress.

“Princess,” Morgan whispers, glancing slightly at Hotch but he’s been too quiet. “Are you awake?”

She ignores him, keeping her eyes closed. It’s ten at night and Hotch is sleeping, as far as Emily’s concerned, Morgan needs to shut the hell up and either get a nap while it’s silent or go chatter somewhere else.

“Emily,” Morgan says a little louder. “Come on, I know you’re awake.”

“Shut up,” she mumbles, cracking her eye open just enough to glance at Hotch.

“Can I ask you somethin’?” Derek says, sitting up.

Emily sighs and opens her eyes, glaring across the bed between them to Derek. “What?” she demands.

“Earlier,” Derek says, “you said you were in Hotch’s apartment and that nothing looked out of place…”

Emily nods, slowly. “Yeah, okay. So what?”

Derek sits up a little more, his blanket falling off his shoulder and down into his lap. “How’d you know something like that? What would be out of place and what wouldn’t?”

Emily sighs and rolls her eyes, “I don’t know Derek. Probably because I’ve been to his apartment once or twice. Is that a big deal? Are you jealous?”

Derek huffs a laugh, “hardly.” He smiles, “I was just wondering… I mean I’m his friend too but I don’t know if I could tell if anything was out of place in his apartment.” He shurgs, “but I’ve been there only a handful of times.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Nothing,” Derek smirks. “Nothing at all.”

Emily scowls at him, “you’re such a pervert. Why is that where you nasty head goes everytime?” Emily tugs her blanket up around her, puffing, “I would never… with Hotch? Come on, now.” Derek doesn’t look convinced. “And Hotch would never. He has a whole complex about power, he’d probably think it’d be manipulative. And besides it’d be –”

“Fraternization,” a hoarse voice supplies.

Emily immediately sits up. “Hotch?”

He hums, slowly pulling his eyes open and blinking a few sluggish times.

“Hey man,” Derek says, he’s already standing, his hand on Hotch’s arm.

“You’re supposed to be sleeping,” Emily fusses, standing too, crossing her arms.

Hotch looks blearily between them and raises his eyebrows a little. “Was trying,” he rasps, voice giving out on him. He tries to clear his throat but his mouth is painfully dry and he winces.

Emily shoots Derek a dirty look but he ignores her, turing his back to them to fill a cup of water for Hotch. “I’m sorry,” Emily says, “we’ll be quiet.”

“Here,” Derek offers, and he waits for Hotch to raise his hand. He’s not yet been able to hold the cup himself but his fingers loosely curl around it, and Derek does the extra work.

“Thank you,” Hotch says softly, and Derek nods back, putting the cup down.

“How’re you feeling?” Derek asks, pulling his chair closer and sitting back down.

Maybe proof of the drugs coursing through him, Hotch hums, eyes already closed, and the corner of his mouth twitching up. “Don’t put me under oath.”

Derek barks out a laugh and Emily frowns at him. “You’re making jokes?” Derek chuckles, “damn, you must be feeling good.”

“Mm.”

“Alright,” Emily interrupts, “we should be sleeping.” Her voice lowers as she looks at Derek, “not talking.”

Derek raises his hands and Hotch cracks his eyes back open, drowsily taking stock of them. He blinks sluggishly, licking his dry lips, “Why’re you here?”

Derek and Emily shares a glance over him, one that he can clearly see.

“We’re security,” Derek says, finally.

“Security,” Hotch repeats. He smirks a little, eyes dragging over to Derek, “...must not be that important.”

“The Beaurea doesn’t think so,” Emily mumbles, taking her chair back.

“He won’t come back,” Hotch says. Turning his head to look at her is a physical exertion, more energy than he has to dispense. “His jobs done for now.”

Emily only glances at him, moving her eyes instead to her lap, scratching at her nails.

“Yeah well if he does, he’s gonna have to deal with me,” Derek huffs.

And without seeing him, Hotch knows Derek’s glaring at the door. Half willing, half daring Foyet to come. But Emily doesn’t share his boldness.

“He won’t come back,” Hotch repeats and Emily looks up at him.

She believes him, she trusts the profile that he’d written, but that doesn’t do much to combat her fear. It’s not as logical as the rest. “He’d better not,” she relents, tucking her arms back over her chest.

The conversation feels far from over, but Hotch can feel his ill-timed fluttering of his heart trying to beat in his chest. He knows that Foyet won’t come to the hospital. The intent was never to kill him, and as long as Foyet wants him alive, he will be.

Hotch’s eyes shut on their own accord, his body submitting without a consult to the rest of him.

“Night, Hotch.”

#criminal minds #aaron hotchner #emily prentiss #derek morgan #criminal minds fanfiction #david rossi #jennifer jareau

29 notes · View notes