#or what its supposed to go in

[sp0o0kylights]

He can see it in Eddie’s face. 

Steve can't help it but laugh. "Are we gonna get through a date where you don't spend half of it trying to escape?"

Eddie looks startled, but gives a shaky laugh. "You can see that, huh?"

Steve reaches out, wraps a finger around a curl.

Let's it go slowly, gently.

Admires the neon shade of red Eddie's face has just gone. 

"You're pretty obvious about it, Eds."

Eddie laughs at that, but it's self depreciating. He keeps his eyes glued to the glovebox playing with his rings. 

"Look just--don't laugh, alright?" 

"I won't." Steve agrees and let's the playful tone drop from his voice.

Whatever this was, Eddie was serious--and that meant he deserves to be taken seriously. 

"Hey." He prods gently. "I mean it."

Eddie jerks his head in a quick nod, before giving another painful smile. "I uh, I didn't think I'd get this far. Never have, you know? Not with--"

He cuts a glance at Steve out of the corner of his eye, words faltering.

"A guy?" Steve guessed. 

Eddie snorts, an ugly sound. "Someone like you, Steve. Rich, darling of the town, world's best babysitter."

He shakes his head before quietly adding, "--and yeah. A guy." 

"You're my first, you know." Steve says conversationally and frowns when Eddie sucks on a breath.

Harsh and fast, like he's been punched.

'Don't--don't tell me that, man, fuck." Eddie scrubs a hand down his face.

Hides in it for a minute, before dropping his hand back to his lap.

"Sorry. I just. I Really, really don't want to be another persons experiment, or one night stand or fucking, passing ship in the night or whatever. I don't want to be a regret." He turns, looks at Steve.

Shows him the terror that lurks in his eyes. 

"Cards on the table? I like you a lot, Steve. Have for a while. Mooned over you in school just as bad as those chicks from Spanish class." 

Steve stays quiet. Somehow knows Eddie isn't done, that he needs to wait. 

Even if he smiles at the Spanish class comment. 

"You were the straightest dude I've ever met and now here you are, taking me out on dates?"

Eddie laughs harshly. Like he can't believe he's even daring to say it, let alone believe it's happening. 

"You gotta tell me if this is fake. Or--or some kind of lapse in sanity on your part. It's not--it's not fair, if this isn't serious." 

Steve slowly leans in, bumps his forehead against Eddie's. Draws a curl around his finger once again.

"I'm here." He whispers calmly. “And I'm very serious.”

“You promise?”

“On Dustin’s mother's life.” Steve agrees, just to hear Eddie huff a laugh.

Follows it with; On my own life too.” 

Then seals the deal, with a kiss.

[mynnthia]

was talking with a friend about how some of dunmeshi fаndom misunderstands kabru's initial feelings towards laios.

to sum up kabru's situation via a self-contained modernized metaphor:

kabru is like a guy who lost his entire family in a highly traumatic car accident. years later he joins a discord server and takes note of laios, another server member who seems interesting, so they start chatting. then laios reveals his special interest and favorite movie of all time is David Cronenberg's Crash (1996), and invites kabru to go watch a demolition derby with him

[improvapocalyps]

You have 90 minutes to complete. (original poem: r.a.)

In participation of the MCYT Recursive Exchange 2024 hosted by @mcytrecursive!

Inspired by know that all my love will be your breath (i will save you when your lights go out)

[text under cut]

1. Have you ever been in love? (Please circle your answer.) a. It's me and him b. Our hearts beat in sync c. Our lives intertwined

2. Do you understand what you’ve done? (Please circle your answer.) a. I couldn't do anything b. I lost my balance c. I doomed us both

3. It's been god knows how long since you felt phantom hands on your neck and there is no one in sight. If you were soul-bound to him and both of you died at the same time then why are you still waiting in the void? Please answer clearly, in full sentences. (Not a correct answer：I just wanted to see him one more time).

4. Define two (2)： Fate | The feeling of his forehead against yours Curse | The moment you realise he isn't linked to you anymore

5. True or False： i. It was your fault. ii. You wish you had met him under different circumstances. iii. You can’t regret a single moment that you had him. iv. You would do it all over again if you could. v. It ended long before either of you said anything.

thumbnails:

sketch cover thing for imgur link:

[hinamie]

shhhh

[lucabyte]

i feel like people are sleeping on the occam's razor situation of how buckwild it is to outright accuse a guy of being a clone of your friend even if you DO have a lot of circumstantial evidence. there's other options is what im saying. they could just be like. a guy. that's a sensible deduction. you should explore that deduction. ignore my shirt that reads I <3 RED HERRINGS.

i still think odile has the correct theory on lock but she's smart enough to know it needs like... a real smoking gun to be able to bring it up without sounding insane.

anyway. (mirabelle voice) i know its rude to speculate but has anyone else noticed the grieving? they seem to be grieving. does anyone have any thoughts on the grieving? i have some thoughts on the grieving.

[goldensunset]

when people refer to canon story-relevant kingdom hearts games as ‘spinoffs’ it makes me sad not only for the obvious reasons i always say but also bc like man i WISH this series had spinoffs. imagine what they could do if they had permission from nomura to truly go off the rails and ignore the greater canon for a second and just do some fun whimsical plotless thing in an alternate universe. imagine a fishing/boating game on destiny islands. kh fighting game. it is an injustice that we have been deprived of kingdom karts. can anyone hear me

[xxplastic-cubexx]

oh noooo or whatever

bonus aka The Real Motive Behind This:

SURPRISE double bonus. textless ver of the first pic under the cut

[crustyfloor]

A new pop-up store dropped for ALIEN STAGE's 2nd anniversary and wow. It's so sick.

It's Interesting what exactly these experiments are focusing on and monitoring.

Instrument practice

I found it interesting earlier that Till was so tame, more so than he usually is when he's going through experiments, but music, and making music is what he loves doing, So he was fully in his element here. This was probably the only thing he was made to do by the aliens that he at least tolerated.

(Additionally, judging by his collar (orange), he was at least calm. maybe he just isn't fazed anymore.)

//Side note, that head contraption looks familiar BUT this most likely isn't related at least i hope

(It puts me at ease, at least..)

Dance practice

This surprised me, but I suppose Mizi needed more skills.

She looks very startled here, and nervous(?) +It looks like she's doing this while singing. And with that face covering I assume this was a test monitoring her dance balance, precision, etc. At first, I did think it was odd, "Why would Shine put her through that" But alas I was reminded that even though Mizi is the flower of the group she was never untouchable, to Shine, this was the equivalent of teaching your dog to sit and stay.

(seeing this it reminded me of those scenes in movies where the people are dancing, and the music gets faster and faster until they fall. I wonder if she was doing through something similar to that)

Singing practice (?)

Similar to Till she also looks quite calm outwardly, if the machine around her neck is an iteration of the collars they have, then this process wasn't something she liked, or given how intense this experiment looks, this was a test of high-pressure to ensure she always stayed calm during performances (?). Then again this could also be a posture practice given all the structure focused on maintaining her position.

(What I believe was another form of this test was shown before so I think so)

(With her hands in a praying stance I wonder if she was praying to herself or singing a religious song (sweet dream?) It's also interesting that the machinery around her looks like a halo, and she looks so...angelic? holy?)

Image making practice

By image making, I think they made Ivan replicate expressions with his face. Whether this process was painful for him or not...I'm not sure. But it looked visibly uncomfortable, maybe that was the point. (His expression, even in this circumstance is so dubious..)

Ivan, among other things, needed to have a spotless appearance to be successful, his image was a priority given his skills were certainly guaranteed.

I assume the aliens eventually took note of his lack of expression, in the real world this can be a detriment to one's career, so the Aliens had to ensure quality was perfect. (To a more...dedicated level)

Superiority test

'Superiority test' Is very vague.

HyunA is very calm here too, likely sedated in that water with all the tablets on her. I guess this was a test to get an idea of a pet human's strengths and weaknesses, endurance, and temperament to compare and contrast them with others, testing who is more viable for Alien stage?

Another interesting, and sad part about this is that HyunWoo was there, watching his sister through her experiments.

(Also, it looks like both of her legs are normal, no alien leg yet.)

Heart rate variability

And finally, the most visceral of them all. The wording 'variability' makes this all the more sickening, the Aliens were testing his heart hours, testing it at different rates, speeds, and states. And he was in agony the entire time. Even the way he's clutching his chest, it gives me chills. This would've been a completely harmless test in a normal setting, as something quite similar to this can be performed efficiently in real life. But he's being tortured in the process.

This is one of the first times we've ever seen Luka's face so truly clear and unprotected, (understandably so.) He's even crying.

[bunnieswithknives]

Dev this is serious stop beatboxing.

[tubbytarchia]

gg buddy am I right (ethubs doodle that I don't know what to do with)

[blackkatdraws2]

There are more things in the Parable than Stanley knows about. [Blank Scripts AU]

[willosword]

oh this is bad. this is like REALLY bad

[puppyeared]

axolotl

[dovewingkinnie]

when the hero is more deranged than the loser villain

[lucabyte]

I don't know how everyone isn't also always constantly thinking about how burial rites seem to be potentially one of the few things Siffrin instinctively remembers about their culture. But rest assured. I am in fact always thinking about it.

Textless version where they're just hanging out. It's fine!

[cowardlykrow]

"That is where you are wrong, my boy!"

@ratb4stard3 and I deliver another Cowardlyghostbro's(™) collab ✨💛