#just cut the cameras.

[aritamargarita]

GOLDEN || 007

me after lying for more than a week. the streak is over guys. but it wasnt my fault ok it was actually tumblrs!!!

the fact i have had to revise this chapter around five times GOOD GOD. i finally found an idea to focus on. originally wanted it to be strictly ecw, but we ended up heading on back to wcw lol. shorter than id like it to be but..i split it heehee

id also like to clarify things our tenure is like: ecw (1994-1996) > wcw (february 1996-september 1997) > ecw (october/november 1997) > wwf (december 1997)... how fun is that? hope that makes sense i think i talk about lore too much (yes i will go into detail)

YOU THINK TROUBLE follows you almost everywhere you go. When you went to WCW, you just wanted some peace. Of course, you’re just so unlucky that you can never EVER get what you want.

“Did you seriously crawl all the way from the ring?”

You’re not sure whether to commend him for his efforts or just be disappointed.

“Jeez, you’re so pathetic,” You say. “You can’t even stand on your own feet. I almost feel sorry for you.”

Raven doesn’t have the energy to look up, but he definitely knows it’s you. His vision is blurred, with the only thing in his view being your shoes.

Your voice sends Raven into a frenzy. While he hates the way you’re talking down to him, he loves the sound of it. He’s not sure if it’s his mind being all woozy.

….He’s bleeding, too. It’s noticeable, especially on his face. Some of his curls were also stained with red. You knew for a fact Stevie and Sandman did a number on him during his match.

Especially since the latter swung by afterwards and spilled the deets. Sandman was already lighting up a cigarette by the time he got to you. You can only wonder how he got it so fast..

“I set him straight.” He said, a puff of smoke hitting you in your face.

You wave it out the way, scrunching your nose. You’re not entirely sure what he said, but you don’t really care. “Can you—can you like, at least blow somewhere else?”

He just laughs at you. “Needed you to get your head out of the clouds.”

You’re unsure what number cigarette he’s on now. You’re too busy stuck in your thoughts to care. “I was listening, I-I swear.”

“Oh yeah? Then what did I just say?”

“…….”

Your silence causes him to puff more smoke in your direction. Goddamn it. You’re going to have a problem with him if you end up getting any secondhand smoke symptoms..

“Ha. Knew ya’ weren’t listening. I’ll say it again. You didn’t do it, so I ended up doing it myself. You’re letting this idiot fuck you guys over.”

At the time, you definitely weren’t listening. You were backstage pacing back and forth, hoping that Stevie made it out alright. You hadn’t seen him since he stormed out there and told you to stay behind.

Seeing Raven beaten down makes you feel complete. It makes you feel like you got your revenge, even if it was by proxy.

You kneel down to his level. “It’s crazy that it ended up like this. You’ve lost everyone, huh? I may be the only person you have left.”

You may be right. Raven’s lost everything. He’s lost Beulah. He’s lost his little lackeys. They’re all gone. They want nothing to do with him.

He’s half the man he used to be.

And he can’t say you didn’t try. You really, really did. For his sake. You destroyed yourself everyday so he’d be happy.

You left Terry’s side for him. You’ve even messed Tommy up so he could win his matches. You’ve never EVER received a ‘thank you’. Nothing was ever given to you in return.

Either way, if he wouldn’t give you appreciation, you hoped that someone else would. There were other people in the nest you could talk to..

You used to talk to Beulah the most, as she would request for you specifically to curl her hair. In her words: “there’s no one else that can do it like you”. She’s always been incredibly sweet to you.

The moment she had aligned herself with Tommy Dreamer was when things got worse. Raven forbid you from ever talking to her again. Don’t look at her. Don’t even THINK of her.

She didn’t exist in your life anymore.

After that, you really didn’t have any friends outside of her. Luckily, you then found yourself finding comfort in none other than Stevie Richards.

It surprised you. He was so peppy and he always looked as bright as the sun. He’s someone you thought you’d get annoyed with, but in the end, you felt like you two had a lot more in common.

Whenever you and him found something even the slightest bit funny, the two of you would burst into giggles.

It was almost scary how abrupt your joy would come to an end when Raven walked into the room.

When he’d do that, sometimes he will stare at you two. If you were lucky, you’d get out of it without him berating you. You two feel like you’re walking on eggshells around him.

…You’ve come to the conclusion that Raven can’t stand happiness. It was probably because he’s never had any in life. Because he didn’t have it, none of you in the Nest could.

It made you feel bad for him. He’s had a strange upbringing, so you felt like if you left him, he’d fall apart.

Maybe that’s why he acts the way he does. You wish you could open his head and just take a look at his brain. You wonder what’s going on in there.

You could never figure it out, but then came Kimona Wanalaya. She came into the picture sooner than you thought. Almost out of nowhere. Raven definitely wanted a place to pin his sadness.

Obviously, she was the cushion. He was the pin. She was very quiet, a little bit snarky. You figured Raven probably played a part in her behavior.

She always wore the cutest clothes though, that you had to admit. Once you told her as much, Kimona had told you that you’re welcome to come through her closet anytime.

You thought about it. It’s a hard maybe. Thing is, you’ve actually started matching with Stevie on occasion. Just to see how it feels.

You had to cut some of your old denim jeans as short as you could possibly get them.

Not too much, of course. There’s more of a mystery when someone’s covered up, you think. Then again, you had to wear crop tops, so eh.

Hey, on the bright side, no wardrobe malfunctions!

It got a kick out of the crowd, seeing you jump around and be all hyper as you head towards the ring. Mimicking him was really fun.

Raven didn’t like it though. He didn’t like how close you two were getting at all. It was all his fault though, he’s pretty cold to the both of you. It’s inevitable that you two would start to get along.

He really thought you’d get jealous of Kimona. That’s why he brought her around in the first place, at least that’s what he was telling himself. Yet you’re too focused on Stevie to even pay him any mind.

He never said anything about it either. All he could do was lie in the bed he made.

It’s all his fault and there’s nothing he could do to fix it. He shouldn’t have let you two get confident enough to leave him. None of you had the guts to get anything done.

He was the hero. It wasn’t any of you that aligned himself with him. He was the hero at the end of this story, you guys were just pawns to be used along the way.

Raven’s the winner. He always has been and always will be.

But winners don’t writhe on the ground while bleeding. He’s still having a hard time stabilizing himself.

He raises up a hand and tries to hold onto you in an attempt to get any kind of leverage, but you scoot away. “Ew, stop. You’re gonna get blood on me..”

Just as you say that, he spits out a string of blood, murmuring something that you couldn’t hear. 

You don’t really care.

“I tried helping you, Raven. I really did. It may be a stretch, but I’m almost the only person that can stand being around you just a little bit. There's no one that'll ever treat you like I do."

It was halfway a lie. You were sure if you stood nearby him any other time, you’d either try to claw his eyes out or end up crying. You hope it ends up being the former.

“I bet everyone loves you.” He finally says something understandable, using his hand to try and wipe away blood that was masking his vision.

He doesn’t turn upward to face you, deciding to stare right into the space behind. “I can only begin to wonder how that felt. Being appreciated and wanted in society. To be respected, not feared…”

“Oh yes. People love me.” You confirm. “You love me too.”

“….I don’t.”

“You definitely do. Don’t kid yourself…” You’re looking straight at him. "Haven't your parents ever told you its not good to lie?"

Maybe he does love you. No, he doesn’t know what he feels around you. It’s not contempt and it’s not admiration either.

The moment he says something that directly confronts the problem is the moment that you’ve won. He doesn’t want to give you that satisfaction.

“I know for a fact you love me, because you don’t have anyone else that does.” You can’t fight the small smile on your face. “You know, people recognizing their self-worth and all that.”

You say it so casually. Raven’s clenching his fist. The audacity of it all. You’re not even helping him. You should be helping him back to his feet and whispering that everything would be okay.

Yet here you are. You’re making fun of him.

It’s something that neither of you would’ve expected. He fucking hates how it ended up being this way.

This isn’t fair. None of it is.

You feel like Raven’s hurt you for far too long. It’s his turn to get the short end of the stick.

Raven knew that it was inevitable he’d see you again, but not like this. This wasn’t the way he planned for things to go.

You must be a curse. Ruining everything one step at a time. Then again, it was partially his mothers fault as well.

Everything was crafted to be so meticulous. He would be there, then work his way back into your life and right inside of your head, just like old times. And if Stevie’s there, you’re sure to follow.

It’s not like things weren’t going to plan at first. He knew he would follow you to WCW once you left, that’s why he stopped asking.

As soon as you saw him in the crowd, you knew that you were in for a ton of shit. First, it’s Sting you had to deal with, now on top of that you had to deal with Raven?!

It only made you feel the slightest bit better to see Stevie frantically waving at you in the crowd as well. It made you a little upset seeing them together, mainly because he’s made so much progress with leaving Raven in the dust.

Unfortunately for Raven, the one damn time that his mother was backstage trying to get in was when it started to fall apart. You shouldn’t have been there!

And thus began the reckoning, as he would call it.

“Oh, that [Name] girl is so sweet! Why don’t you invite her over for dinner?” Raven’s mother would urge him to invite you over every chance she got. He definitely didn’t want you inside his house.

“No mom.” He’d always respond. “She can’t come over.”

"Why not, Scotty?"

Raven cringes. He hates when she calls him that. It’s not who he is anymore. "Because. I don't want her to.."

"Well, please reconsider." She says, laying the table cloth down onto the table. "What about your other friend, Chris Kanyon, wasn’t it?”

“I don't care.” He waves her off. “Why do you even want them to come anyway?”

“I just think they would be wonderful guests to have. I'm sure Chastity would enjoy the company as well."

If you came over, nothing would work. He doesn't exactly know how you'll react to him either.

You had stopped listening to him near the end of your tenure, which really pissed him off. You slowly started to realize that he can’t control you anymore. He shouldn't have in the first place. Before you left, you decided to make amends with ones that you've done wrong.

..With everyone except for him. Because you truly never did anything to hurt him. It's been him hurting you this entire time. And you just sat there and took it because you didn't know any better.

You feel like this was inevitable, just like a moth to a flame, you find yourself coming right back to Raven. Even after you’ve joined the NWO.

Really. Who could resist? It was an invite from his own mother! She completely ignored his request, holding onto the statement that some company would do him good.

You probably should’ve known that this would be a segment somehow, too..

His mother is right by your side with a smile. "I really hope you're enjoying the stay.”

“I am! You have a really beautiful home.” Seriously. It was huge. His parents must’ve been millionaires, if not billionaires. There’s no way this could really be Raven’s childhood home, could it?

You feel like everything is a lie. From his “terrible” upbringing, to the way he treated you and the others..

Did this mean he just did it because he could?! 

“I’m not sure where Scotty is. I think it’s so rude he won’t come and greet you. I’m sorry about that. It’s something he’s working on in his treatment.”

“Treatment, you say?” Oh, now you’re curious. 

“Oh, yes! He didn’t tell you?” Of course he didn’t. “He’s been seeing a doctor for his behavior as of late. It’s a slow process, but I miss my little boy…..”

You feel bad for her. You really did. Yet you want to tell her how bad her son has treated you and a few others, but you’re sure it’s not what she wants to hear right now. 

“Feel free to make yourself at home, [Name]. In the meantime, I can make you something to drink if you’d like?” His mother seemed very enthusiastic about you being here. “Wine? Maybe water?”

You shake your head. “No, I’m good, thank you.”

Chastity is too engrossed in her magazine to notice you in the room at first, but when her mother clears her throat, she looks up. 

Seeing it’s you, a smile grows on her face. “Hey, [Name].” She greets.

You knew Chastity was from ECW, but by the time she was there, you were already departed from the company. “Hi there, Chas.” You wave. “Anything new?”

She sets the magazine flat onto the table. “Hey. Yeah. Raven’s friend is getting on my nerves. He thinks I like him or something. I can't even begin to imagine why he comes over here in the—“

A creaking sound coming from the other room makes the three of you turn around. It's Kanyon, followed by a sluggish Raven coming down the steps.

Upon seeing your face, Raven's completely startled. "What the hell is she doing here? Mooom, I told you, I didn't want her to come over!"

Ouch, way to greet your guests..

His mother isn't pleased. The look of embarrassment spreads on her face like a wildfire. "Scotty! That's no way you should say hello.."

Raven doesn't respond, just shakes his head. What can he do about it now that you're here? Absolutely nothing, so he just staggers over to you. "Hey."

"Hi. Nice place you've got here."

He scoffs. You’re damn right it’s a nice place. It’s what he wants to say, but is only able to mutter out a: “Right. Whatever.”

“I mean, I didn't know you had such a big house.” You say. “Like wow.”

Raven scoffs. “It’s nothing. You always exaggerate stuff.”

You motion outside, ignoring his previous comment. “You even have a pool! I know my place is a bit spacious, but holy shit, I don’t even have a pool.”

...Something tells you he’s not happy to see you at all. He just walks past you and heads towards the couch. You really were surprised though. He'd go on and on about his rough upbringing, but you weren't exactly sure if you believed him or not now.

His mother huffs. “I’m sorry. He doesn’t seem to be in a good mood right now..” She expectantly looks at Kanyon, but he only shrugs at her.

Kanyon gives you a wave though. “Hey. You’re [Name], right? From ECW?”

“Yeah, yeah I am. And you are…?”

“Chris Kanyon.”

You don’t recognize him, yet you still hold out your hand for him to shake. “I see. Nice to meet you, then!”

“Raven talks about you a lot. You should see all the stuff he’s got in his room about..” Kanyon is just about to continue, but Raven immediately launches out of his seat to cut him off.

“Yo, Kanyon,” His voice sounded strained. “I wanted to show ya’ a thing in our backyard. You know. The thing I was talking about? C’mon, dude.”

“Wait, what thing?”

Raven’s already shoving the poor guy outside. You watch them leave in suspicion, then turn back around to his mother. She’s only waving the two off, telling them not to make much of a mess.

“Hey, can I use your bathroom?” You ask.

She nods. “Of course. Up the stairs to the right, sweetie.”

“Thanks.” You give her a nod, then turn away to head up the stairs. You didn’t actually have to use the bathroom, obviously. You just want to know what the heck Raven’s got in his room for him to cut Kanyon off like that.

He's bad at keeping secrets, that's for sure. Once you get up there, you try to be a little quiet as you slink the opposite way. You peek through one door and you're met with a decently sized room. It's nice. Neatly decorated, clean, and a ton of space. Holy shit, they really are rich!

This doesn't seem to be his room anyway. It may be his mother's. You don't see anything that would tick off the boxes that it could be his. He mentioned that he was a "rock guy", so you figure he'd have some type of memorabilia in his room.

You close it and move on. You wish you could compliment her on how nice it was, but you were supposed to be in the bathroom, not snooping around.

The next room that was down the hall seemed to be what you were looking for. Of course he had something on the door that said, "DO NOT ENTER". He's so corny.

Compared to the other room, this totally looked like his. It's a little more stuffy, but the decorations inside seem to make up for it. Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary, save for the posters displayed on his wall.

Again, you're not surprised. He would always proudly effuse that he was a huge rock fan. He even wore the shirts to back it up. Not to mention how annoying he would get when you two were in the car together. Whatever CDS he brought...was the shit that you had to listen to for the entire trip.

For some reason, you feel a little creepy invading his space like this, even feel like you’re a little rude for overstepping a boundary. 

Then again, he kinda deserved it. As bad as it sounded, he was just getting karma. You’re not exactly sure if therapy was going to help him enough. 

That man is broken and you’re not a construction worker. You can’t fix him.

You just head into his room and slowly close the door behind you, leaving it open juuust a little bit so that you can hear better. You’d just be in and out once you find what you were looking for. 

This would be a little hard. His room was a little more disorganized. You have to kneel down to move things around from the end of his bed. 

At first, it starts to look like you weren’t going to strike gold at all. But your hand brushes up against something hard under the pile of clothes you tried to sort out next.

There’s some sort of small storage bin poking out from the bottom of his bed. Really weird.

You shuffle more clothes around and pull it out. You seriously have to make this quick, because you knew the others would probably start to wonder why you're upstairs for so long. You pop the top open and what you find isn't what you would expect.

Why were there so many pictures of you in here?

Some candids, some cuttings from the WCW magazine..

What the fuck.

What the fuck is going on here.

You drop it quickly and it flutters back into the bin. It's just as you thought, he's as much as a problem as Sting, if not WORSE. You don't even think Sting's gone as far as getting photos of you, but goddamn.

Scarily enough, you feel flattered. You just want to hit yourself for even feeling that way. This is wrong. Very, very wrong.

It's definitely time to get the fuck out of dodge, before you can even explore why you aren't as alarmed as you should be. You close the top on the bin and shove it where it was, then throw some clothes over it.

You stand up from your spot and look at a desk that was nearby. There was some sort of collectible trading card set on there. You figure you'll take something, just because you can. Call it a gift to yourself, a collateral for your mental health.

The coast is clear, so you make your way out of his room and towards the steps. For a second you have to take a breath, holding onto the banister.

You start to think maybe you should go home. That would be the best decision. You head back down the stairs and walk over to the living room area. "Chastity," You call her and she looks up at you. "I'm gonna head out. I just remembered I had something to do. Can you tell your mother that I'm sorry?"

She looks at you in confusion. "You got here not too long ago. Are you okay??" The look on your face is a little too obvious. Plus, you didn't call her a nickname.

"I'm fine, really!" You exclaim louder than intended. "Seriously. Just a little on edge because I forgot something really important. I'll see you later?"

Chastity figures she wouldn't get anywhere else with you, so she gives a thumbs up and lets you go for now.

It's only when you head out the door, was when you started to feel a little bit sick. You don't know what happened, but you just feel like you don't want to see Raven for a while.

It's what he would have wanted anyways. You weren't welcome in his house.

You had no choice but to respect his wishes.

i keep trying to do things..but tumblr just wont let me be great?!?!?!?!

THIS IS NOT OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM..the bret fans get a double u next chapter i promise. desktop is literally acting up for me now, though i think it may just be THIS draft if that makes sense???

now we have two stalkers. reader just has more history with raven thats why she kinda likes this. sting's gonna slam dunk knock it out of the park this shit though trust me!

[dreamyluigi]

super sleepy brothers. the super snuggle bros. because i've been nothing but sleepy and cold lately

[canon-gabriel-quotes]

Transcript:

Machine.

Does my ass look fat in this armor?

Audio source

[whereisyourpippinnow]

✨ Princess of Rome 🌸

[the-meme-monarch]

ok these were Again all supposed to be of the secret tapes but i forgot the bowling croquet one wasn't a secret tape and then also that doodle of wally and frank bc i saw it again looking for ref images

[faunandfloraas]

Chan, off camera: CUZ WE DONT GIVE A FUCK!! Han:

[polinsated]

<3

[a2zillustration]

You weren't going to talk your way out of this one, Croissant.

| First | | Previous | | Next |

[[ All Croissant Adventures (chronological, desktop) ]]

[[ All Croissant Adventures (app) ]]

[lochallthedoors]

Video clips: Liam at Cardiff, Lock the Box, Oasis at iTunes, Liam at Rockfield

[promiscuousasexual]

pierre gasly and esteban ocon being besties after their double podium in brazil 2024

[hyohaehyuk]

Compilation of Jam taking about their coffins

Source amc+ Every Midnight Snack | Season 1, Interview with the Vampire' Panel | SDCC 2022 | Entertainment Weekly, Young Hollywood - Does Jacob Anderson Know Interview With The Vampire Co-Star's Birthday?!, Brief Take - Sam Reid on Loustat, Armand's reveal, Théâtre des Vampires, IAmA REDDIT - Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid Q&A and Collider - Jacob Anderson & Sam Reid on Louis & Lestat's Relationship

i cant with them both making it quite obvious in the last 2 videos that they like laying in the coffin the most TOGETHER: - jacob saying it was only comfortable when he was sharing it

- sam (while smiling big as hell) saying "lestat was happy about that" while talking about how his last scene of s1 was closing himself in the coffin with louis. But only Lestat, Sam?! IDK bc it looks like Sam was pretty happy too 😒

[twigsyy]

Looking back at the first time you drew an oc is nuts. Who the hell are these freaks!!!!

[tiredfox64]

Hm? HM?!

HIS WIFE??? TANYA??

WHO MADE THAT DECISION? I’M NOT MAD I JUST NEED YOU TO COME OUTSIDE REAL QUICK. DON’T QUESTION WHY IM REVING THE ENGINE WHILE PLAYING

[imaveryevilenby]

stop thinking about breasts and start putting on your breastPLATE, girl, we're under siege

[broken-risk-assessment-module]

The Adaptation That Shall Not Be Named aside, I had an idea for an interesting way you could represent ART in a visual medium: it's cameras.

We know that, in any visual medium, what The Camera (be that literal in film or figurative in animation) chooses to show and focus on is important. Its the primary way the piece of media communicates to its audience, and the framing of a scene tells us a lot about how we're supposed to interpret it. What is on screen and how it's on screen convey authorial intent.

Take all that, and turn "authorial intent" into character expression (in this case, for ART). A conversation between Murderbot and ART that would traditionally be shot-reverse-shot becomes shot-ARTPOVshot, so both shots would be of Murderbot, but one would be from The Camera and one would be from ART. Even though the subject is the same, the difference between them could show us something about ART in the same way a reverse shot shows us something about any other character.

To me its like those shots from a monster's POV in horror movies, where one second you're with your protagonists, the next you're watching them from a far off angle between some blades of grass, shaky cam, ragged breathing. It's a classic, even a cliche, but it does the job of conveying the sense of unsafety, of Something Out There Watching Them, of monstrosity, of something feral and dangerous. All without needing to see the monster. What if that type of shot was all we ever got of a character?

(Also, in all honesty, some of my favourite meta about this series is how it's in conversation with the horror genre. ART and SecUnits being the type of characters that would be The Monster in another story, or from another perspective, is compelling to me, so i'm drawing on that a bit here. The idea of characterising but not visualising ART by taking pages out of horror monster cinematography? I just think it's neat.)

Anyway, you could also do all the sci-fi Augmented Vision stuff with it too. ART POV shots where we watch it pull up a feed tab over the camera feed and replay a section of audio, or check Murderbot's diagnostics, or look at Some Code Or Perhaps A Graph. ART POV shots that are broken into multiple feeds showing different things. ART POV shots that give you the sense of it being textually present without it being physically present.

You could use some of this for Murderbot itself, if you leant into how its drones are an extension of its awareness. You could even use it in a similar way to how Murderbot uses its narration, narrating less when it's upset as well as leaving out major details. What if, when Murderbot is tired of people looking at it or in a more vulnerable headspace, we get more drone POV shots without Murderbot in frame. It's still there, but present in a different way, behind The Camera rather than in front of it.

I think there's potential in using POV shots from ART's cameras to characterise it without visualising it in a traditional way. I think there's potential in using horror movie monster language on ART and Murderbot. I think there's potential in having the cinematography focus on what they're seeing in a way that emphasises the amount of Surveillance both of them are constantly doing.

I think there's potential in a show using The Camera as cleverly as the books use Narration.

[bonefall]

How do the researchers react to the clan cats leaving the lake for a time?

You mean the little patrols they send out?

They aren't aware of them, EXCEPT for the Beaver Expedition that Dovepaw was on. They found out about that one because they got a phone call from the team in charge of the beaver introduction.

It was NERVE WRACKING. Both teams were terrified the other would injure their subjects. They were horrified when the cats dug out the top of the dam and pulled the squealing baby beavers out, thinking this was going to end BADLY, but practically cried in relief and excitement when the Clan cats baited the parents towards the lake.

(I like to imagine someone on the beaver team ended up hitting it off with someone on the Clan cat team. The wedding cake was cats and beavers.)

But generally? They don't know about expeditions. Sometimes they catch them leaving, but don't have the funding to chase them down.

Clan cats are also not under constant surveillance. Very important to understand this. Clan cats will attack anything that upsets them and good cameras are expensive; they snuck one into the ThunderClan Camp once in like 2009, and Firestar dug it up at the stake and dropped it down the WindClan border ravine because it was freaking his warriors out.

(The cats don't understand that the cameras watch; they just don't like the Freaky Human Thing)

So the team has to be careful, not install too many, and hide the ones they do have. They don't want the cats to move again.