#just one of those things we kind of overlook I guess

[thegreatstoryteller]

The Great Shift: Turning 30

The Great shift was a huge time in many people’s lives. Especially those with birthdays who fell around the time of the great shift. Some turning 18, others turning 80! But still others had their hearts set on a time in their life that was quite pivotal. However, because of the shift some may have to wait a little longer to reach that milestone, while others have jumped leaps and bounds beyond it!

Harvey Singh (30 years old)

Fuuuck my head… and my clothes apparently. Damn. This is not what I imagined turning 30 would be like! 

Before the world went insane, I was so close! The damn great shift just had to happen right before my birthday. I was working at this law firm, a pretty shady place at first. Lots of scummy people taking advantage of others, but my boss was trying to turn it around! We kicked out those idiots who were causing trouble, got them arrested! I was gonna get promoted and help lead the charge for helping others… but not anymore.

The great shift landed me inside of Skyler Marlo! 18 year old quarterback for the local university. And right after a big party too. I couldn’t find a stitch of clothes to fit my new larger body. I was really lucky this frat house I woke up in had a towel nearby. But that was just the beginning of my nightmare. 

You see that smile of distress? Yeah that’s me. Instead of writing briefs and taking on clients in need, I’m here on the football field. Apparently after the upheaval the shift caused people are having trouble verifying identities and gaining access to their property/funds. That’s totally something I could be helping with! Instead I'm stuck back in the life of a teenager again. I wasn't a big fan of 18 last time I was in college.

The only thing that could get me after the shift was taking on this guy’s college scholarship. It gives me a place to stay and access to their college library, but I had to join the college football team. Some organizations like college athletics don’t seem to care who is shifted or not! As long as they got the players they need to draw in a crowd, they seemed perfectly content letting anyone play. Though who can blame them. If they saw me before I doubt they’d want some angry short king running their drills. No… now I’m not the 5’0 Indian guy who got overlooked in school. I look the picture of boy next door prom king that rules the college. 6’2, 195lbs of lean muscle, and size 15 feet. That last one took awhile to get used to! Finding cleats that size was the hardest part of this change. 

So here I am, sweating it out day after day to maintain my scholarship, while I wait for the day I’m recertified with my state’s bar! Once I’m a lawyer again I swear I’ll help out others like me forced to cling on to new lives while the system sorts things out. It sucks having to practice every day and do all these drills and grunt work! The college even has me posing for their promotional material to draw in bigger crowds at the game! Who would want this kind of life?!

Then again… it’s already been a few months… I may as well get used to college life… I was a nerdy brown kid my last run in college, mostly studying and doing what my parents wanted… now at least I can get a look at how the athletes lived… That frat did ask me if I wanted to join… I guess it couldn’t hurt to have a little fun while I wait to get my life back.

After all, I do get pretty excited after an intense practice, and judging by some of the looks from my teammates, I may not be the only one eager to get to know my new body better. 

Phil Inver (30 years old)

People need to learn how to relax. I don’t know what the big deal is. So a bunch of people swapped bodies. What’s there to worry about? See me? I don’t have a care in the world. When I was turning 30 doctors told me I was overweight and at risk of diabetes, my work would always be on me for not applying myself, and my girlfriend said I was always too lazy in our relationship! 

But my mindset since the shift hasn’t changed! It landed me in this nice smooth and lean body! I’m glad that this guy kept in such good shape. Having actual abs is insane! Same for these toned arms! I’m not sure if he’s the shaving kinda guy or if he’s naturally smooth, but it sure as hell beats taking care of an unruly beard and body hair!

Turns out now that I look like this people are a bit more receptive to my ideals! Doctors say my heart is as healthy as a horse! Says my stress free lifestyle is a large part of that! My work? They now say my chill attitude makes things a lot more zen around the office. Guess they don’t care I don’t get too much done whenever I flash them a smile. And my girlfriend… or my boyfriend as he goes by now, certainly thinks I’m taking an active role in the bedroom. Who knew that my new stud of a boyfriend had a thing for Asian guys!?

So what am I gonna do now? Listen to music, chill as my boyfriend showers, and wait out the day as normal. Sure I’m turning 30, but it’s just another day in paradise for me! Oh what’s that? This body is only 21? Even better! I’ve got plenty of time to relax before I turn 30.

Devon Lin (30 years old)

So I was a bit nervous about turning 30. I feel like I haven’t really done all the things I wanted… and all my friends were joking saying it’s all downhill after that. I wasn’t dealing the best with the stress… Well like it or not the shift had me face that hurdle a few year further than I expected.

And I gotta say. It’s not as bad as I thought it was gonna be. Sure I’m a bit older, but hell  I look a hell of a lot more manly! Could it be that the shift landed me in a handsome 37 year old with a built body, tan skin,  and perfect beard? Maybe… but hey. Age is just a mindset… but these muscles sure aren’t! Boom!

You like that? So do the guys at the bar! They keep insisting I don’t shave my chest or pit hair too. I think I could pull off that look. That being said, I think anything looks good on a 6’5 stud like me. Tall, dark, and handsome all the way!

Before I would jump around from job to job. Bartender, janitor, waiter, and housekeeper, but lately I’ve found my job as a bouncer at the local bar a lot more rewarding. You’d be surprised how many fights stop once I take my shirt off and start playing pool with the patrons. I’ve won nearly every game of billiards I’ve played! Though I have the sneaking suspicion it may be due to the guys staring more at me than the balls.

Guess that’s one of the benefits to working at a chill gay bar! You know, I was always a bit insecure about my body and experimenting sexually. Being a shorter gay man with a chip on his shoulder would do that to you. Now… well let’s just say now I feel like I’ve got a lot more confidence! I may have missed my 30th birthday, but I think I know how I’m gonna spend my 38th!

Marcus Garcia (30 years old)

They say when you get older you begin to value things differently. Honestly I didn’t know what to expect when I turned 30. Was I supposed to be wiser all of a sudden? Have a plan for things? In truth plenty of people younger than me had their life together compared to me. Partners. Kids. A stable job. A house.

In short. I thought I had more time. But we don’t always get to choose how fast life comes at us. I mean look at me. Didn’t expect the shift to make me 55.

Losing 25 years of my life was definitely not the easiest. The great shift nearly tears the world apart and I’m running for my life looking like retirement is right around the corner. That first day was definitely a wake up call that I did not have the same stamina that I used to. In that opening week of the shift I was pretty much running on adrenaline and coffee wherever I could get it. I took lots of naps just to stay sane. 

As the days went on and society slowly readjusted to some version of normal, I began to actually have time to look at my body. I mean I was a pretty skinny guy before, my sister would always say I needed to workout more. But I guess all it took was 25 years of my life to finally get in shape. 

Not only that, but I’m admiring the body hair. This guy was a pretty hairy dude. The salt and pepper stubble had guys starting me daddy at the gay bars, while the chest hair was still dark like my eyebrows and made my impressive physique pop. 

My feet were pretty big too. Size 14! Twice as big as my old feet, but just as hard to find shoes my size. 

Needless to say there were highs and lows to my new life. Was I happy that i was 6’6 now? Sure! Loved being tall and nearly bonking my head on doorframes. Was I upset lots of my joints were sore and that I could only take my coffee black to avoid dairy and sugar? No… that sucked. I liked my sweet drinks and I missed not waking up in pain.

Omar LeRon was a guy that lived along my street. He was a single dad raising his 5 year old, all at the age of 45.

I later learned he had a few wild days in his early 40s that lead to Omar Jr. And now in his mid 20s again he’s glad he could be more present for his son! Even if his son is the same age as him now.

He told me all of this one day when we both left our house for a jog. He found that doing some running in his new body helped him vent some much needed energy from his body, while I needed to do something physical if I was to have any hope of maintaining healthy workout routines for mine! 

Needles to say he offered some words of wisdom growing up and it really helped put some things in perspective. Meanwhile, I gave him some tips about helping his son. Turns out all those years working at my aunt’s day care counted for something, even for post shifted kids!

Our conversations started as friendly advice and then grew into more! Talks became dates. Dates became moving in. Moving in became an engagement! Now a few years after the wedding I guess you truly can call me a daddy now. Jr. sure does. He’s doing great in school and is looking forward to next week when my sister is gonna watch him for the summer.

My husband and I are gonna take our first real vacation since the great shift! We’re looking forward to it! We’ll be celebrating Omar’s 30th birthday in his new body now! He keeps making jokes saying, “Well I’ve done it before. Nothing to it the second time around.” And “Well here I thought your 30th birthday was extreme. I doubt I could top that”

He also never stops teasing me about how he loves being married to an older man and that I’m not as young as I used to be. We know it’s all in good fun. I mean, I can still keep up with him in the bedroom, where it counts… as long as he gives me a few minutes to recover after. Young guys like him are insatiable. I’ll try to power through though. After all, you only turn “30” once.

[artificial-transmutations]

Friday Friendship

Hey there! This one is kind of a spiritual successor to Calling the Plumber - and as such, it is one of the rare gay to straight stories of mine. While I do try to keep it friendly and without any homophobia or hate, feel free not read the story if you don't like g2s!

It was hard to overlook Montgomery and Archibald. Of course, that was always the case. But here, on the dirty construction site of their new home, the expensive silk suits of the couple stood out even more than elsewhere. Yes, the two of them were together - and they made sure everybody knew it. Not only were the two gentlemen standing in a tight hug whenever possible, but their flamboyant and colorful clothing left little doubt about their sexuality.

They were those kind of gays that conservatives were afraid of. Both were old enough to have been alive during the stonewall riots, although only Montgomery was actually there as a teenager. Still, the aged couple embodied everything the gay community prided itself on having achieved during the last decades.

Their house, too, would be a statement. The mansion was the largest construction in the area, and the most expensive one. It was going to be built on a large hill, overlooking the town, and its style was... extravagant. The house was to be built in a modern architectural style, but the two men had insisted that the walls would be entirely covered in rainbow colors, although that was still in the future by now. Surrounding the mansion would be a magnificent garden, a park even.

"My dear, are you satisfied with the construction?" Archibald asked his husband in his lime green suit. Montgomery had dyed his hair in an orange-pink tone today and wore a purple tie to his green suit. It was hardly the first building site he visited, since he had made a fortune in real estate.

Archibald, on the other hand, was a bit more conservatively dressed. His suit was a more subdued shade of beige, although his tie was of a bright sky blue color. He usually didn't dye his hair, and today was no exception: He wore the gray with pride, although he spent a fortune on hair and skin care products. He, too, had a respectable job as a top manager in a logistics company.

"Well, darling, I'm not sure yet." Montgomery replied. "I want it to look great, and the work has been good so far. But frankly, it feels that the workers motivation is somewhat underwhelming."

"I think I know what you mean, my dear." Archibald commented as they walked through the empty shell. "It is barely three in the afternoon on a Friday, and there isn't anyone around anymore. The workers must be out partying already. I can't fault them for that, but it is rather annoying, isn't it?"

"Indeed. It would have been nice if they were a little less lazy, though. The garden is behind schedule, and I believe the electrics are going to be delayed by another month."

"That is quite unfortunate."

Montgomery nodded and they walked a bit in silence. It was true. There was still a lot to do, and it looked like the workers left early for the weekend.

Finally, Archibald sighed.

"I guess I could take a look at the progress the electricians are making. I do know a bit or two about this. Maybe then we can talk to the foreman about their work. It's a pity that we cannot supervise every little thing here, but our jobs demand a lot of our time. If only we had a bit more hands-on control."

"My, what a fabulous idea! I will take a stroll through the garden then, to get a better picture there."

The husbands kissed each other on the lips as they split up and Archibald opened the fuse box. He had indeed done a bit of electrical maintenance in his prime, so he knew that what he saw in the box was nothing less than a mess. He sighed and was about to close the box again, but hesitated. No, he couldn't leave the mess like that. He would just tidy things up a bit, to show those inexperienced workers how it was done.

Carefully, he began to work on the wires, but before long, he felt uncomfortable. The fuse box was located in the bright afternoon sun, and it was just positively hot here. Still, not wanting to leave his work, he slipped out of his jacket and hung it over a nearby wall. He didn't notice that the piece of clothing disappeared once he turned away, nor did he notice that his hands became nimbler as he rearranged the wires.

Montgomery on the other hand found the garden construction even less advanced than he had hoped. Even worse, someone had left a few plants out in the heat. They would surely be dead by the time the construction continued on Monday. Montgomery couldn't let that happen. This garden would be beautiful, and no plant would die under his watch.

He carefully carried the plants to the place they were supposed to be. Of course, he knew - he had planned the park all by himself, so he knew where everything was supposed to go. As he arrived at the shady place, he understood why the plants hadn't been placed yet. The ground was wet and muddy, and there weren't any holes yet. He would need to talk to the foreman about that, but the man was surely already in the weekend as well. There was, however, a shovel nearby. Now, aside from ceremonial groundbreaking, Montgomery had never held a shovel. It wasn't that he didn't understand the concept, but he was just not the type for physical labor.

Well. He looked over his shoulder to his husband, who was apparently still busy looking at the fuse box. It seems like he had some time on his hands, so he might as well. Grimacing, he grabbed the shovel and carefully stepped on the soil, trying not to ruin his expensive shoes or pants. That worked well, for about two steps. But as soon as he tried to break the ground with the shovel, a big clump of wet soil splattered on his lime green silk pants.

Montgomery frowned. Well, that suit was ruined anyway. No reason to stop there. Determined, he pulled the shirt out of his pants and opened his vest. He wasn't going to ruin his custom tailored suit for no reason.

Meanwhile, Archie was getting into his work even more. From time to time, he had to wipe his brow, though, as he was sweating like an animal. His dress shirt was stained with multiple sweat stains already and didn't really *look* like a dress shirt anymore, but more casual. The same could be said for the rest of Archie as well. A certain youth had returned to his face, as he was concentrated on his work. This way, he didn't notice when his hairstyle dissolved into an unkempt mess or when a bit of stubble grew in on his chin. His shirt clung to his body now, drenched in sweat. It had long ceased to be a dress shirt though but had become a plain - although rather filthy - beige t-shirt. His tie was nowhere to be seen.

Due to the wetness, the shirt didn't leave much to imagination regarding his body. Not just his face had rejuvenated, no, his entire body had. He was leaner and his muscles firmer now. Out of the V-neck of his sweaty shirt poked a few golden hairs, and before long, his main hair had turned into a Nordic blonde, as well.

Meanwhile, Monty was digging like crazy. He had to get those plants in the ground, or the foreman would... Wait, what was he thinking?

He stopped for a moment, to scratch his head. Thinking was not his strong point, and Monty knew that. But he had other qualities, that made up for that. When he grabbed the shovel again, to keep digging, he heard a ripping sound that made him stop again. The shoulder of his shirt had ripped. His boss was going to kill him! Although, it appeared somewhat strange to him that he was wearing such a colorful and impractical shirt. Perhaps there weren't any other shirts left?

He looked around and saw only one of the electricians still on the site. He knew the guy, he was friendly enough. He surely wouldn't mind if Monty went shirtless for a bit. With an effort not to damage the clothing even more, he peeled out of the garment. He was only half successful with that, and a few more rips sounded before he had finished taking it off.

Monty looked down at his muscular and hairy torso. The cold air was good, and he wasn't afraid to get dirty.

With every movement of the shovel, his arm muscles tightened, and his frame filled out more. A short beard sprouted on his chin, and his now full earthy brown hair shortened to a more practical cut. It wasn't like he had money for an expensive hairdresser, after all.

Finally, he had the holes ready and wiped his hands on his sturdy pair of work pants. Now, he only had to put the plants in. Despite his impressive physique, Manny was always very careful with the flowers, and he made sure that none of the roots got damaged or that he didn't break the stem.

He looked at his work. Good, that would look great, once the plants grew. Someday, he would have a garden of his own, and a house like that. And a beautiful wife and two, no, three children. But that was still a long way to go, with his poor pay.

Someone behind him cursed and Manny looked back to the electrician.

Chad was still sweating like crazy as he worked the wires. His mates had all gone to the clubs by now and he was stuck here and had to fix the mess he had created. That was only fair, but he wished the foreman wouldn't have noticed until Monday. He had to hurry up, though. He didn't want to spend his Friday night on the site, after all. Perhaps he would even get lucky and find a guy... No, what was he thinking? Working on these fruits' house had made him all confused. No, perhaps he would find a busty bombshell to take home tonight. Chad felt his cock growing hard at the thought, creating an obvious bulge in his work pants. Great, more distraction.

Chad tried to readjust himself, just in time as he sensed the big burly gardener approach. He knew the guy loosely but had forgotten his name already - if he even had known it at all.

"Hey, everything alright with them wires?" the low voice of the brute asked in a friendly tone.

"Yeah, I just need to finish up here... Should be done aaaaany minute now..."

Manny watched Chad connect the last wires. Poor guy. His t-shirt was soaked with sweat, and he looked like he was really hot and stressed out.

"Cool. It's no fun working late, and on a Friday. Hey, do you want to hit a bar after that? I could go for a cold one."

Chad looked over his shoulder at the bear of a man. Was that guy hitting on him? Na, his face only showed dumb innocence.

He shrugged. "Sure, why not, eh..."

"Name's Manny." Manny said.

"Great. Manny." Chad said and closed the now somewhat better looking fuse box before wiping away his sweat once more.

"I'm Chad."

Manny and Chad left the building site together this Friday afternoon. Neither of them knew that they were going to become best friends over this and many more beers. Manny turned out to be a great wingman for Chad, and Chad even ended up as Manny's best man during his wedding and godfather for his first child. Sometimes the closest friendships are forged in the Friday afternoon sun of a construction site.

[vimook]

"that's up to you."

this was a mahasamut episode and something that stuck with me is the fact that he is someone who seeks to be chosen and intentionally loved. as there is intention in everything he does and says. as well as in what he feels. that is his love language.

however, what solidifies it for me is just how tied it is to his wounded inner child. this is a boy who was faced, very early on, with the notion that home is the thing you walk away from and that it was what he had to do to survive.

mahasamut does not think highly of himself. confident as he can be, that is something that is made clear throughout the entire series, whether it's through the villagers who fawn him, the belittling of his education and upbringing or his keenness on being on a leash (and this isn't just a kink). the fact that dogs love you no matter how badly you treat them, they'll even die of a heartbreak when you die. there have been stories of dogs who have died in their person's grave or waited for them in the place they were abandoned, hoping they'd come back. so i have always seen mut's undying commitment to that part as the manifestation of being kicked to the curb and treated like a dog (which is already a phrase that implies a certain dehumanization that i fear he has internalized) by his father. in spite of that, he remained loyal, loving, considering, earnest, honest as both not to let others feel the way he felt but also so he isn't something to be thrown away. though even if you do, he'll be there, in your grave. and i guess that's the point.

his selflessness, as characteristic of him as it is, wasn't nurtured in a vacuum. it doesn't entirely stem from simple kindness either, but i gather from a need to be purposeful and useful. it comes down to having a sense of belonging as well, which particularly speaks to how he reacts to being included in rak's life and family. in his future. in the midst of uncertainty and the expectancy that at one point, he has to give himself deadlines for self-preservation because he is the sort of person who will lose themselves, trying to save you.

i often use the quote "the violence it took to become this gentle" because it did, in fact, take a lot of it and no one will really ever know just how much. how much he has seen, how much he suffered, how much he has done to himself. being in a small town is no small challenge, and for a long time, i kept thinking about how alone he must have felt. how determined he was in showing tongrak that his father was weak and mediocre. how people used to laugh at him. knowing that his father probably had a lot of friends and was known in the village and in a small town, that often means to overlook and handle certain situations and topics in a very narrow way. i don't think he ever had the chance to show how weak his own father was, so when he speaks for tongrak, for meena, for anyone, he's also talking to and for himself.

i previously commented that i would have liked to see mut's own processing of his feelings more because as resolved as he seems to be, he has a lot of piled up stuff in there and there's a mut who is insecure, who doesn't want to embarrass you, who questions whether what he can give is enough, who's sorry, who's angry, who's hurt, who can be "ugly" in how he feels. beyond the understanding, the patience, the care, the selflessness. regardless of those things even. there is nuance to being thick-skinned.

apologies don't stop you from internalizing any hurt. it's in character to have different sides to your own pain and feelings. just the fact that he proceeded to punch rak's father is an example, because apart from his need to protect other people, he was also hurt and reliving the disappointment of being cut loose. no matter how much you understand something and someone, it won't prevent you from feeling. that only tells me that there's so much more acknowledgement to be done for him as well.

so with the 10th episode, we have someone who is backed up against a wall and has to decide to care about his own well being for once and whether he's okay, tired, has reached a limit because he knows he can be disappointed, and we understand that through his conversation with mook. you can just tell this was a long process of rumination. what makes it even more curious is the fact that, even though he knew he could be rejected and had to accept it, we see his inner child resurfacing when it happens. the resignation, the anger, the apologies as he is the fool and has forced himself on to someone. what makes it harder, in my opinion, is the realization that you can be loved but somehow it's not enough for someone to stay. i feel like that moment when he realizes what the number 8 represented, what he represented caused such a visceral deepening of that wound, and made him once again face the question of why must he always leave his heart behind and why won't anyone hold on to it. he internalized that.

tongrak shifts that when he decides that home is the thing you run to and what really got me is the request that he tells mut how he feels to his face instead of an apology. tell me who is home. i need to hear it. who do you love this much?

you're here. i'm here. we're here. remind me of this fact for the rest of our lives.

[denial-permanente]

Hi there,

I’ve been a follower of your for quite a while and have to say I admire the dynamic you and Tom share, and the strength and closeness that your base relationship reflects.

I send this seeking your opinion, and I apologize if you’ve already answered this before.

I find myself in a precarious situation where I have, slowly, yet steadily and surely, become interested in chastity. For me, and I say this with as much honesty as one can, my interest in this isn’t fetishized as is more Domme focused. As in, I do not find myself interested in the idea because it gets me all hot and bothered (despite the fact that it does), but is more my desire to offer my Domme something I know I have not fully internalized and am fully comfortable with. Its beyond my comfort zone but that is where growth and magic take place. I will want yo say that my apprehension or anxiety are not because I don’t want to be thrown/throw myself into the deep end, but a nervousness about the realities and challenges of how it will play out if that makes sense? It’s sort of a ‘careful what you wish for’ kind of situation.

I am currently seeing a very special woman who is very much on the dominant side of things and we’ve talked about some aspects that our dynamic would involve. We have discussed orgasm control, and she has made it clear to me that this is an expectation she has of me, but chastity is yet to be discussed.

We have been nurturing a very beautiful connection in our relationship, but the thought of her potentially wanting me in chastity and wanting to wear my key on her neck for the world to see (even if fee pick up on it) makes me a little nervous. I feel like that would break me as a submissive, it would make me realize my place infinitely more deeply and would bring me into a state of submission that is beyond what Im used to or know what to expect from.

So I guess my question is: why do you think Im feeling this way and do you think I should override this nervous and just surrender to that desire of hers (as it comes up) fully? I know these are questions only I could answer but I appreciate your experience and take on this greatly.

Thank you in advance :)

Like a lot of men, you may be way overthinking all this. You're seeing a domme, you have chemistry, and things are going well. And instead of just enjoying all this you are worried that things will go... too well? 🙄

First of all, she may not even want to wear one of those ugly keys. I'm sorry... I know a lot of you men get all hot and bothered but we are not 14 years old here. Those keys are ugly and no woman wants to wear one especially if they are dressed up.

Second, she wants to control your orgasms. That is perfectly acceptable with or without a cage. By asking... demanding that she take control of your orgasms she makes sure that your desire is focused on her and not on your penis. I told my husband many years ago that I wanted all of the control over that and even in times when he was not caged he took that very seriously. To me it represented a huge commitment... and women love to see commitment from men.

I guess what I'm saying is to forget about the cage. That is... the cage is not to prevent orgasms, it is to prevent accidents and temptation... both yours and hers.

🔒Tom here. This is a point that gets overlooked a lot: cages do not prevent orgasms, they simply make them inconvenient. Long before my permanently locked status, I considered it a personal challenge to refrain from unauthorized orgasms. Once, my wife had me going for over 15 very difficult months, no cage. And it's true - women love their men to show commitment.

I also think that you're overthinking this. Orgasm control is a step, wearing a cage for her is another step. I understand that guys can have mixed emotions of love/hate/fear over orgasm control/denial, but instead of approaching it as something taken away from you, try looking at it as a sacrifice you are making for her.

[pinksunsetsandstarrynights]

Adamsapple Harvest: Urban Legends

So this fill has nothing to do with the Human AU I wrote about in my other fills. I got the idea for this one while watching a Papa Meat video about asylums and one of the images in the video looked quite different from the corner of my eye...

Just a heads-up the Adamsapple is very light in this one.

"Remember to watch where you step," Adam warned his younger cousin, "and keep your grip on your flashlight, Butterfingers!"

"I'm not going to drop it," Peter answered back, annoyed. "I drop one of Emily's figurines one time…"

"I mean it, Peter. These abandoned places can be dangerous if you're not careful." Adam was really starting to wish that Emily hadn't insisted that he let Peter tag along for some "much needed family bonding."

Yeah, right.

Adam knew she just wanted her brother to be out the house so she could have a date over. It was good timing too since Aunt Sera would still be out of town for another day. Now normally Adam wouldn't mind helping Emily out so she could score some pussy, but he wasn’t checking out an old house this time.

It was a three story mental asylum miles outside of town with a long history of malpractice and patient death until it finally closed its doors sixty years ago thanks to a basement fire. The kids trying to scare their friends liked to say that the fire was the result of dark rituals that used the patients as sacrifices. Obviously that was bullshit. The story that the adults liked to gossip about was that it was arson, done to collect insurance on the property.

In Adam’s opinion, it was caused by probably the most overlooked and boring theory: an electrical fire that got out of hand. The asylum had become more run down in its later years, so faulty wiring wouldn't be unexpected.

But whatever reasoning for the asylum's closure, it wasn't the kind of place anyone would take their skittish teenage cousin. And honestly, it wasn't the kind of place a braver person should visit alone either. Adam had been planning to explore the place with his best friend, Lute, but she bailed on him at the very last minute. Just before Emily suggested that he take Peter instead.

It didn't take a genius to figure out why Lute changed her mind.

He wasn't mad about that, but damn it, Peter was not a good substitute. Adam wouldn't be surprised if their trip ended up being cut ridiculously short because Peter freaked out over some rats scurrying around. And if it did, then Lute was going to owe him big time.

---

It was so far so good, surprisingly.

There wasn't much inside, most of the furniture was gone. Strangely, there was no graffiti indoors, even though the outside was tagged to hell. Adam guessed that the stories were enough to keep taggers from actually going inside. Peter was still looking anxious, but when he was asked if he wanted to wait in the car, he insisted on staying.

Whatever. As long as Peter didn't start screaming his ear off, Adam will ignore the teenager's obvious trembling.

Less natural light was shining through the windows and the flashlights were now being kept on. Sunset was coming, so they would have to leave soon. But there was one more place Adam wanted to get a look at first...

"The basement-?!" Peter cried out before stifling himself, his eyes darting around the administration office. "But Adam," he continued in a frightened whisper, "that's where they killed those poor people for blood sacrifices!"

For fuck’s sake…

"Dude, there were no evil rituals in the basement. There's no such thing as black magic," Adam firmly told him. "The only creepy shit that happened here was just normal shitty people doing fucked up treatments and that ended years ago."

Adam pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.

"Look, how about we both go down the staircase together and if you see anything before we get off the stairs, we'll turn right around and go home. Sound fair?"

"…I'm not going into the basement even if I don't see anything, " Peter stated quietly.

"Then you don't have to. Just stay on the stairs and shine some extra light for me."

Peter agreed and surprisingly took the lead down the staircase. "So I can keep an eye out better."

They took it slow, much to Adam's chagrin. At this rate, it was going to be pitch black outside by the time they leave. After fucking forever, Peter reached the bottom of the staircase, the beam of his flashlight moved frantically around the basement before suddenly freezing on one spot.

"Uh, Peter...?" Adam asked. "Do you see something?"

Peter didn't answer, instead turning around and shoving Adam out of his way back up the stairs.

Adam ended up tripping on the final steps and landed hard onto the floor. Pain lit up his senses as the taste of iron filled his mouth. The sound of Peter's retreating steps was echoing in his ears.

Did that fucker seriously just shove him and leave him here?! Adam huffed, yeah he so wasn't contributing to Peter's college fund after this bullshit. Fucking asshole.

He got himself back onto his feet, ignoring the stinging on his palms and knees. It was dark as hell here. Thankfully there was a beam of light cutting through the dark. Adam was lucky his flashlight didn’t shut off from the fall. He spat out the blood in his mouth and took a few steps toward the light. He grabbed his flashlight and aimed the beam around the basement. Now what did Peter see that made him bolt out like that. It better not have been a damn piece of burnt furniture...

That wasn't burnt furniture.

Adam felt sick. His heart began to race and his hands became clammy.

Furniture wasn't made up of charred bones.

Oh god, he could see a face...

There was fresh, red blood right on its lips, the stretched skin of which were frozen in mid-wail. Fuck his life, he desecrated a corpse...

Alright, Adam, just stay calm. You just need to get out of here and then you can call 911 to report the body. Okay? That's the game plan. Now turn around and leave.

What was that?

D-did those fingers just twitch...?

No, he's just stressed. It's not everyday you find a body. He should probably stop looking at-

Adam dropped his flashlight and took off running back toward the stairs.

Corpses don't lick blood off their lips!

He practically flew up the steps and didn't stop running once he reached the top. He needed to get the fuck out of here. There was still just enough sunlight that Adam could see where he was going.

Right.

Left.

Left.

He can see the front lobby!

His lungs were burning, but that didn't matter. He only needed ten more feet to reach freedom!

Adam's fingers skimmed the door knob of the exit.

So close!

Strong limbs wrapped themselves around him and yanked him back.

"Nooo!" Adam yelled, hope snatched away at the last possible second.

He stumbled onto his ass and before he could even try to get up, a hand - so pale that it practically glowed under the growing shadows - covered his mouth.

Adam moaned in despair. He was going to die in this shithole.

"Shhh… I won't hurt you, I won't hurt you," the voice, a harsh rasp from disuse and thirst, whispered. "I only want to make you scream."

Adam didn't believe it. He whimpered, and struggled some more. He knew no one would be coming to save him.

"Shhh... You'll love it," The creature murmured in his ear before licking the tears off Adam’s cheek, making him shudder. "My savior."

Adam's screams echoed throughout the asylum that night, left unheard by his cousin as he ran down the dirt road back toward civilization.

[coraniaid]

for the ask meme: principal snyder

[Reverse unpopular opinion meme.]

Not sure how unpopular a take this is but I really like Principal Snyder.  He is genuinely one of my favorite minor characters on the show.

There are, I guess, a few different reasons for that.

The first is just a question of good timing. Snyder arrives during the second half of the first season, which is – to my mind, anyway – the point where the show really starts to find its feet.  (This is also, I suspect, part of the reason I’m so fond of Jenny Calendar, who shows up at around the same time.)  And he’s a recurring figure throughout the show’s second and third seasons too, which – while they might not be objectively the show’s best years – are certainly the seasons I personally have the most nostalgic feeling for and whose failings I’m most willing to overlook.  Snyder’s part of my favorite two and half seasons of the show, so I’m predisposed to enjoy him as a character.

Second, and along similar lines, Snyder is a type of character that I think that the latter seasons don’t really have: a recurring character who is somewhat important to Buffy’s regular life but entirely ignorant of the supernatural side of that life. Yes, we find out early in Season 2 that Snyder knows more about vampires than he lets on, and that he’s reporting directly to the Mayor; but that connection doesn’t seem to add up to him being in on the Mayor’s big Ascenion plan and he doesn’t show any sign of knowing that Buffy herself is the Slayer.

After the high school seasons, who else is there like this?  Parker Abrams, I guess, very early in Season 4, but … that’s it, right?  There are characters who could have taken up Snyder's mantle – Dawn’s social worker, for example, or Buffy’s second manager at the Doublemeat Palace, both in Season 6 – but for whatever reason nobody does. Almost everyone else Buffy meets after high school either turns out to be deeply connected to the supernatural -- other than Parker everyone she spends any time with in college turns out to be a demon, a witch or a member of the Initiative; the next Principal of Sunnydale High is the son of a previous Slayer, the doctor she starts talking to when her Mom gets sick is the mortal vessel of a hell god -- or just not a regular part of the show at all. I can’t even remember the name of any of Buffy’s college professors other than Maggie Walsh. 

And I think that’s a shame, because the existence of Principal Snyder as a low-level recurring antagonist makes Buffy’s life as a regular teenage girl feel a lot more consequential than it otherwise might.  If Buffy only had problems with one-off teachers we’d never seen or heard of before, or if she frequently complained about getting into trouble with an off-screen principal we never got to see on screen, the world of the show would just feel a little less grounded. And, in particular, Snyder's function as the show's clear unsympathetic authority figure implicitly helps make both Buffy's Mom and her Watcher much more sympathetic than they might otherwise be

More important than either of those points though, I think Snyder is just really fun to watch?  For my money, the writers strike almost the ideal balance between making him an unpleasant self-important bully and making him a ridiculous comic figure (one who, crucially, at no point shows any sign of being in on the joke).  Armin Shimerman is unfailingly great in the role from his very first appearance, and he gets such wonderfully silly lines to say. 

Some of my favorites:

“There are some things I can just smell.  It’s like a sixth sense.”   

“What are you, ghouls?  There are no dead students here … this week.” 

“That’s the kind of wooly-headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten.” 

"Children everywhere ... Like locusts, crawling around, mindlessly bent on feeding and mating, destroying everything in sight in their relentless, pointless desire to exist."

“Why couldn’t you be dealing drugs like normal people?” 

"This is a time of celebration. So sit still and be quiet."

“There are things I will not tolerate: students loitering on campus after school, horrible murders with hearts being removed. And also smoking.”

Finally, I really like the fact that – unlike, say, Shimerman’s other big 90s genre TV role, Quark on Deep Space 9, and unlike somebody like Jonathan who was also a recurring character in the high school years who didn’t (then) know that Buffy was the Slayer – Snyder really never gets any more depth or attempts to make him sympathetic.  He never gets fully brought into the magical world or gets given some sort of character arc or has any previously well-hidden virtues suddenly revealed.

Yes, okay, there’s the aforementioned ties to the Mayor and the brief glimpse we get of teenage Snyder in Band Candy. But for all practical purposes the Principal Snyder we see in Season 1’s The Puppet Show – delighting in causing Buffy and her friends problems for no reason while boasting about how, unlike his predecessor, he’s too tough and disciplined to ever get eaten – is the same Principal Snyder we see in Season 3’s Graduation Day, getting eaten.

[csuitebitches]

Book Review: Book 1: Stop People Pleasing (a 9-part series by Patrick King, “Be Confident and Fearless.”)

I’m reading a 9-part series by Patrick King, “Be Confident and Fearless.” His books talk about becoming assertive, saying no, not people pleasing anymore and being confident. Generally, such books are quite generic but I found his take on the subject interesting. His techniques to handle certain situations seem to be quite doable too. His techniques have been highlighted in bold.

Book One: “Stop People Pleasing”

A people-pleaser is worried about rejection. They have a need, as we all do, to be accepted and treasured—to be loved. But in people-pleasers, this need is amplified to the extent that they will bend over backward just to not lose that love or acceptance. This is more invalidating than giving an honest opinion.

-

In reality, people-pleasers continued promises and inaction just tick their friends off, as it becomes apparent that they are willing to be dishonest and only say what people want to hear.

-

They’re not really doing what they do to improve someone else’s life—they just want to feel more positive about themselves.

-

Living under the limitations of our own viewpoint, we tend to think everyone in our circle is looking at and judging how we look and behave. At most, maybe a couple of people are paying attention to most of your moves, and they’re likely people you’re already close to who are supposed to know you better than anyone else.

-

When you’re so consumed with the perceived needs of others, you’re not paying yourself any attention. You could be overlooking or ignoring things you need to do to take care of yourself.

-

Avoiding confrontation for fear that it might only make things worse ironically results in the very outcomes it’s meant to deflect. The absence of confrontations doesn’t mean your relationship is all healthy, and the presence of confrontations doesn’t mean your relationship has gone to the dogs.

-

The BLUE model is a specific CBT strategy developed by PracticeWise to help counter negative thinking. BLUE is an acronym that stands for the kind of extremely negative thoughts you should recognize in yourself when they do pop into your head. “B” stands for blaming myself, “L” is looking for bad news, “U” means unhappy guessing, and “E” represents exaggeratedly negative thoughts.

-

What many people-pleasers fail to see is that sacrificing so much of themselves in pursuit of serving everyone else around them is sabotaging their very capacity to continue being there for others when it truly matters.

-

Rejecting an invite is not the same as rejecting your friend and that prioritizing your own peace of mind by just settling into a restful weekend is totally okay.

-

Ask yourself, “What are the things I do to be happy?” or “What are the core beliefs I have about my worth as a person?”

-

Exposure therapy is the process of deliberately placing yourself in situations that cause you fear and anxiety. You’ll need to immerse yourself in your feared situations in a gradual and progressive manner, starting from situations that cause the least anxiety and later advancing to those that cause the most intense feelings of fear.

-

Creating your fear hierarchy. The fear hierarchy is an ordered list of situations that elicit your fears and anxieties.

-

The first habit we must develop is the habit of self-awareness. We don’t understand why we people-please, and we’re not aware when we’re doing it.

This begins with questioning the motives for your actions: “Why exactly am I going out of my way for this person?” “Do I genuinely care for them, or am I just afraid of what might happen without them?” “Would I be doing this out of free will, or am I doing it for someone else?”

Take note of the moment you’re starting to feel internal resistance. When that happens, stop everything and question why you’re doing it.

-

The second habit to cultivate is the habit of personal autonomy. An autonomous person knows what they truly believe and why they believe it. But the differences that you’ve valued your own opinion over that of others. Or you’ve at least valued it equally and not by habit put your own opinion as inferior to that of others.

-

That’s why it’s important to get into the habit of expressing yourself honestly. The more you communicate where you stand, the more people will know where you’re coming from (and what your limits are). After all, people can’t read minds, and to expect others to know what you want is an impossible task.

-

Remain strong under pressure. When you stop people-pleasing, you will face some angry reactions. It’s not necessarily their fault because you have conditioned their expectations. But this is where you must not fold under pressure, like you previously would have. It only takes five seconds of extreme willpower, and it gets easier every time thereafter.

-

How to set boundaries:

1. Determine your core values

2. Change yourself and only yourself. You dont control other people

3. Set consequences of someone else breaking your boundaries. Write down the boundaries you have, the actions others might take that trespass those boundaries, and exactly what you will do when they’ve violated your boundaries.

4. Communicate your boundaries to others in very exact terms. Make sure everybody’s very, very clear on what your limits are.

-

If you tell yourself “I can’t,” you’re simply reminding yourself of the limitations you’ve set for yourself. You’re creating a feedback loop in your brain that tells you that you can’t do something that you would normally want to do.

When you tell yourself “I don’t,” you’re creating a feedback loop that reminds you of your power and control of the situation. You’ve given yourself a line in the sand that takes the situation out of your hands. Your choice was premade to say no and thus you can stick to it more easily.

[barbiecrocs]

Bad Acting

Miguel O'Hara

Part 1 Part 2

tags! Actress x Businessman, masturbating(fem)

WC.1743

Barbies Note... I'm like the Boruto Manga the way I'm uploading once a month. Keep em waiting 😜😜😜 Anyway, not much to say but ENJOYYYYYYY

Bad News

You finally make it home after a painful morning meeting with your manager Lyla when you realize how much your back hurts. Setting your purse and jacket on the coat hanger by the door, you start feeling a buzzing sensation from your purse. Digging out the item you find that it’s your personal phone getting lit up by some unknown number. You press decline but they call again and send a text message before you can block them.

“I guess giving me the cold shoulder is the only way to get back at “him”, huh?”

You almost overlook the message, thinking it was some crazed fan who found your number until the gears in your head click. You kiss your teeth when you think of standing toe to toe with him in a heated verbal dispute that was most likely started by you out of sudden anger. “Fucker. How dare you?” You frown, muttering as you type those exact thoughts adding the question, “How did you get my number? I changed it like three times.” Onto the back. The reply you get is immediate. “I’m not supposed to say.” He says which is… ominous for sure but also a little out of character for him. Almost as if he weren't here to start an unnecessary argument with you or ruin the rest of your day. “We have better things to discuss. I have a favor to ask of you, but it’s the kind of thing that should be asked in person if you catch my drift.”

Hell. Nah. And that’s where you’ll leave it. In fact, you’ll wipe the pointless conversation from your memory.

You stare at your phone, the feeling of cringe almost overflowing as you read the text. No, you don’t catch his damn drift. His words don't answer any questions and only confuse you more after he drops a time and place for today before going radio silent.

. Seriously, the audacity of this man! To grab your personal number from where ever the fuck, or whoever the fuck, and contact you early in the morning like a close friend, knowing you are no longer that and hate his guts. Well, not his guts. More like his brother’s to be frank, but in your eyes they are basically the same person. Hell, Miguel is probably where Gabriel learned all his terrible behavior because why wouldn’t he take after his bigger brother? Anyway, despite knowing your distaste for the family, he still tried it? It truly makes you wonder if there's a brain up there, at least a working brain cell. Then he thinks that you’d meet up with him? That you’d do him a favor? Pshhhhh, a dream if he ever had one.

Setting the shower to your preferred temperature, you lock the door and shut the windows to prevent the steam from escaping. You set your phone face down on your bathroom’s pristine marble counter before getting ready to shower and laze around the house all day. Having already kicked off your shoes at the front door, you begin undressing. First, your socks, then leggings, next, your top and bra, and lastly your makeup. Drying your face, you close your eyes as a huge breath is sucked into your mouth and released in one big whoosh as a sigh. Almost all nerves are terminated except the last one that weighs on your mind, telling you this seems like a too-good-to-be-true dream.

But, even if it is, you won’t mind falling for it just this once because you rarely get a full day to yourself. Just think about all the things you can do. The thought makes a pleasurable shiver run up your spine, releasing a certain set of chemicals in your brain, and you refuse to deny what they want your body to do. Finally, the steam surrounds your body and it’s not long until you get caught up in the mood of things and start feeling another heartbeat between your legs. You step into the bathtub, with not only a small gratifying smile on your face but a different objective than what you originally came for. You let the water run down your body, watching it as it hits your chest as a whole before breaking up into multiple streams again. Some travel down the valley of your breast while others go haywire with all types of twists and turns after running down your boobs, ribcage, and curves of your midsection. Once you’re warm, you begin getting into position, knees to your chest, under the bathtub faucet switching the water from the shower head to the nozzle below.

The water wastes no time making its way to your clit making you gasp from the suddenness even though you should’ve been prepared since its release was in your hands. Nevertheless, this miniscule experience doesn’t dull the tender leg-shaking feeling the water gives you. The pressure, the warmth, the wetness, it’s everything as you let the water beat up on your clit in the best way possible. A hand sneaks around your butt, gently feeling around as to not break emersion before sliding your fingers into your pussy, but they don’t do much considering the lack of length on them. But you still crave a little more stimulation even going as far as pulling the hood on your clit back a bit before feeling your orgasm come on too quick for your liking. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and you will savor and drag it out for as long as you can. Trying to get more than 24 hours out of the 24 hours the day has given you. Plus, everything feels better when you have to wait for it, just like this day. Just like your orgasm, but it doesn’t hit you as it usually would. There’s a build-up to it that explodes with pleasure in the middle but also plateaus at the highest peak before gradually coming down with half-lidded eyes and a brain that buzzes oh so sweetly with every thought. You push away from the faucet and lay there until you can get a hold of your bearings, letting out a big sigh before rising to your feet to continue where you left off.

You feel excited as you step out of the shower and into your robe and slippers, only to realize that you finally have the opportunity to go through your whole skin and body care routine. The thought brings not only a smile to your face but also motivation to shave your whole body neck to toe. Another shiver skips down your spine but this time it was one of joy. Oh, how ecstatic you were for something so minuscule in others eyes. Mental Health Days with a sprinkle of body care have been one of your favorite things in the world ever since breaking up with your toxic ex. Your mind begins to drift into the past but you quickly stop yourself, only preaching to look forward in life, never back.

In the midst of jamming to your music and putting on your gel face mask you get a call. At first, you roll your eyes thinking it was Miguel again until you remember that you blocked his ass immediately after the interaction y’all had. You pat various places on your counter until looking down and see your phone missing, not having time to look for it, you tell Alexa to answer it for you.

“Hello-” Before you can get a whole sentence out a loud voice overcomes yours, “Finally the little diva picks up the phone. I’ve been calling you for the past 20 minutes. Do you have any idea how much my phone bill is gonna be?”

“You can’t blame that on me. You know, most people would stop calling after the third one and say, “Hm, it looks like she’s busy right now. I guess I’ll call later.” And go on about their day waiting for either a callback or a reasonable time to call again.” You huff, half frustrated that you can’t find your phone and half frustrated that Lyla interrupted your Mental Health day. Unbeknownst to you, Lyla retorts something but as said, it goes over your head as you search your house room to room, upside and down, and inside and out. In defeat, you stalk back into your bathroom, head down only to see your phone on the floor behind the toilet. You can feel your eye twitch before a reasonable roar rips through you and Lyla goes silent on the other side. It seems as if you’ve broken her train of thought because she begins talking about what she truly called you for. Which would seem like a relief for you, but in reality it’s not.

Anyhow, you put your phone down and begin the second half of your skincare, body care.

“Anyway, I noticed that your schedule seemed too empty today, so I did you a favor and-” Before she finishes her thought, you cut her off. 

“NO!” You yell and everything goes quiet. Her breath hitches on the other side and you continue your thought after realizing she isn’t going to chip in. “My schedule is very much full today with me, myself, and I. No room for anything else today, sorry.” You say and right before you can hang up she manages to get a word in. “Oh, come on! You act like I filled up your schedule. I only booked one thing, which you would’ve known if you paid attention to your phone because I sent it to you! Plus you should drop the 'tude! Everything I do is for you and your success. I mean that as a friend and your manager.” Your shoulders sag seeing how right she is when you turn on your phone only to see ten missed calls and desperate texts. “Ugh, what is it even about?” Dread oozing from your voice.

“Read the calendar I sent you.”

“When is it?” You push for an answer which you still don’t get.

“Read the calendar I sent you!”

“Where is it?” You push once more, tipping her over the edge.

“READ THE CALENDAR- UGH YOU KNOW WHAT? I ALREADY KNOW YOU’RE DOING THIS TO GET ON MY NERVES, BYE GIRL.” She hangs up in your face and you silently chuckle to yourself, "Payback." You mutter. Opening up your text messages you see that she sent you one last text after the call.

'Hm, it's a link.' You think as you hesitate to tap, praying that this isn't another meeting.

Your thumb finally makes contact with the screen and a dark bubble in your stomach pops with relief. Well, half relief because it isn't another meeting, but a date?

MYSTERY MAN!! (Information below)

-DRESS FORMAL

-NO MONEY NEEDED (All expenses paid)

-FOOD AND ALCOHOL SERVED

-WEAR GOLD CLOTHING AND JEWELRY OR CLOSE TO IT

-THE DATE SHOULD LAST FROM 8:00PM TO AS LATE AS 12AM

-MOST IMPORTANTLY, HAVE FUN

-LYLA WILL BE IN THE ROOM TO ENSURE NO ONE GETS HANDSY yet ;)

XOXO, Your manager.

Knowing that you most likely won't be able to control whatever happens next, you pour yourself a moderate glass of red wine, turn on your favorite show, and kick back on your sofa to enjoy the rest of your mental health day before getting back up again.

Barbies Note... Two Barbie Notes in this chapter?🤨🤨🤨 Yes. Anyway I just wanted to say that this chapter was a bit of a snooze fest, ik ik but the next chapter should be more interesting with some lore dropping😼

[autistic-demon]

Asmongold is one of those atheists that rails hard against religions like Islam etc, but just vibes under Christian/Catholic rule. Like you aren't atheist you're just racist.

You can be atheist and be against religious rule of any kind, but you also need an understanding of context, history and human compassion. I don't think anyone should be harmed. Yes even people who would harm me. No one deserves to be treated like that. NO ONE.

The west loves to hold LGBT rights over our heads, any country that doesn't have protections for LGBT people is called "inferior". Okay? There are a lot of countries that don't have human rights for LGBT+ people. So we should help push for change and not encourage more violence? Right? RIGHT?

They also completely overlook the existence of queer people in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran etc.

And it's really rich when it's coming from Americans when this country is also actively trying to erode the rights of queer people as we speak.

Conservatives will say "they will throw you off a building in the middle east" trying to argue with queer people who are advocating for really controversial things like peace??? non-violence??? anti-genocide??? and then that same conservative will also go "by the way I don't think you should be able to marry who you love and also I want to inspect your genitals to make sure you're using the "correct" bathroom"

Like these people are just weaponizing these ideas in a faux attempt to continue violence against people in the middle east, as well as queer people and POC in their own country.

And guess where a lot of that good ol' queerphobia comes from in their little belief system? Oh would you look at that it's got it's roots in another abrahamic religion.

And Asmongold likes to say he dislikes Christian rule as well, however I have not heard of him speaking on the number of US judges and representatives and congresspeople who say they will uphold the bible in their rulings/legislation. In fact we have already seen damaging results from this? Where was the outrage then?

He presented this idea that the US is this religion free(it's not, religion is still deeply baked into US law and practices in government as well as social issues) superior place that treats queer people great(again not true, and it's actively getting worse here in terms of laws passed), when in reality is that neither of those things are true, but do you hear any outrage from him on these things? He doesn't want to dig into issues here and would much rather direct bigotry towards Islam and POC.

And I find it rich that someone who seemingly goes on an hour long rant at the sight of a "woke™" character in a video game suddenly cares about queer rights.

*TERFs stay the fuck away from this post*

[7grandmel]

Rip of the week: 23/09/2024

Megalo Switch Back

Season 8 No Album Release (Read More) P-Switch (OST Version) - New Super Mario Bros.

Ripped by AdamCrossing

Undertale celebrated its 9th birthday earlier this month, and as you might've guessed I immediately went to thinking if I ought to celebrate that occasion in some way or another. I mean, yeah, the blog has a dire case of Too-Much-Undertale-itus with Locked In The Underground, Determination is Magic, World Out There - hell, Do for LOVE was just three posts ago - but as I've explained many times I find Undertale's impact on SiIvaGunner is plainly too big to be overlooked. Yet I wanted to find some new way to discuss Toby Fox's work, more than just a good Undertale rip: and right as I was pondering that very topic, the SiIvaGunner channel dropped "P-Switch (OST Version) - New Super Mario Bros." into my sub-box. I'm not quite sure what so expect, a pretty standard runtime attached to what's otherwise a pretty one-note jingle from the New Super Mario Bros series - yet mere moments into the rip, I knew Megalo Switch Back was an instant classic, and EXACTLY what I was looking for.

AdamCrossing is a pretty unique case as a ripper in that my first exposure to him came from seeing his work spread on Twitter, as the guy has a knack for knowing exactly what kind of audio edits and arrangements are able to get a kick out of people. A lot of his work such as his self-produced fusion collab, his arrangement of the New Super Mario Bros. Wii plains theme or the inverse of the same joke hit a lot of similar beats - the main one, of course, being the reoccurring fixation on the New Super Mario Bros. series of games. And maybe this is me speaking as a fellow Wii-generation kid, but I think that fixation matches perfectly with the SiIvaGunner MO, of both catching you off guard and providing something genuniely delightful: And so, as the aforementioned examples show, AdamCrossing's fantastic ear for quality and deep understanding of the New Super Mario Bros series' sound and sample usage leads to rips that know exactly how to strike the funny bone just right due to the sheer contrast in music featured in them: With New Super Mario Bros. as perhaps the most tonally cheerful thing outside of the Kirby series, just about anything from a more grim series mixed together with it is bound to result in something very interesting to listen to. Put succinctly, it's the appeal of If Pazuzu Sneezes Do You Still Say Bless You? applied to the New Super Mario Bros. series.

Megalo Switch Back is impressive even beyond many of AdamCrossing's other work, however, due to the factor mentioned at the start of this post: P-Switch is less of a "track" in the New Super Mario Bros. soundtrack and more like a glorified jingle, a timer enforcing stress with a tense synthetic melody of noise and a repeating backing of a sound that's best described as "crunchy", rounding itself out through a Shepard tone repeating until the P-Switch timer ends. And so we have a lead and we technically have a backing - but how does one compose an entire rearrangement with just those confines? The solution is, of course, to "cheat": much like Nape Mango did way back on Earth, Wind & Bombs and as dozens of rippers have done since, the trick is to employ usage of other instruments, samples and segments from the same soundtrack as the source track, whilst keeping the source track as the rip's focal point. Through this, every turn that Megalo Switch Back makes still resoundingly sounds just like the original New Super Mario Bros. on DS, whilst ALSO always sounding exactly the way that the P-Switch theme ought to. The blend was so good that, upon my first listen, I was halfway convinced that they'd changed the P-Switch theme for some of the later New Super Mario Bros. games, due just to how "New Super Mario Bros. DS" Megalo Switch Back sounds. It approaches Jamangar levels of authenticity in variety within a rip, the kind I gushed oh so much about back on Story of Undertale: yet here, the core P-Switch melody never quite fades away.

Though I talked a lot about contrast betwixt the New Super Mario Bros. series' tone and whatever else may be mashed up with it, the P-Switch theme in particular is able to resonate more closely with the track being arranged through its prominent tension-building - the repeating synthetic notes being a natural fit for the eerie tension-building intro to Megalo Strike Back. For those unaware, a few years before Undertale's release, Toby Fox contributed the aforementioned track to an EarthBound tribute album, the track itself being arranged entirely using EarthBound's soundfont. It's seen, in a sense, as a stepping stone to what would eventually become Undertale's finalized Megalovania theme - an original composition sharing much the same intensity as that of an A-Class final boss theme. Through its rearranging in Megalo Switch Back, AdamCrossing employs all the tools within New Super Mario Bros.'s toolbox of sounds to preserve that menacing sound: The lead and backing instruments from the game's Castle theme, notably, take center stage and create a suitably dramatic atmosphere through their slight reverb: An atmosphere that's deliciously (and hilariously) enhanced through the NSMB series' iconic "bah-bahs", now feeling almost akin to the chants of a choir of followers.

The entire rip just OOZES the feeling of the original Nintendo DS in a way that's hard to quite put into words, yet immediately recognizable as soon as you hear it. Yet althewhile, as it runs wild with this dramatic boss theme, the crackling backing instrument of the original P-Switch theme lingers throughout, alongside occasional breaks to add the P-Switch theme's main instrument to the mix. Like lots of what Season 8 has presented already in the likes of KNUCKLES (Smaragdwächter) and Luna, Mi Amor, Megalo Switch Back is an incredibly inspired and inventive rip, leveraging a source so seemingly minescule in material in a way that feels completely natural whilst technically not at all adhering to the premise the rip's title would include. As a fellow Wii kid and enjoyer of specifically these kinds of incredibly arrangement rips, AdamCrossing has my deepest regards - and if he continues on this path of quality, he's bound to become an all-time favorite in the future.

[my-name-is-bunnyfoxy]

I haven't made a rant post in a good while but let me make one that has been bothering me for a while now.

AHEM

Can ya'll like, not downplay or undermine the turtles's traumas? I don't know, I've seen some people act like just because one turtle suffered more then that means the other one didn't. Or they are also just overlooking their trauma's and ignoring them and trying to hype the other one up. This goes for the other TMNT characters as well.

It feels like the TMNT community is trying to make a contest of sorts on who suffered worst which kind of just leads to downplaying or acting like other characters's trauma doesn't matter. That's how it has been coming off to me lately. Basically people undermining and or overlooking one's trauma and or issues.

Here's an example: People have been saying Rise Leo doesn't have inferiority complex or thinks he is useless or doesn't have self esteem issues because we've seen him be more confident and happy. I don't know but this comes off as my mama telling me I shouldn't be depressed because I have everything and I'm happy and there are people who have it worst. I'm sorry but speaking as someone who is quite hyperactive (mostly from how I run and jump around often) and is shown to be happy, I still suffer from negative thoughts like depression, anxiety and low self esteem. This is kind of something I saw some people say. Because those characters are shown to be really happy and extroverted and other positive emotions, it isn't possible for them to feel depressed or sad right? That's how it has been coming off to me lately.

Also people have different ways of coping then other people do. And you are all forgetting people will often put a facade of some sorts to try and cover up their problems (which we've seen characters like Rise Leo, Mikey in almost all iterations, Rise Donnie and other characters cover it up with some form of facade that is either comedic, strict, bad boy like or anything really).

I guess in short, I don't like how people are kind of just downplaying, overlooking, ignoring, undermining some of the characters's trauma by stuff like saying they are happy they can't be depressed and or one suffered more then the other. Yes, some people in real life for example to have a lot of worse things going on in their lives then someone else but, we should still aknowledge other peoples's problems and or trauma whether they'd be severe or not, their problems still matter and we should help them the best that we can.

I might have made some grammar mistakes or some parts might seem confusing, so if I need to clarify things or possibly explain more then just tell me.

[i--am--the--sheep]

Crush

"Didn't you have a thing for Aionosuke?"

Kaoru nearly trips over his own feet at his friend's words. Nearly. He steadies himself on the sidewalk, before resuming the late-night stroll he was on.

"What's it to you?" He manages to say after a split second of stunned silence. Kaoru's never been one to lose composure, even in front of those closest to him. Kojiro shrugs in response.

"Just curious, I guess."

Kaoru sighs. "Didn't everyone?"

"I didn't." Kojiro sees his friend shoot him a look from the corner of his eye.

"You always seemed busy with those girls you haul around. I didn't figure you were..." He hesitates. "...that way inclined."

Kojiro shrugs again. "I'm not picky. And just so you know, I don't haul them. If anything, those girls haul me." Kaoru scoffs at this.

"Sure. I don't suppose you have a good reason for why I thought you were straight for all these years?"

"You never asked."

"I didn't want to be rude!"

Kojiro barks out a laugh. "Rude? Please, Kaoru, you're the bitchiest person I know."

"You love me, don't deny it."

Kaoru can hear his friend hum in acknowledgment, but he misses the way Kojiro's lips quirk up, or the way his ears flush ever-so-faintly.

"Besides, I've had my eye on someone for quite a while." Kojiro knows this is a dangerous path for this conversation to go down, but he can't stop himself. The conversation lulls to silence for a moment before Kaoru pipes back up.

"You can't just say that and not tell me who it is."

Kojiro shoots his friend a teasing smile. "You'll have to guess."

"At least give me a hint! Do I know them?"

"Yes. I should think pretty well."

Kaoru ponders for a moment, pausing his walking to stand along a railing. "Do they go to S?"

"Yes, often."

"Could they beat me?"

"That narrows it down too far."

"Don't think flattery will get me to drop the subject."

Kojiro chuckles, watching Kaoru worry his lip between his teeth.

"Did I mention that they somehow manage to overlook the obvious?"

"Lack of common sense in your crush? Why am I not surprised?" Kaoru murmurs, still running through a list of faces and names.

"It's you, dumbass."

"Besides, all your little fans are kind of stupid, so--" Kaoru stops his sentence dead in its tracks. "...What?"

Kojiro looks down, feeling heat rising to his cheeks. "I said that it's you."

He can feel his friend-- and long-term crush-- study his face for dishonesty.

"You're not joking?" Kaoru's voice is quiet.

"Do you want me to be?" A beat of silence.

Kojiro should have expected that Kaoru would be forward in this aspect of his life too, but he is a little surprised when he feels lips on his own. Surprised, but not complaining.

When they break away, Kaoru's face is flushed and he's adjusting his hair. "No. I didn't want you to be joking. Come on, I've got some wine at my place. We should catch up."

[callsign-songbird]

OK ok ok, my mind is churning with an AU

So, we know Charlie's wonderful slasher Simon AU, right? Well, I just finished the second scream movie and BOY do I have thoughts for my own vaiernt of the Slasher Simon AU.

College.

Sports.

Murder.

Of course, not for any convoluted reason like Micky or Ms. Lumen, no. Just because Simon had a rough upbringing, and it's one of the only ways he knows how to releive stress. Besides, he's always found knives and firearms fascinating, especially his KBAR and his Snake Eye. The first time was an accident, the second time felt good, and after that? After that was just... Ghost.

They can go to an rotc specializing college (idk if those exist, but it's 4 am, I'll finesse the details later) ANYWAY they can be split up by Dorms!! Like, dorm TF141, and K0RT4C.

Laswell could be the headmistress, or Vice President

Price would totally be the golden boy dorm leader. He has to make sure that the boys under his jurisdiction stay safe and abide by dorm rules. He totally acts like the father of the group and always gets mistaken for a teacher (although, he does tutor students who fall behind, even if they aren't in his dorm)

Gaz could be the clumsy right-hand man who always has the scoop around campus (Golden retriever boy) always wears a baseball cap or letterman jacket, sometimes both.) He's the little brother of the group, definitely. Not to the point where he is baby, but definitely to the point where the others help him out a bit more and tend to give him advice (whether it's warranted or not) and he totally looks up to Price.

Soap is a study abroad student from Scotland who takes his studies almost as serious as his Rugby. A total Jock, but not the sleazy kind, the kind that takes a drunk girl home and writes her a note explaining what happened while leaving a bucket by her bed and some pedialite on the bedside (because not everyone can drink like him) going with the brother theme, Soap is TOTALLY the older brother, you can't tell me I'm wrong. I totally headcannon that he grew up in a stable household with three younger sisters, so he's just used to being the big brother.

Simon would (obviously) be the Ghostface. The scream movies are really good at keeping you guessing who the killers are, so it really wouldn't be obvious at all. He's buff from sports and the time he spends either at the gym or training in martial arts for his expected military career, of course he still likes dark humor and really bad jokes, and has a penchant for skull themed clothes, going as far as to wear a skull-print balaclava in winter. (Soap has declared himself as Simon's best friend. Simon won't admit it, but it's true.) Keeping up with the brothers theme, Simon is DEFINITELY a middle child. Quiet, reserved, brooding, tries to keep to himself so people tend to overlook him. Middle child all the way in this dorm dynamic. (Though, being a murder isn't exactly his LIFE, more of a hobby to let off steam, so it isn't really the focal point of the AU so much as college shenanigans)

And Roach (Because in my AU roach is alive and well) if the dorm is a family, then Roach is the pet, or the Wine uncle who occasionally shows up at 3 in the morning to steal snacks. Roach is the dorm party animal, always up to trouble, always has a drink, everyone loves him, and he always seems to know everything about everyone on campus. But he's also a feral gremlin who says and does weird things (like taking naps in the ceiling on lunch) all the time, so half the time no one takes him seriously. Odd and feral as he may be, he's still part of the dorm, and everyone treats him as such.

I still have to think about the K0RT4K dormmates and their dynamic, as well as the Ghosts squad, but oh my gosh, let me know if you want any more, and please send asks if you're interested! Though, I'll probably be drabbling more about it anyway, lol

[sterlingarcher23]

Happy memories=Season 5: Addendum & Will foreshadowing

I already altered my previous post (link down below) a bit - I overlooked something: Lucas.

Time jump (correction)

Lucas telling Max that he's there, right in front of her, and she's kind of ignoring him is foreshadowing the scene they shot with Sadie and Caleb: Max in coma, "ignoring" Lucas who tells her that he's there. "I don't want a letter. I'm right here."

It's either that or the scene in S4 in which he reads the book. And the sequence includes Season 4.

The "I'm right here" scene in the memory corresponds with Lucas sitting at Max's bedside (but she is looking just like Sleeping Beauty because she's not in cast and Ross saying that she's in a coma - which means in this scene),and her "ignoring" him. It's possible that this is this scene. It's also possible that it refers to S4. - His watch shows Thursday 11 2 (!), so November 2nd and that's 1989.

Next is Max swallowing the red Skittle (You were wearing that yellow Benny's Burgers t-shirt and it was so big it almost swallowed you whole - like a Pac-Man swallowing the red ghost in the scene, red jacket Max enters the Arcade.), then El and Max link and we hit the time barrier...

Note how in the memory scene they cut the original moment before the linking and after the linking - that's a time jump in itself:

Season 3 mall scene = time jump in Back to the Future. (JC Penney - they used the brands without getting money for it, it's not because they want to make commercials but used them for specific reasons like KitKat, Skittles, M&Ms) The linking/vanishing and reappearing part isn't in it.

The original version is cut in three segments (not sure about the exact terminology here, so I better leave that out, in German which differ from English terminology its probably: halbnah, Totale, nah). If you see the original footage as a single sequence, the edited memory version is visually a temporal jump.

Here again the comparison between this scene (without the final shot) and Back to the Future:

So this is the time jump - it's the third element in the memory sequence (and those are completely out of chronological order) and my guess is, that there are like two jumps potentially. - There's also some contradicting Infos about the time jump, like some say "immediate" time jump but other sources say from Episode 1 to 2. It's still possible that there are multiple time jumps and the hand holding scene IS right before waking up.

(Caleb is wearing a jacket in the bts shot and we don't see what he's wearing under it but in the hand shot he's definitely in role.)

The Back to the Future time jump reference in the memory is happening right after the "I'm right here/Lucas at Max's bedside" scene - however these moments are probably much closer than I initially thought.

And these segments of Lucas touching Max, the red Skittle are connected and the BttF time jump sequence may show us the result of this.

My guess is that there's at least one scene, maybe more, before the actual jump, involving Max (that has not been filmed yet - it would need summer weather) and we get to see already a partial resolve of the jump with Lucas holding Max's hand. Still comatose but a coma is only important if and how someone wakes up.

The coma is a "time jump"

"I'm right here" is either Season 4 ending or the scene from S5. Thinking about it, both would make sense. The first one even a bit more if we think of the coma as the actual starting point for the memory sequence to foreshadow everything the follows after.

Falling in coma, swallowing the red Skittle, time jump sequence and the rest is the boys who meet the killer, the ghost trap scene, ElMax foto session, fotos (in media metaphorically) freeze people in time like:

(There are some Whovians out there that say, that some Doctor Who is also in Stranger Things. And those stasis cubes are visualized as paintings. - An endless summer skateboarding sounds very much like a stasis cube or a pocket dimension. )

.. the movie date (storytelling technique called promise gets it's payoff) ElMax hugging...ElMax & Lumax Endgames.

And they could only use existing scenes but those are very deliberately chosen (there's a scene not in this sequence that has it's own rhyme and I only just discovered it but it demands another moment like it, it involves ElMax, certain posters but most importantly: a sea shell lamp).

And it's been foreshadowed how we would react to the time jump that the JC Penney reference alludes to - I didn't make it up, the Duffers made this connection in the show by showing us the exact moment including Doc saying "The temporal displacement occurred at 1:20 am"

Yepp...these two idiots. That's us.

Conclusion?

The coma is a time jump. "I didn't disintegrate anything. The molecular structure of both Einstein and the car are completely intact. I sent him into the future.", Doc Brown.

In the memory scene, except the "coma" segment as a starting point and the Endgame (It's you and me won't be unhappy), the answer to EVERY memory sequence is ElMax, shown as inseparable after linking. That's neither queerbaiting nor is it just a "regular" relationship. This is not even slightly one of these stories.

Nonetheless is gives us some basic elements of the plot.

And it's ElMax making Lumax Endgame possible: High five. 1st place. Winners....whatever you want to call it.

Soo... The sequence foreshadows some basic elements of Season 5 in regards to the character relationships. - And ElMax appears like inseparable in these moments, either linked, very close by, hugging ...

It doesn't get more obvious. They tell it straight into our faces.

And I would say that it's obvious that they make a huge deal out of Max's coma. Just her having powers? That's it? How is this such a huge deal? The Vecna has absorbed her and stuff can easily be debunked too.

Will

And I have Will proving that they do this shit with the window and foreshadowing ...just differently. This is almost not so surprising, is it? That they show us that he has a "crowbar" in his head. - Oh, yes, people.

And while the class scene in Season 2 is about him. It's also about Max, she however has light reflections like "God rays" pointing to her head when the focus changes with Mr Clarke's words on top. Seriously, people. This is a subtle as fireworks in the middle of the towns square.

ElMax Endgame

ElMax will turn out to be a dissociative identity/multiple personality disorder system of two individual minds residing inside the same body. Max's body. They'll be together. Literally.

This way Max is healed by the cure/medicine: El. - This way ElMax and Lumax can happen and it's in line with the themes of the show. And it fits in regards to the inspo for Eleven taken from Elfen Lied - kids having supernatural powers do do some lab science MK Ultra style etc etc, why not Fringe? Because Elfen Lied has a main character that has DID.

"One skull, two tenants"

Previous post:

[quintiriss]

What's up with the elders in the Alto series?

been playing alto's adventure and alto's odyssey recently (played it years ago but picked it back up after i got a new phone) and i'm just so intrigued with the world. specifically the elders.

what's up with them? what can they do? why are they there? how long have they been there? are they a friend or a foe??

the two games in the alto series kinda proves that every "region" has its own elders. the snow region has a bunch of them, but for the desert, the only elder we know of is Sumara, for some reason. but back to the snow region's elders.

Tupa. In-game he is described as "an elder who lives alone in the wilderness. some say he can harness the power of the mountain and all those who have travelled upon it." this is a VERY interesting description. because the other elders we see are all ordinary-like and feel more like sheriffs, if anything. but that's the thing. if they're elders, why are they chasing Tupa? And the rest of the alto gang? For the alto gang i guess it can be dumbed down to "young people the old people don't like"... but what about Tupa? It isn't that weird that he lives alone in the woods since all elders we've seen have their own camps. Do they chase Tupa because he's behaving the same way as the alto gang? Do they chase Tupa because they fear his abilities? Because like... the game just makes him sound like some kind of god.

In fact, the two elders who are with the alto gang are described to have a deep connection with their region. Sumara's description is "full of warmth and wisdom, Sumara shares a deep connection to the desert's wildlife, and all travellers she meets. Even the mischievous Lemurs are calmed by her presence."

The similarity between Tupa and Sumara are the fact that they have a special connection with travellers that trek their respective regions. However, the difference between them is while Tupa "harnesses the power of the mountain" (aka the environment itself), Sumara is connected to the wildlife. The way they're described in-game also really fits the regions they're in respectively which I like (Tupa being described as a sort of loner and is mysterious while Sumara is described as warm and inviting).

My headcanon is that the reason why we don't see any elders in the desert is because either Sumara is the one and only elder, or the other elders put their full trust on her for "overlooking" the desert. It fits in well with her inviting personality.

As for Tupa, I headcanon that he's the snow region's boogeyman. Due to his "harnessing the mountain" ability thing, the citizens of the snow region made him an object of fear. Perhaps the snow region wasn't even the snow region in the first place. Perhaps Tupa pulled an Elsa a long time ago. Now, many of the common folk probably donned the title of elder and even made a uniform for themselves, making them the region's police spread around the woods in hopes of capturing Tupa. Of course, they usually fail.

Also idk if it's just me but the elders in alto's adventure feel MUCH MORE TERRYFING compared to the lemurs. I play as Tupa in alto's adventure and it's always so nerve-wracking. Tupa doesn't have Sumara's mechanic where he can make peace with the elders like how Sumara is with the lemurs. That's kind of what inspired this post.

Alto's gang was probably a rebellious group of young people who went into the woods to seek out Tupa for funsies. Then the found family trope commences, and now you have a group of teenagers/young adults who can casually do things the elder of the mountains can do.

I also headcanon that probably, upon knowing that it is dangerous for alto's gang to associate with him in any way, Tupa sent them off to the desert to meet an elder and community that would treat them better as the common folk of the mountains were getting more hostile by the day. Alto's gang tried to convince Tupa to go too, but that would be the equivalent to breaking some divine law idk. So yeah.

[apatchworkstar]

Hi! >:- 3c surprised to see me here? Cause I'm a bit, to be making this. So! Context is I made a Muu playlist and I wanted to make a post about why I ordered it the way I did. Not to mention why I chose the songs I did.

So, as they say, from the top~

Selfish Princess - Fujiwo

I feel like anyone who knows of Muu and has listened to this song may be able to guess why it's here. But for anyone who hasn't...

I feel like this captures her dichotomy of how she wants to be catered to very well.

Wanna eat that sweet sweet chocolate, wanna drink that hot hot latte, wanna eat that soft soft bread. Wanna eat that sticky cheese, wanna sleep in that fluffy fluffy bed; dozy, dozy have a good night zzz / Wanna eat that bitter bitter liver, wanna drink that red red soup, wanna eat that soft soft flesh.

This song also showcases how lazy she can be when it comes to things she's asked to do. In conjunction with how she expects people to work around her, instead of the other way round.

One, two, three- start dancing to the beat with my mysterious steps / Murmuring, rolling, lazy lazy meow meow; don't wanna do anything! / Three, two, one- the fragrant that makes my heart beat wildly

It also highlights a aspect of hers that can get overlooked. That being that she tends to like people who aren't just seeming to suck up to her.

Guillotine, gunshot, burning or seppuku, any option you'd like. No one can beat me; oh how boring. / Sweet sweet is not enough, show me more of that twisted face. Lalala lalala lalala, see- it's not enough

You may ask "then why would she bully those who aren't giving into her whims?" and that's a fair question! Muu does like to be indulged, after all. She's just also someone who doesn't appreciate people feeding off her without any sort of recompense. This is shown in how she refers to Mikoto in the wireless headphones.

Mikoto-kun, he's a bit of a poser

Overall, it's a good starting song as it shows Muu at a baseline.

I'm waiting for someone to love this selfish me. My pillow is wet with tears at the lonely nights. I watch every second passing by-

but I'm... right?

Selfish, lalala~ Don't be afraid everyone. Please give, give me! Keep giving me everything. Everything can be forgiven because I'm the cutest.

Hello Dystopia - MafuMafu

Ah, Hello Dystopia, my beloved~ Also a very easy pick for Muu, given her role in her school's dynamic.

Now, exit, exit; disappear, if you'd please! / The influence of a desperate god, the screws in my head turn anti-clockwise. It's too late to let us down, isn't it? Don't you beg for your life- let's fall together to the depths of hell. / Here, there's only idiots crawling out of the woodwork who want to play. Let's go in order, starting with whose hands are free- raise them to the gallows

As we all know, Muu has a habit of acting against anyone who she thinks dislikes her/ has ulterior motives-

Rehabilitation, reincarnation, my specialty. A refuge for failures to gather in 140 characters / It's the cruel sin of tearing down a tower of building blocks. All right, we're saving the world; excellent, chanting in unison, almost logged out of life

-We also know that, in some sense, this is meant to be a kindness, as she refers to these actions as "gentle stings".

Let's chant babbled nonsense. Let's grant wishes, no matter what they may be. Good children surely get prizes for perfect attendance; a show made of the dismantlement of the slandered / This is fake news, see. Keep out; die a dog's death. Mostly sources from ambiguous tip offs

It also touches upon some implications about Muu. Namely, that she has a distorted sense of showing and receiving "love"

A utopia where love is uncertain; there's no way of knowing if any of it's true or not anyways. A utopia where love is uncertain. Hysteria where this is certain

And that she tends to view things like love and hate in a transactional nature.

Here's the question, question- what was brought into being after we hurt each other? Excellent answer; dystopia / A shooting gallery for shotguns; thank you, Merry Bad End / Ignorant irony, though there's no conflict. Like it's a piece of cake, throw an entire life into disorder

Furthermore, this song placed here means it can also be read as her initial relationship with Rei

Love me; for my ambiguous self, become mine. Give me validation, hereditary idiot. Have you written the fiction between you and me? The present state of wild delusions and exaggerations, a collar at hand

"hey"

Useless Angel - Nanawo Akari

Now we get to Useless Angel! Something that definitely highlights Muu's more lazy side

It's not that I won't do it, I just can't! / Aah, lately the word on the street is that there's a no-good angel who makes up for her uselessness with angelic power... Well, that's the plan! / I wanna get a good score on my upcoming test, but my brain can't keep up and my thoughts are clattering around. It's Saturday, and I wanna get up early but I can't stop playing online games in the middle of the night / Just lemme say there's nothing I can do about it! Even though I stuck my halo in my mouth / "But can you really fly if you work hard?" I'm making a face that looks like that

But it also shows more of her earnest desire for affection, and the lengths she's willing to go to receive it,

I want to convey to you more and more of my feeling being inadequate. But, when I'm noticed, I get nervous, a miscommunication. My blinking halo is cracking, but with this, I'll change your mind about my identity. I said it's a bluff, but the truth is that there's a foggy feeling of love. I want to search for it with you. / Hey, the no-good, no-good, no-good, no-good me- you'll love her! / I'll make your heart beat, beat, beat, beat just for you! If you'd just look at me seriously, I'd probably do it!

And her anxieties about not being deserving of said affection. Or receiving it for reasons that have nothing to do with her as a person.

But am I at least alright? / I hid my feeling of love in that kind of paper-mache shell, but I want to be laughing with you. Hey the no-good, no-good, no-good, no-good me... are you okay with her? To tell the truth, I don't have any self confidence. I'm an angel, you know. My head is spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning. It is filled with nothing but you- that's what I've been thinking about!

I think I'll be able to fly with this love I've received, since I'm an angel

It's not that I won't do it, I just can't!

Er, well, I'll put a lot of effort in anyway!

Chameleon - Surii

And Chameleon represents Muu in the midst of her efforts to earn love meaningfully. As I said before in this post, Muu doesn't want people to just fawn over her for no reason. And this time she's putting in her all to catch the attention she wants from Rei!

I get dizzy from falling in love burningly. I want to be loved, so I'm being an honour student. As I get irritated, my heart is scattered- but I'm a chameleon that can blend in this much / I want to resist to ask you for your affection. I want to show you the best attitude / A while crying and a while falling in love again. Today's makeup can't be messed with / A passionate chameleon becoming half dead again, but next time, for sure. A passionate chameleon. I'm a chameleon that just wants to be loved by you. Transform and diving into the average class. A complete change into the life of the lower class, piling up the dynamite on myself. Oh my, what a damp noise

But of course, Muu is someone who can't help but stay true to herself, even if it causes her trouble. As much as she tries to hide it, not everything can be covered up by hard work and determination.

The transformation is not perfect; my entire body is not something you desire. I take those dynamites little by little, apparently dangerous / Do you still wanna be loved? / A while buttering up and a while melting; I gotta check today's trend. Dazzling from singing flamingly, living a life with the passing grade. My resentful heart sways back and forth; I'm a chameleon that can be a part of it / My throat is parched, feeling the moment. But can't be forgiven because my outfit is way too flashy.

Even if it's painful, it's just something she ends up slipping back into. And so the loop of effort and pain continues.

Dunno... I cried so much that even my true original colour disappeared. When I tried to run away because it was too hard for me, you smiled at me.

Only want you to love me, is it not enough? Still not enough so try to blend in, chameleon

Ai Janai - DAZBEE

Yes, I know Gunsli has brought this specific song before. It's a great comparison and you should all give it a read when you have the chance! However, I do have my own reasoning. Especially it being placed where it is! Besides, I do do things a bit different from her, even if there are similarities.

But yes! We are slowly approaching the eye of the storm now. Everything is turning upside down and tensions are beginning to run high. Muu's starting to lose it, lost between her desire for love and her desire to earn it. And that's mixing with the burgeoning realization that maybe Rei wouldn't ever like her.

This isn't love, so depressed I feel sick. This isn't love; it isn't, right? Is that the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard? Denied, isn't it? / On an answer sheet with A, B, and Cs, I gladly marked each question wrong. Could we have a secret love? "let's solve the hard questions together", "I'll wait for you after school" ...as if you would say that. / Before I fall apart, I wanna confess about this love that won't go away / Something's wrong with me, I must be going crazy. I'm in a drunken stupor filled with regret /I'm half joking and about to cry / I won't get my hopes up

Further and further until we enter it and anything can be set off with something as simple as a push or shove.

My sixth sense is tingling, I realized I really need to see you / It's like I'm sucked into a vortex each time I remember, and I can't get away

I look up the psychology of your actions online for signs / "Let's share secret looks between us", "I'll be standing in the hallway" ...but you're not listening, are you?

You'd resent me for the deal I've made in my head

Is this respite before I'm faced with a dilemma?

(Bonus!) Notice - Moe Shop

It's the bonus round! Also known as the song I keep dithering about putting in the playlist or not. It just feels. Very fitting for this moment.

Signal broken, error, retry. No one told me how to do this. Faith, belief un-fucking-believable. Shaking, wavering proof of my love / Taking long to get a reply, regretting. Maybe I'm thinking about it too much. Shaking, wavering, vibrating

That sensitive age where you wanna start a coup, can't pick up anything dropped. Stand, bow, this is a warzone

Cut off 5cm of my school skirt, feeling a little blue and sentimental. Senpai please, notice me. I already know there's a sweetie, so bad that I seriously consider suicide. It really hurts. / Eyes glaring in the dark

A piano in the evening, Ivory skies above. I hear a voice calling someone to stop. Please almighty god, stop those footsteps before the magic of misunderstanding fades

"Please, senpai. Notice me"

Short lived rumours last 75 days. That couple who were dating, broken up already, love is a lie.

Messed Up! - Natsuyama Yotsugi

And now we arrive at the incident- including this, only five more songs to go...! Thankfully God's Parasol is very short. More like a preview than anything. But back on track! We finally reach a release and now Muu has to deal with the aftermath.

I messed up and I killed 'em!? I caused a big commotion in the early afternoon- a rouge coloured puddle. Ah, they went and died!! I've gone and done this and that, and now I'm getting worried. I wipe my sweat away as the cicadas cry. Crisis! Crisis! My thoughts go 'round and 'round. This story's taken a dark turn, oh... / There's nothing I can do. Escaping into a träumerei, please, close my eyelids already

"Co-ming. Who is it?" I open the door to a flood of justice "Could you tell us the truth about this incident" "Actually no, first, a word of apology please" Ah, I'm sorry, I'm s-s-sorry. I've been a bad girl, that's why please / I'm just getting my just desserts / My offenses are as stated. Oh judge, please send me to the gallows already / They messed up and killed 'em!? What a big fuss over nothing, a story turned märchen / and the whole crowd laughs like fools

Darling - Keina Suda

And now the aftermath starts to set in. After all, as we've seen in milgram (and Undercover) Muu is a girl filled with regret and wistfulness

Am I not good enough? I know I'm the only one / I can't win your heart. I know you better than anyone / Darling, I'll give you my everything- please, give me all your love

There is no point in being alone. Words couldn't be created. I know- I know, but I keep pretending. We can't be together; our hearts will stay apart / but my love for you is shameless / Panicked, you were having too much fun

Just forget it, I'll be waiting for all this to end / Darling, take me someday; I long for that day to come

God's Parasol - Shikiura

This is so short I feel like I could just put all the lyrics here lmao. So that's what I'm gonna do

With the parasol god gave me, I'll come to you, fluttering in the air. I don't need anything else, melting away with your sweet kisses. With the parasol god gave me, I'll come to you, fluttering in the air. Why won't you say anything other than goodbyes?

First Love Diary - Kashii Moimi

Now we're really getting into the conflicting feelings- the regret, the frustration and sorrow all melding into something manically tangled.

I could never come to hate you, and so this ingrained self-restraint has no function. I'm forever remembering the secrets shared just between us two. Do I have to keep my feelings under lock and key? Saying "I want to see you" is my signal that I've been hurt, but I'm reluctant to cry all by my lonesome after putting on a brave front. / It'll do me no good (Don't leave) to get this attached to you. (me alone...) / please don't abandon me / I want to stay gentle (I'm the best in the world)

Dizzily inhaling your gaze, I don't even know what I've been doing to survive until now (You're heartless, aren't you?) I hate it, darling. I beg you, grasp my hand and rebuild me as someone new. Just as you want me! (Aren't I remarkable?) Maybe everything about me is becoming immoral in an indifferent and imbecilic way. Yet your hands are forever lovely (this is our starting point) / Indeed your words are my drug. I'm falling upside down, so won't you catch me? (And take me away from these dark days?) / Even so, darling... (I want you)

I hate it darling, become my sustenance! You know, I can't feel a single thing. You're constantly not there (Is nothingness so awful?) I love you. Can you tell me there'll never be another?! / "My first love won't be fulfilled" Then what should be done about me, who was able to fulfill it?

Will it always be so painful? Yes, yes, I feel the same way. So let's hurry up and go together (to heaven)

Chronophobia - 2進P

And finally, the point Muu was at when she was whisked away to Milgram. This is the point where the mania has faded, only leaving hurtful memories that dig into her psyche.

Time is projected so clearly; it goes on everywhere. Beautiful lights deceive my eyes as usual. I sloppily tore the flickering image that's always next to me into pieces- you know, even if I close my eyes, it's still there. I dislike everything about time. I don't care at all for eternity. The bitter words and their meaning don't accomplish anything; they've left intense scars and won't stop.

Why exactly is that moon still waxing and waning? I can hear that deeply warped noise so close to me. I run a tightly gripped knife across my face, wanting that unpleasant sound to disappear. Don't touch me, don't come near me, sounds of time. Since I'm begging, just kill me already.

There's no smile in my eyes. There is only the unstopping memory someone has violated me with.

Why, why do I keep seeing it? Please, stop it. Shut my eyes. / Please, stop it. Let me sleep.