#programming experience can get through it smoothly

[bi-scared]

First time ~ Bay Donnie Headcanons

Here are my headcanons for Bay Donnie's first time with reader.

NSFW ~ F!Reader

(Note: I'm french. My english is limited and I use Deepl.)

From the moment you and Donnie became a couple, he pulled out and updated his computer file containing all the information he'd collected on “how to pleasure a woman”.

Then he runs tests. To find out exactly what the risks are if you have sex with each other. The risk of pregnancy, disease and physical compatibility.

Donnie tries to do this in a discreet way, without telling you. Because not only does it embarrass him, but he feels that all these technical details could ruin the magic of the moment. He wants it to be perfect, of course. For you and for him.

So, when he feels the moment is near, he's ready. At least, he thinks he is. But the reality is quite different, because this kind of thing can't be programmed like computer software.

So, when the time comes, he has doubts. He's afraid. Afraid of hurting you, afraid of not being able to give you pleasure. Afraid of doing it wrong, of not understanding what's going on in your head, of neglecting yourself, of not going all the way, of...

If you already have experience in the field, now's the time to take the reins. Because it's his first time and he's bound to need some guidance. Talk to him, show him, but also let him explore, test his theoretical knowledge. Donnie will listen to you and apply what you tell him to the letter at first.

Then he'll test things out. Things he's read or seen, but also things that come to him by instinct. With shyness and clumsiness, but also perseverance. And while he's putting his knowledge into practice, he's studying everything. Your gaze, your facial expressions, the movement of your body under his fingers, the sounds that come out of your mouth... He observes everything, analyzes everything and deciphers everything. He wants to know what you like and what you don't like. Because Donnie has two major objectives: not to hurt you, but above all to make you feel good.

He's got lots of questions, and he'll be asking them later. His brain is currently too busy remembering what he's learned and not losing control of himself. Because having you under his fingertips, freely running through you, is beyond anything he could have imagined, and he's on the verge of a short circuit.

No, the first time, his questions will be limited to “Are you okay?”, “Can I go on?”, “Do you want me to stop?”. And as he loses control, Donnie asks your permission to enter you, panting and stammering. And he won't do anything without your permission.

But before he does, he makes sure you're ready for him, because he's not human in size or shape. Donnie takes his time, first making sure you can handle a finger. Then eventually a second. He makes sure you cum at least once. And, just in case that didn't work, he's provided lubricant and even a few accessories to satisfy you without penetration, so you can both have fun in a different way. It'll never be a total failure.

When he decides you're ready (and he'll decide when, even if you're begging) and you've given him the go-ahead, he'll make his move. He has a plan to make things go smoothly and he fights to the bitter end against his urge to just work his way into you for his own pleasure. He'll only get in as part of the game with insane slowness, analyzing your reactions and resistance. Start gentle back-and-forth strokes with just the tip until no sign of discomfort appears on your facial features. Then he'll move in a little more and start again.

Throughout this process, Donnie lets out the most animalistic moans and grunts you've ever heard. He tries to contain them, but he's already having trouble containing his movements inside you. Sometimes he pauses, shaking intensely, and you come to understand that he's just trying not to cum too soon.

When he's deep enough inside you and feels he can't go any further, he makes sure to cover the part of him that won't enter you with his hand. Just in case he loses a little too much control and wants to go deeper. No, his hand must not move.

Donnie then starts moving back and forth more frankly and, to his (and your) frustration, he doesn't last much longer. As a result, he has an angry orgasm, swearing at himself. So much work and patience for a few seconds.... He feels guilty.

Might as well laugh it off and give him a second chance. He'll last longer this time. And why not take the lead for round two ;)

If this is also your first time, things aren't much different at first. Except that Donnie takes a little more on himself, fighting his embarrassment and looking to do you good without expecting you to guide him. He'll be doubly attentive and caring, though.

For this first time, he's decided he's far too... imposing, and he doesn't want to inflict that on you. If it's all right with you, he'd like to settle for a little...

For your first time, he's decided he's far too... impressive, and he doesn't want to put you through that. If you agree, he'd like to stick to his fingers for the first few times. He doesn't like the idea of taking your virginity that way, but he'd rather do that than risk hurting you.

After a few sessions of fingers fucking, he ends up wanting more, but he doesn't ask. He waits for you to tell him when you're ready. And when you are, he makes sure he does it right and as painlessly as possible. It may take you a few tries before he can finally enter you, but it's worth the wait ;)

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Habits

Habit - a well-learned behavior or automatic sequence of behaviors that is relatively situation specific and over time has become motorically reflexive and independent of motivational or cognitive influence—that is, it is performed with little or no conscious intent.

For example, the act of hair twirling may eventually occur without the individual’s conscious awareness.

How Habits are Formed

The question of habit formation can be approached from a scientific perspective or a more subjective and experiential one.

The Subjective Experience of Habit Formation

Bergson was a French philosopher who took cues from Ravaisson’s discussion of habits and their formation. Bergson (1911) wrote of both active and passive habits.

Passive habits arise from exposure to things we eventually get used to. High-altitude climbers gradually adapt their bodies to the lower levels of oxygen available as they climb above 7,000 feet.

Active habits are those we develop by repeated intention and effort, crystalizing as skills we perform with little or no thought. A gymnast practices walking, jumping, and flipping on a narrow beam until she can do all these maneuvers smoothly without falling.

Habits as skills can also be seen as a springboard to creativity.

Based on what we can habitually do, we reach new heights, as when a jazz musician ingrains the playing of a basic melody, then improvises new and adventurous notes on top of the underlying theme.

The scientific perspective on habit formation is exemplified today by neuroscience research. This research has highlighted crucial brain pathways involved in forming habits.

The Neuroscience of Habit Formation

When you first learn to tie your shoes, the attempts are quite conscious and effortful. As you practice this skill, it becomes a habit, something you can do easily and automatically, even while thinking of other things.

Neuroscience has asked how conscious and goal-directed actions are converted into a habit (Yin & Knowlton, 2006).

Clues to the mystery of habit formation can be found in an ancient area of the brain called the basal ganglia (Yin & Knowlton, 2006).

The basal ganglia are deep structures near the base of the brain that developed early in the evolution of our nervous system.

These structures play a major role in coordinating all kinds of voluntary movements, including the complex motions involved in walking, running, eating, talking, and grasping and manipulating with the hands, etc.

The basal ganglia, in conjunction with the brain’s frontal or “executive” lobe, also help perform the crucial task of rapidly selecting which type of movement should be made, out of the many options available in a given situation.

When faced with a tiger suddenly springing from the bushes, what should you do? Stand still, run to climb a tree, or make a dash for the river and hope the tiger can’t swim? The movement program chosen at this point might determine whether you get to pass your genes along to any offspring.

Since movements are most effective when well learned or habitual, the basal ganglia are also very involved in habit formation. Certain habits appear to be formed through the interplay between two distinct basal ganglia pathways (Yin & Knowlton, 2006).

One of these pathways is associative. It consciously collects information needed for reaching goals such as staying warm, finding food, finding a mate, and expressing oneself artistically.

A second pathway is more automatic. This route takes those lessons learned from the first pathway and includes them in a repertoire of stored habits.

These habits are then available to be called upon, when cued by a given situation.

Another key aspect to habit formation is positive reinforcement or reward.

For an activity to become a habit, it helps if it’s not only repeated often, but also positively reinforced.

We can trigger positive reinforcement through an external reward, like money, food, or praise. Such experiences release dopamine, one of the brain’s favorite “feel good” neurochemicals. A rewarding dopamine release can also occur through internal triggers, like visualizing yourself reaching a cherished goal (Neuroscience News, 2015).

Dopamine release has been shown to depend on neurons within the limbic system, another ancient brain circuit that processes emotions and the experience of reward. The limbic system is deeply connected with the basal ganglia and can stamp our memories and habits with emotional and reward value (Trafton, 2012).

Psychological Theories on Habit Formation

The American philosopher William James made early contributions to habit theory that still resonate today.

James (1914) thought of habit as the result of repeating the same action over and over, in similar circumstances, until it is ingrained in our brain circuitry.

He also believed that ingrained habits would automatically arise in the face of strong cues associated with their formation. When walking into your darkened room, the room and darkness cue the automatic habit of reaching for the light switch.

Behaviorists such as B. F. Skinner would expand on James’s insights into habit, with animal studies that emphasized how habit formation is fueled by rewards.

Skinner (1953) created cages for pigeons with buttons that dropped a food pellet when pushed.

In exploring the cage, the hungry pigeons would eventually peck the button on the wall. They soon came to realize that pecking the button would produce a food pellet.

This experimental scenario included what for Skinner were the primary factors in producing a habit:

Stimulus, like the button to be pecked

Behavior, like pecking the button

Reward, like the food pellet

Skinner (1953) believed that behaviors repeatedly engaged in for the sake of a reward will become habits. This hypothesis was borne out by his pigeons repeatedly pressing the button, even when that action was no longer followed by a food pellet.

Other theories sought to go beyond behaviorism’s focus on observed behavior alone, to include a mental or cognitive component in habit.

Edward Tolman (1948, 1954) believed that repeated or habitual responses involved the use of internal ideas, or “maps,” as cognitive components that helped navigate mazes, etc.

Neuroscience has further explored certain questions about habit, with the help of nerve conduction and brain scan studies.

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ More: References ⚜ On Habits ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[hiyashortking]

They’re Both Your, Ugh, Boyfriends, Now

We interrupt our regular Hazbin Hotel programming to bring you some JJK smut because I had a really disappointing spicychatAI experience that I had to fix Content: reader's pronouns are they/them; reader is AFAB; geto/reader/gojo; reader doesn’t like submitting; there’s kissing, fingering, a hand job; some mild vanilla exhibition if you squint; straight dudes experimenting with each other sexually for the first time

Before

After a failed attempt at having a threesome the week before, the three of you were forced to deal with some vulnerabilities including admitting to your feelings and establishing boundaries based on kinks, mostly your kinks if you’re honest.

The reason the threesome failed was because Satoru tried to dominate you and instead of using a safe word or communicating, you panicked and stormed away. This led to walls of texts of apologies from both men, until Suguru asked you to be loud and clear about what you wanted from them. Exhausted from all of the thinking and feeling, both things you were clearly not good at, you text-blurted out the truth which went a little something like:

You: “I want a romantic and sexual relationship with both of you in which I’m sexually in charge.”

And to your surprise, they both responded with enthusiasm. Yes, even Satoru. The only caveat they made is they’d appreciate if you could find it in your heart to incorporate their sexual pleasure in your encounters as well. Obviously that wording was from Suguru, because from Satoru you received more of an “as long as I can get my dick wet sometimes, I’m game.”

Ugh, men. If only you weren’t attracted to them. How much easier would your life be? Alas.

Now

The three of you were back at the restaurant where your first kiss happened last week. When you sat down between them, all of you on the same side of the booth like the clingy weirdos you were, you were overcome with the memory of that kiss and how they first took turns, and then while Suguru slid his tongue past your lips, Satoru joined in as well and you felt overcome by both of their tongues caressing yours and each other’s inside your mouth. Prior to this experience, you would have found something like this ridiculous and would assume a lack of pleasure from it, but the encounter itself was the complete opposite. You were immediately aroused, your cunt aching and wet. And now just remembering that moment was enough to cause those feelings to rush back.

As soon as they sat down, Suguru put his arm around your waist and kissed your cheek, the side of your face, and down to your neck where he nestled his face into you, while Satoru’s one hand settled on your thigh as the other reached across the table to move around the cups of warm sake the server just poured, placing each cup in front of each of you before drinking his fairly quickly and settling against you.

The way these two tall and strong men were the bread of your sandwich often felt unreasonable. It was like they wanted to be absorbed by the sides of your body, they left less than zero space between your hips and theirs.

Suguru turned his body a bit so he could face you and play with your hair. He seemed to like doing that, running his fingers through it, placing strands behind your ear, or pulling bits out to curl around his fingers. He also seemed to like running his fingers down your side, sometimes lightly like feathers, and sometimes smoothly with the backs of his fingers. Since he was, and ugh you cringed internally even thinking the word, your boyfriend now, you supposed it was significant to take note of what he liked to do with you.

Satoru was more aggressive with his touches, and in your judgmental brain you thought of it as pleasantly immature. He grabbed at your thigh or your side, his fingers squeezing your fat or otherwise groping you. He used his teeth on your ear. He pulled you by your waist when he kissed you. It was clear that both of you were dominant and that was going to be a challenge for this triad. It was the reason the threesome didn’t work last week, after all, because Satoru called you “needy and desperate for his cock” and you were so offended and repulsed by that statement that it broke the magical spell of the night irreversibly. He’d already said several other things that made you want to gag in the bad way, but none of them were nearly as bad as that.

And, fuck, you’d actually been attracted to him since the moment you met him. You loved the ease with which he carried himself, the knowledge of his power clear in his every statement, movement, and breath. He knew he was the best and clearly that information impacted how he advanced through the world, and even in your friendship before it became this relationship. You chided yourself for being foolish enough to imagine that he would be soft and sweet in the bedroom, when he wasn’t that anywhere else. You were so disappointed by his behavior.

You also felt guilty that a lot of your newfound attraction toward Suguru was based on the disappointment of what Satoru didn’t do for you. Suguru was gentle, intentional, and adaptable so far. When you wanted him to be assertive, he picked up on your cues immediately, and then when you wanted him to be passive it was like he could read your mind, so quickly did his body or phrasing change to suit your comfort. You’d always seen both men as out of your league, but Suguru seemed out of your world especially. You were shocked by his initiations and romantic statements. In your drunken stupor you had wished you could combine the two men into one, taking Suguru’s emotional, physical, and general intelligence and combining it with Satoru’s power and swagger.

But you didn’t have to combine them or even pick one of them. The topic hadn’t ever even crossed any of your lips. The men made advances on you together last week, took you to the bed in Suguru’s guestroom together, chased after you together, and even sent their apologies in a group chat instead of individual texts. They somehow decided they both wanted you and would both share you together, and you would not have been surprised at all if it turned out they never even had a conversation about this, so fluid and effortless were the choices they made together. They functioned as a unit, and if anything you were often the one causing conflict in your dynamic by arguing with Satoru or misunderstanding Suguru.

The men ate and drank and talked and joked and when their bellies were satisfied and their cheeks were flushed from the alcohol, they turned their attentions entirely onto you again.

“In the spirit of having a more successful first night together,” Suguru charmed, “would you like to kiss here again?”

Satoru’s face was in your neck and he seemed to be having a difficult time not sliding his hand up your shirt. He played with the hem of it and you weren’t sure if he was teasing himself or you by allowing himself to, every few seconds, experience a bit of the touch of your flesh. You could feel his tension as he held his breath when he did this, or released a shaky breath. It was amazing how he could make even such a small act feel wildly sexual.

“In the spirit of making sure your needs are also met,” you mocked Suguru playfully, “I want you to show me how you like to be kissed.”

“What do you mean, darling?” Suguru asked with a grin.

Satoru let out a warm breath that tickled your neck and face. If you were to guess what his thoughts were, you would assume they’d be something along the lines of imagining you french kissing his cock.

“I want you,” you pointed to Suguru, “to be me, and you,” you pointed to Satoru “to be Suguru. Show me on him how you want me to kiss you.”

Satoru lifted his head from your shoulder and exchanged a look with Suguru, each of their eyes sparkling with something you couldn’t read, each of their mouths slightly parted in looks of surprise. Satoru nodded, which you assumed was him giving consent.

They both looked away from each other and you had to squint to consider what may have been happening in their bodies. Were they … feeling shy?

Suguru looked around the crowded restaurant and then back at Satoru. He must have deemed the environment to be comfortable enough because he put a hand on the back of Satoru’s neck, pulling him closer while leaning closer himself. Their heads were directly in front of you. Suguru’s eyes darted to you so quickly you almost missed it, and then he pressed his lips to Satoru’s, easily guiding his tongue into and back out of the other man’s mouth. Satoru’s eyebrows were raised high, implying that under his sunglasses his eyes were opened wide with surprise. Suguru seemed to ensure their mouths were parted slightly enough that you could see exactly how Suguru dominated Satoru’s mouth.

You squirmed in your seat.

When they parted, Satoru was uncharacteristically quiet.

“Thank you,” you cleared your throat and told them, intoxicated by their act and the sake. You mimicked Suguru’s behavior as best you could, putting your hand on the back of his neck and pulling him close to kiss him the way he demonstrated wanting to be kissed by you. Unlike in his kiss with Satoru, where their bodies were stiff with tension and unease, during your kiss Suguru’s body felt like he was melting into you, his arms embracing you and urging you into his lap. His hands were in your hair again, but this time he added tugging on it to his repertoire. You moved your tongue the way he just taught you and felt encouraged by his precious, quiet little moans. When you separated, he pulled you onto his lap entirely and spread your legs to be on either side of him. He hugged you and hid his face in you, as if he was trying to hide his panting by covering it with your body.

You held him in your arms, cradling his head against you and petting him a bit.

You turned to Satoru, who was sitting surprisingly still. He moved closer, filling the gap your lap-sitting created between your bodies. The two men were now beside each other. Satoru pulled the dining table a little closer to cover his lap. He took one of your hands and slid it into his pants where you could feel his impressive erection straining against the fabric.

“Satoru-” you started, but he cupped your face with his hand, appearing too serious to scold.

“Please,” he said almost too quietly. “Just- just keep it there. You don’t have to do anything. I just- Please.”

Without fully understanding your own reaction, you smiled and put an arm around him to welcome him into the hug you and Suguru were sharing. Both men appeared overwhelmed by their kiss, and you were charmed by their reactions. You were the same age and yet they felt younger to you then, and even more so when you realized this was probably their first kiss with each other, even though you were certain they’d had threesomes together before.

The serving staff seemed adept at handling public sexual weirdness, so you were relieved no one came by your table for a significant time.

Satoru and Suguru’s heads were touching as you provided them with this aftercare, and you decided you wouldn’t ask either of them for anything else until you got back to Suguru’s apartment. You kissed the top of each of their heads before turning to see if there was more sake to drink on the table. There wasn’t.

“You boys ready to take this somewhere else?” you whispered between the three of you.

Satoru nodded. Suguru finally looked up at you as if startled from a trance. You were relieved to see him smile.

“I’ll go pay the check,” Suguru lifted you from his lap and placed you in Satoru’s, the shift causing you to take your hand out of Satoru’s pants since you were now being held by him like a bride.

“You okay?” you asked Satoru.

“That was weird,” he said back quickly, and then corrected. “I mean, different. I don’t know, surprising. We’d never done that before,” he confirmed your suspicions.

“In all of your wacky bedroom antics together, you never thought to actually kiss each other?”

One of his eyebrows twitched briefly. “What wacky bedroom antics?”

“Well, the threesomes, of course? I mean, you’ve obviously had a ton of those together, right? I mean, the way the two of you were treating me last week, you vibed so well together I thought-”

“You phenomenal little pervert, Geto and I have never had a threesome before,” Satoru laughed, and you loved seeing his demeanor change as he did. “Is that what you think we do when you’re not around? Who would we be fucking together? Come on, babe, we’re sorcerers and we have classes and responsibilities and shit. And every moment of free time we have, we spend with you.”

You blinked several times while taking this information in, as if your brain needed time to absorb and process. You were so certain last week that their interaction with you was normal to them, bordering on insignificant, even though Suguru told you several times that both men had feelings for you.

Suguru came back to the table and was smiling as well, the brief walk and interaction with strangers clearly settling his system. “You ready?”

“Tell him what you just told me,” Satoru said, helping you off his lap and immediately reaching out to hold one of your hands as he escorted you out of the restaurant.

“What’s up?” Suguru asked, waiting until the three of you were outside before he put his arm around your waist. Satoru fiddled with his phone to order a ride.

You opened your mouth to speak, but Satoru spoke for you: “They think we spend the imaginary free time we don’t have fucking bitches together.”

“Satoru!” you and Suguru both snapped.

“Oh, whatever. Ladies. Women. People. Sorry,” he added the last word quietly.

Suguru’s angry look at Satoru changed into a quizzical one toward you. “You thought last week was something typical for us?”

You nodded, feeling a little silly about it all now. “You just both seemed like naturals, like you’d done that together dozens of times. I was certain,” you emphasized, “that I was just another night for you.”

“But we told you that we love you,” Suguru’s statement felt like a question.

The taxi arrived and the three of you squeezed into the back, with you in the middle as always. “You did no such thing!” you countered.

The way the men alternated how and when and where they touched you was beginning to feel like an impressive dance. When you were standing outside, Satoru held your hand and Suguru your waist, but sitting now in the cab, Satoru’s arm was around your shoulders and Suguru’s hand rested comfortably on your leg, close to your knee.

“Uh, we definitely told you we’re in love with you,” Satoru said, seeming to look out the window through his sunglasses, though you could never be certain when it came to what he could or could not see.

“You did not!” you countered again. “You said some shit about feelings and boundaries and our friendship and blah, blah, how I was important to you or whatever,” you tried to summarize from your memory.

“And none of that sounded like a confession to you?” Suguru chuckled, actually facepalming when he did.

“Two fucking confessions,” Satoru clarified. “So you thought we were some secret Casanovas who fucked women together for funsies, somehow preferring that to, oh, I don’t know, just having sex with them on our own? And in your pretty little head you imagined we, what, were like hey let’s take our best friend who we like to be around most in the fucking world and who we would literally die for and let’s fuck them together because that’s normal and won’t be weird at all for any of us?”

You narrowed your eyes at Satoru but you couldn’t feel offended by his mockery because he was right, that was almost exactly what you thought was going on. You looked from him to Suguru, who was smiling as if to reassure you.

“That’s definitely not what happened,” Suguru chuckled again and gave you a kiss on your forehead. “I don’t know how you could even think that.”

“Okay, so what happened?” You crossed your arms and scrunched your nose, hoping this would make you look cute and would take away from how clearly mistaken you had been about the previous week.

“We spend enough time together, we started noticing things,” Satoru said, seeming a little irked.

“We realized that we both were developing stronger feelings—um, I mean, were falling in love with you, to be clear—and we talked about the option of just asking you out together.”

“We were going to do it that night,” Satoru added, and you couldn’t tell if he was feeling grumpy or just embarrassed by the nature of the conversation.

“We figured the chance of you wanting to be with both of us was high since you’ve made comments about polyamory before,” Suguru explained.

“But-” you looked at Suguru while speaking, as always surprised by how it hurt your neck to look up at either man, “did I do something to make you think I had feelings for either of you? I hadn’t-”

“You obviously wanted me,” Satoru said. “You’ve been undressing me with your eyes for months,” his statement sounded like it should have come with a playful tone, but he was still looking away and sounding stern.

Your face felt hot and your stomach flipped. He knew? He’d known? The whole time?

“And you compliment us a lot,” Suguru added. “You’re always celebrating our achievements a little bit harder than everyone else. You’re often telling us when we look handsome or cute or pretty or sexy. You’ve described us using every possible word,” he chuckled. “You bring up other women to us a lot. I mean, almost alarmingly so, like you’re testing to see if we like anyone. And sometimes when I’d accidentally touch you, you would hold your breath, and it felt almost like you were scared to move for fear I’d stop touching you.”

Your face was on fire now. You covered it with both hands and leaned forward. Had you been that fucking obvious? You felt mortified.

“Hey, it’s cool, we’re together now,” Satoru rubbed his hand on your back gently. “No need to feel embarrassed, it all worked out.” He sounded a little warmer now. Maybe your embarrassment was canceling out his.

Suguru was still chuckling, and you felt mostly relieved by it.

You spoke back through the muffling of your hands: “okay, okay, so you realized I probably- have strong feelings,” you mocked, “for you back, and then what? How did that become a three-way kiss and a disastrous attempt at a threesome?”

You could hear them both shifting and assumed they were both looking at you now.

“Are you serious?” Satoru asked.

“You don’t remember?” Suguru sounded sad.

Oh no, what were you not remembering?

You looked up, first at Suguru, then at Satoru. The taxi arrived and you felt relieved by the focus shifting to stepping out of the cab. You looked down at the ground and let Suguru lead you toward his place by holding your hand. Satoru walked behind y’all, his hands in his pockets.

“The kiss was on me,” Suguru said while you walked up a set of stairs. “The wine emboldened me and knowing we were going to tell you excited me so much, I struggled to keep my body off of yours.”

You were relieved to remember that part correctly. Both of them had snuggled up to you in the booth of the restaurant, but Suguru’s lips kept grazing against your skin until you finally felt him kiss your neck, and that started the chain of kissing events.

“You fell asleep on the cab ride so we brought you to Geto’s instead of taking you home,” Satoru admitted while the three of you stepped into the apartment and took off your shoes in the entryway.

“We put you on the bed in the guest room, like always when you sleep over, but this time you told us you were cold,” Suguru walked over to his kitchen and you could hear him getting glasses from a cabinet.

“So I put a blanket on you and Geto went to turn up the heat,” Satoru was looking away from you still, but the faint blush in his cheeks reassured you that he might not be as angry with you as he sounded.

“And when I came back, you were pulling Gojo onto the bed,” Suguru said loudly from the kitchen.

“And you reached out for Geto to join us.”

Your eyes were alternating from opening widely, to bouncing around, as you searched your brain for these intoxicated memories. You covered your mouth instinctively, and while you couldn’t find what you were seeking, you believed every word they were saying.

“So you pulled us both into bed with you,” Satoru said, and you couldn’t understand his tone. His emphases were strange, as if he was waiting for you to add to his sentence.

The two of you walked into Suguru’s living room. You allowed Satoru to sit down on the couch first, and stood waiting for Suguru to return. “What are you doing? Sit down,” Satoru told you.

“You sound really mad at me!” you said to him, trying not to raise your voice.

“I’m not mad at you. It’s fine, just sit right here next to me like you always do,” he told you. “Ugh, unless that’s too fucking dominant for you? I’m trying to be reassuring, not boss you around.” He actually groaned as he said this!

You smiled and sat next to him, tucking your legs underneath yourself and asked, “may I hug you?”

His eyebrow twitched again and he nodded.

You leaned in immediately, embracing him around his waist, pulling him closer and pushing yourself into him. If he was your, ugh, boyfriend now, that meant you could hug him more often! You were temporarily relieved of your embarrassment realizing this. You felt him rest a hand on the small of your back, which you interpreted to mean he was welcoming or reciprocating your hug. You kissed his cheek quickly, pressing just a little peck on it.

“Satoru and you have that in common, you usually sound mad when you’re feeling vulnerable,” Suguru said, placing sake cups on the table, then warm sake in a ceramic bottle, and adding some bottles of water to the table as well. He made a few trips into the kitchen, also bringing some snacks, forever the charming host.

Both Satoru and you did not acknowledge Suguru’s analysis, and probably for the similar thoughts of how dare he know you so well and call you out on it like that?

“Okay, so what happened next? I pulled y’all onto the bed and what, asked you both to fuck me?” your question wasn’t serious, and you hoped that was clear in your delivery.

“Kind of,” Satoru smirked and tried to cover it with his hand. That was bad. Satoru didn’t typically shy away from an I-told-you-so or an I’m-clearly-right-and-you’re-so-very-wrong.

Oh no, you worried.

Suguru finally sat down on the other side of you and pulled you toward himself, causing you to fall backwards into his arms and against his chest, your legs now draped across Satoru’s lap.

“You started taking off your clothes,” Suguru said, allowing himself to demonstrate this act with his hands. The shirt you were wearing today was plain, but the shirt you wore last week was a button-down. Suguru moved his hands slowly from your neck, over and between your breasts, and down your stomach. “You unbuttoned- every- little- button, oh and you were so sexy doing it, too, your face all flushed, your big wet eyes looking at us. I thought I’d died and reached paradise,” he laced his hands together at the very bottom of your stomach, the tips of his pinkies at the top of your pubic bone.

“When you were done taking off your shirt and your skirt, you told us to undress,” Satoru’s hand was caressing your legs, first at your calf, then the outside of your thigh, and then slowly, teasingly, it found its way between your legs where he appreciated your chubby soft skin and fondled your inner thighs intensely, his nostrils flaring as he did.

“I did no such thing,” you looked from Satoru up at Suguru behind you, pleading for him to change the past for you.

“I’m afraid you did, darling,” Suguru kissed the top of your head and allowed himself to breathe in the smell of you.

Your hips were moving ever so slightly, as you were becoming aroused by listening to their recollections. You hoped they would think you were just repositioning yourself, when in reality you were trying your best not to squirm.

“I remember the two of you being naked,” you admitted. “And I remember-” you paused, the image of their nudity ingrained so clearly in your mind you wondered if your brain erased every other part of the night except for that one for a reason. “I remember the thing Satoru said that I hated,” you admitted.

Satoru leaned over to put his face against your stomach, his hand still groping your thigh, his breathing changing significantly.

Suguru moved one hand down to the front of your underwear, just at your pelvis, and used the other to move your hair away from your neck so he could begin to kiss you there.

Your hips moved more now, betraying you and your want for these two men.

Suguru’s hand slowly, very gently, started to move even lower. He made a sound as if in question, but you were frozen in anticipation. “Darling, may I?” he whispered into your ear and the sensation of his breath made your body release an involuntary moan. You swallowed and nodded.

“May he what?” Satoru lifted his head from your stomach and when he did, he seemed to be watching Suguru’s hand sliding down your skirt and pressing the fabric against your cunt, as if trying to bury it inside of you. “Oh shit. Me too? With the consent shit?” he asked, clearly uncomfortable asking for your permission, but doing his best for you.

He wasn’t looking at you so you croaked out a “yes.” You wished your body asked you for consent so you could deny it, but it didn’t seem like your hips gave a fuck about what you thought at all. They moved to help press Suguru harder against you, your back arching as well.

Satoru ignored the skirt entirely, moving his hand under it. He slid his hand under Suguru’s and moved aside your underwear, immediately shoving three of his fingers into your tight wet pussy.

Suguru then lifted your skirt and slid his hand into your underwear as well, searching for your clit. When he found it, you let out a yelp, which made him touch it more lightly. He caressed your clit gently and in the intoxication you felt from their two beings, you could have sworn he almost did it lovingly, though how could you possibly tell?

“Satoru-” you gasped out as he fucked you roughly and quickly with his three thick fingers.

“Sssh,” he responded.

“Hey, slow down,” Suguru helped you. “Right, baby? Is that what you want, for him to go slower? Or gentler?”

Satoru seemed to be listening because he did both, he slowed down his speed and didn’t shove his fingers in as deeply now. The sudden change in behavior caused your cunt to contract wildly around his fingers, bringing you very close to orgasm.”

“Fuck, babe, tell me how to make you come,” Satoru lifted your shirt with his teeth and pressed his face into your naked stomach. You could feel him panting excitedly against you.

“G-go a little deeper,” you instructed. “You can be rough, but keep it slow.”

Satoru did exactly as you wanted.

Meanwhile Suguru rested his hand on your clit gently, just leaving it there. You didn’t know how he knew to do that, but assumed he read it in your physical reactions somehow. He was so good at studying everyone, and this clearly extended to you. He used his free hand to turn your head as much toward him as it could go, pressed his lips to yours, and shoved his tongue inside your mouth.

Overcome with the feeling of being penetrated in two holes at once, you moaned loudly against Suguru’s mouth while you came on Satoru’s hand. The intensity of the orgasm changed your moans into whimpers near the end. You tapped on each of their bodies, wherever you could touch quickly, you didn’t even know, and asked them to stop.

“We’re going to need a safe word,” Satoru said with a satisfied grin, seeming to look up at you.

You felt Suguru release a string of long exhales, as if to calm himself down. “What do you want for aftercare?” he asked when he could.

“Aftercare?” Satoru sounded almost whiny. “We’re not done yet!”

Suguru and you both looked at him and you imagined shared the same facial expression of furrowed brows, narrowed eyes, and frowns.

Satoru groaned loudly and got off from you, sitting up in his spot and enjoying the scent and taste of you on his hand. He licked your wetness from himself with a passion so vulnerable you could not believe his comfort. You had to be really fucking amazing to have that much confidence licking jizz off of your hand like it was liquid candy.

“I’m okay,” you finally answered Suguru’s question. “Or, I don’t know if I need anything yet. That was- fantastic. I’m a little bit in shock, I think.”

“Good job, metamor,” Suguru said to Satoru.

“Metawhat?” Satoru sighed, seeming to finally relax.

“It’s what you call the other partner of your partner,” Suguru explained, helping you up from the couch and leading you to the bathroom so you didn’t get the rest of your come on his couch. What a grown up, you thought appreciatively and mockingly all at once.

“Alright then, thanks for the help, metamor,” Satoru replied with a bit of attitude on the last word.

In the bathroom, Suguru undressed you as if he’d done it a hundred times, and then turned on his shower for you, waiting for the water to become warm. He then undressed himself, smiling at you all the while, and letting his eyes take in the sight of your naked body in the light. “Come on,” he said, stepping into his shower and leading you in after him. Exhausted by your love and lust, your mind felt like it went on vacation, so you followed him in as if you’d never showered before in your life.

“Hey, what the fuck,” Satoru popped in, and before you could even process his exclamation, he was already naked and stepping to join y’all in the conveniently large enough shower. Unlike on the couch, this time you and Suguru faced each other, while Satoru stood behind you.

Suguru kept his eyes on yours while he slid one hand down to your cunt, seeking permission with his gaze. You nodded, starting to feel like you were in a dream. The steam of the shower added ambiance. Suguru, under the guise of helping you wash up, explored your vulva, your labia, your clit, and the outside of your hole, his fingers taking note of every bit of you as if they could create an image of your cunt for him in his mind. After Satoru’s quick and rough motions, Suguru’s tender study felt as soothing as a massage.

Satoru wrapped his arms around you, one of them crossed over your chest and the other around your belly. He pressed his body against yours and you could feel his cock slide between your butt cheeks and then down between your legs, where you imagined it met Suguru’s hand. Suguru’s facial expression changed immediately from full of desire to what may not have been surprise but maybe curiosity? You felt Satoru’s body stiffen against you, and he hid his face between your shoulder and neck. You could feel his breathing change. You felt him nod and wondered why he had. Then Suguru shifted his hand to allow Satoru’s cock to rest between the folds of your cunt, the tip of it pressing lightly against your clit, and he started to stroke Satoru’s cock against you.

Satoru’s hands squeezed your body as if he was using you to brace himself. He had been so confident with you, but it seemed like in Suguru’s hand Satoru didn’t know how to behave, so he did little to nothing.

You reached out a hand behind you to pet his head and you turned your head, nuzzling into his. “Breathe, honey,” you told him. “It’ll feel so much better if you breathe.”

Satoru took one quivering breath and then you could feel him start to settle his breathing into a groove, taking fuller inhales and exhales.

Suguru worked Satoru’s cock skillfully, causing the other man to sometimes shudder and sometimes moan. Geto stepped closer to you and rested his head on your other shoulder. You focused on the sensations of their naked bodies, of Satoru’s cock, of Suguru’s hand, and you basked in this strange and delightful encounter.

When Satoru came, he shifted a bit, his come landing on Suguru’s thigh. You noticed this only because Suguru moved away suddenly, looking down to witness it, and your eyes followed where his had gone. A stream of Satoru’s jizz was washed off from Suguru’s thigh as quickly as it arrived.

You returned to focusing on petting his head. You so badly wanted to call him a good boy, but this moment couldn’t be about you. You thought about what he might like to hear. “You are so sexy,” you told him. “I love your mouth and your fingers and your cock already,” you soothed Satoru while watching Suguru coming back out of his own trance.

“And you,” you told Suguru. “You are magnificent. We don’t make sense without you. And I love your entire body too. I don’t know how you managed to fuck me twice today without even penetrating my cunt, but you fucking did it.”

Suguru kissed you happily and turned around to actually shower now, in response to which Satoru was able to lift his head from your shoulder and shower, as well.

When you were all finished and wrapped up in towels, you didn’t even bother getting dressed. You sat together as if at a sauna. Satoru ordered food. Suguru picked out a movie. You settled between them, grinning madly, not able to believe your lot in life. Looking forward to the many different other ways you’d make love to these men again. Tonight.

[copious-zygomaticus]

I just imagined a scenario, so uhh, TAKE THAT *throws Obey Me drabble at you*.

———————————————————————————

Video Killed The Radio Star, Or A Firstborn Son I Guess

Characters: Leviathan x MC

Reader Insert Pronouns: Gender Neutral (Largely Lacks Pronoun Usage, They/Them If Used)

Dynamic: Platonic

Summary: MC shares a hilarious habit they have picked up since being in the exchange program as a guest on Levi’s Otaku FM podcast.

Warnings: Passing Comedic Reference To ‘Sexual Innuendos’; None.

———————————————————————————

It’s a crisp morning in the Devildom, the bats are screeching, the mooning is shining, and there’s a warm cup of Hellroast coffee in your hands. The only thing that is topping that at the moment is your excitement for what is about to take place. You see, Levi had asked you a week ago if you would like to be a guest on his podcast, Otaku FM. You immediately agreed with stars in your eyes. Of course the breath your took before agreeing had the avatar of envy quickly rattling off his usual list of self-deprecating phrases, but after hearing your reassurance and seeing the warm excitement on your face, Levi couldn’t deny your passion for the commitment you just made.

So here you are in a local recording studio, aptly named “Incubus Records And Radioshows”, that Levi rented out to record this next week’s episode of Otaku FM.

The violet-haired demon seems uncharacteristically confident in this moment, his thin fingers dancing over a complicated soundboard and adjusting his headphones. You sit across from him, gazing in fascination and admiration as you observe this silly man when he’s obviously “in the zone”. He looks up at you, the faint pink of embarrassment tinges his face when he notices your attentive gaze.

“I’m ready to start if you are MC.” He says while gluing his eyes to the desk in front of him. You smile wide, ready to start this new experience of yours. With a smile and a nod, you respond quickly, “let’s do it Levi!” His pale fingers clicked a red button as a large “on air” sign above the studio door flashed on, and a mental flip switched as Levi began to say his introduction.

————————————————

Everything has been running so smoothly as the recording went on. The conversation was sweet, playful, and natural. The music shared and discussed was a wonderful dive into Devildom music that you have never heard before. But now it was time for the fan question segment of the show.

“Alright MC, ready for some fan questions?” Levi asks as he lightly scrolls through his D.D.D with Devilgram opened.

You promptly quip back, “lay ‘em on me,” which draws a light laugh from your co-host for the day.

Levi clicks his tongue against his teeth, thinking as he looks through all the questions his audience submitted online before letting out a sound of approval and scootching closer to the edge of his seat to get closer to his mic. “MCCCCC- @Nobelest_Sinner asks “what is a habit you have picked up since being in the exchange program at R.A.D?” Levi looks at you with an expression crossed between genuine curiosity and a mischievous smugness.

You put your hand to your face as you vocal stim in deep thought. So many little things about your daily life and behavior has changed since you were initially iseki-ed into the Devildom, how could you possibly choose just one thing- oh. OH! Comedy gold strikes you quicker than Mammon can pickpocket. You have the perfect thing in mind for this. You slowly lean in really close to the microphone in front of you with the expression of a feline trickster before dropping your voice for comedic effect, “I don’t think ya’ll are ready for what I’m about to tell you.”

Levi’s eyes widen in shock before sharpening into curiosity. “Well now you gotta tell us normie.” You roll your eyes at the normie comment before divulging your newest habit the audience.

“I have started to just make up words and phrases, talking to Asmodeus about them as if they are real ‘human things’. He gets either really hyped up or invested in what I’m saying. Then I tell him that it’s not real and I made it up and his expression just,” you make a wide hand gesture while making a *whooshing* noise with your mouth, “falls and he looks at me like I just killed his firstborn son.” You smile widely at your co-host as you finish your story.

Levi’s jaw is just on the floor. Before you can make a comment on his shocked expression and something about ‘catching flies’, his voice perks up so much you thought his microphone was going to peak. “WAIT- wait wait wait wait. How is this a habit?” He says waving his hands around in confusion.

“Because no matter how many times I keep doing this, Asmodeus falls for it every time and the outcome is exactly the same.”

A silence fills the studio as you and Levi slow-blink at each other, you for comedic purposes and Levi in utter disbelief. The eye contact becomes too much as you both let out raucous laughter. Your head is thrown back and your hand is slamming at the table while Levi has his hands in his hair as his distinct laugh racks his body. The two of you are physically shaking with laughter for at least a minute before you both calm down enough to compose yourself and continue the commentary.

“He does this every time????” Levi asks in comedic disbelief.

“EVERY TIME!!” You say wiping tears of joy from your eyes.

“Why??”

“Why what?”

“Why,” Levi scrambles out jumbled noises, “why do you do this?? Why does he keep falling for it?? Why- whu- no wait, how did you even find this out?”

“Well Asmo and I were randomly talking about -isms, funny sayings and euphemisms and innuendos and whatnot. And I have this, well I guess you can call it a ‘bit’ with my human friends where instead of talking about sexual activities with actual words, we just make up words instead and we all just automatically understand what’s happening. Like- okay the example I used when this happened originally I said something like ‘squingusing my bimbus’ or something stupid like that. But Asmo didn’t question it, he just kinda tilted his head before he got excited about this possible new trend or human discovery he thought he made when I said that. So like, I rolled with it but I eventually told him that I made it up and the look on his face was just- death, despair, devastation.”

Levi makes an attempt to hide his laughter as you speak, failing miserably the more you reveal.

“So I guess you tried to do it again to see if he would make the face again?” Levi asks between chuckles.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I did. But I expected him to eventually just stop believing what I was saying or become disinterested or have a less intense reaction. But he never did! Just kept on being shocked!” Out of the corner of your eye, you see a large LED timer draw closer to the end of your scheduled studio time and wrap up your thoughts with Levi about the whole situation before saying goodbye to the listeners and hearing the familiar sound of Leviathan’s outro.

————————————————

For the next few weeks after your guest appearance on Otaku FM was aired, all you could hear about was sound bites of you saying “like I killed his firstborn son” and laughter. For a minute, you were afraid that people would tease Asmo about the whole situation, but in reality no one was mean-spirited about it and he was getting a lot of satisfaction from the buzz his name was creating around R.A.D. So when you brought up the idea of possibly guest-starring on Levi’s podcast again in the future, he said yes without hesitation.

———————————————————————————

Well there’s a random thing I thought of in the library bathroom and typed when I was supposed to be studying for a huge anatomy test. Enjoy dorks!

[chriscranky]

How to Play The Sims 1 on Windows 11

Recently, I've been rebuilding my collections of The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. I used to have the discs when I was a kid, but I lost them, and now I don’t have a computer that can read DVDs. After acquiring The Sims 2 Complete Collection and gradually adding to my Sims 3 collection through Steam, I started thinking about The Sims 1.

The last time I played The Sims 1 was when I was 6 years old. When I tried to download the game again to relive my childhood nostalgia, I was using a Windows 10 machine. Unfortunately, that experience was a complete disaster, as the game wouldn't even let me select a household! It was bugged and unplayable. Now that I'm trying it again on a Windows 11 computer, I approached it with low expectations—until I stumbled upon something magical.

I discovered a GitHub repository that provides an all-in-one installation of The Sims 1, eliminating the need to install patches or edit graphics files. With that in mind, let me guide you through the process of installing The Sims 1 on a Windows 11 computer. To install The Sims 1 on a Windows machine in 2024, simply follow these straightforward steps. You won’t need to enter any keys, edit scripts, or perform any manual tasks.

Please know that this is how I installed The Sims 1 on my computer. I've gotten no crashes or bugs from this method, and my game runs smoothly. My computer specs are:

System Model: ASUS TUF Gaming A15 Laptop

Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 4800H with Radeon Graphics, 2900 MHz, 8 Cores, 16 Logical Processors

RAM: 32 GB

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060

Step 1: Download Installer

Download the The Sims 1 Starter Pack Web Installer. Alternative link can be found here.

Step 2: Run Installation

Run the TS1StarterPack-WebInstaller.exe and follow the instructions. If you get a Windows protection notification, select the option to "Run Anyway". Windows does this to protect us from unknown executables, but this one is fine.

Enable all of the components. This includes all the patches you will need to make your game full-screen and compatible with your system.

Select the folder you want to install it in.

Wait for the installation to finish.

Step 3: Run The WideScreen Patch

During your installation, a popup will display asking you to choose your resolution. If this popup hasn't shown, you can find it in your E:\The Sims 1 Starter Pack directory as Sims1WidescreenPatcher.exe.

From this, choose your screen's aspect ratio and resolution, and set the “Wrapper” dropdown to DDrawCompat.

Click “Patch.”

If asked to enable “Borderless Fullscreen” mode, click Yes.

Close the patcher once it has finished patching the game.

Step 4: Run The Game & Have Fun!

And that is IT. Now you can run the Sims.exe program and the game should run.

If your screen size is weird, just run the patcher again.

Now you can start playing the game and rediscover that old-school nostalgia of having fun!

Conclusion

I hope this guide has been helpful! If it has, feel free to let me know in the comments below. Additionally, I have a blog where I detail the mods I use for The Sims, including instructions on where to place them. If you're interested, you can check that out here.

[imawreck]

Unknown

Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier x Original Character

Summary: Bucky assumed he was the last Super Soldier left. But what happens when he finds out that their might still be more like him, that there might be something Hydra cooked up that's worse than him?

Warnings: Canon Marvel Violence, Cursing, italicized flashbacks

Word Count: 1,924

Bucky-

The mission had started smoothly, but it sure went to shit fast.

The supposedly abandoned Hydra base Tony had sent Steve and I the coordinates to was, in fact, not abandoned, and was more heavily guarded than any other base we had ever infiltrated. Tony had mentioned that there was an experimental weapon being handled at this base a few years ago and that they had relocated when we started attacking their safe houses and ordered us to try and find any remaining information they might have left behind. Once Steve and I had rid the base of any hostiles, we began sweeping.

Nothing could have prepared me for what we found.

Steve's brow scrunched in concern as I read through the notes of one of the doctors who worked on the Super Soldier experiments. There were detailed descriptions of mission reports that were not my own, and instead detailed my performance as well as notes on the performance of an experiment referred to 'GHOST-01.'

I clenched my jaw as realization struck me, "Someone was watching me."

Steve nodded slowly, "Looks like it, but read further. They were making sure you stayed alive."

I looked at the page again, reading over the report regarding my safety. There were several pages worth of reports on attempts on my life, close calls and how the experiment had handled the issue.

"They wanted to make sure I kept coming back. They wanted to make sure I didn't stray from the mission so they sent someone to make certain I would return." I ground my teeth, "Come on, we found what we wanted." I turned back to Steve only to find him staring at another notebook with a grim expression on his face.

My heart stalled. That book. "What is that, Steve?"

His eyes found mine and his face paled, "It's another one like yours."

My stomach dropped to the floor, "No... that can't be. The others are dead, and the serum was destroyed."

Steve hesitated before handing me the bound black leather and my fingers grazed the blood red skull stamped on the front, "They've made another soldier. But Buck," Steve's eyes bored into mine, "They're still here. In cryo."

I couldn't breathe, the information knocking the air out of my lungs. How is that possible? The other soldiers were killed, how did this one get away? How did they figure out how to make a new serum?

Suddenly, it dawned on me. If they had made another soldier like me, chances where they were torn from their previous life and programed into another. Hydra wasn't big enough, didn't have enough followers, to make another willing soldier. I felt my heart begin to hammer against my rib cage. They could have lost everything just like I had. A trickling fear came to life in my stomach. "We have to find them." The words tore out of me, "we have to find them now."

Steve seemed to read the emotions rioting on my face. "Bucky," Steve grabbed my arm, "They could be dangerous. You know how you were, and the only reason we got you back is because you had someone close to you to bring you out of it. They won't." My friends' expression was grim.

I shook my head, "We can't leave them Steve. Leaving them here is condemning them to a life of torture. I can't do that, not when I know what it feels like. If they're dangerous we can sedate them and return to Stark Tower for the teams input." A pained expression flashed across his face but he sighed in understanding, nodding towards the door.

We searched three more floors before having to override a gate to another section of the compound. When we stepped in the room, the lights flickered on and two cryo tubes were illuminated on the far wall. One empty with the door open, and the other still contained a body.

I glanced at Steve warily before I scanned the area. No one was here. My heart pounded in my ribcage as I approached the tanks. The features of the girl encased inside became more clear, white hair frozen stiff behind the glass, and a face with frosted lashes and sharp features. A memory knocked me back a step at the sight of her, invading my mind and causing me to grip my head between my hands.

A girl, this girl, crying over my body. I remember being in pain; a bullet wound to the chest. She was pressing a powder into my wounds and speaking too fast in Russian for my muddled mind to comprehend. 

Her anguished face and sobs echoed in my mind for a moment before dissipating as the world rushed back to me.

Steve's voice hesitantly spoke from behind me, "What is it Buck?"

I sucked in a breath and leaned against the base of the tube, staring up at her frozen face. "I know her."

"What do you mean?" Steve stepped up beside me and gazed at the control panel next to her.

"She had saved my life once. I don't remember the whole thing, but she was treating a bullet wound through my chest and she..." I replayed the memory in my head again, watching her face contort in pain as she pressed the powder farther into the wound. "She was crying."

Steve was quiet for a long moment before he stepped closer to the panel. He crouched low and checked the wiring, mumbling only loud enough for me to hear, "We can bring her out. We have to stay alert, but we can try and bring her back."

I stared at her, minutes dragging slowly as I contemplated his words. She could be dangerous, at this point it was pretty much guaranteed. We know close to nothing about her or if she'll wake up with a mission and try to kill us in the process. But something inside of me couldn't just leave her here in this God forsaken place to sleep for eternity. "Okay."

Steve nodded, stepping away and watching as I tinkered with the control panel. A moment later a shock of electricity was sent through the tube and her body jumped. The heart monitor jumped once but flatlined again. I pressed the button again, another blip and then her heart started back. The ice slowly melted away as the tube defrosted the body inside. I glanced back at Steve as he watched the girl too, his shield up and ready just in case she came out guns blazing.

"Well done, Soldat."

My blood ran cold. I turned, taking in the man in front of us now. I don't know how we hadn't noticed him before. "Hydra has missed you. We knew you would return for her." The man nodded his head in the girls direction, aiming his revolver at my chest as the front of the tube popped open, releasing a hiss as the pressure rushed out. Her body still lay motionless as the heart monitor continued its rhythm.

Steve brought his shield up, stepping forward. "Who are you?"

His finger twitched on the trigger and Steve flinched, "Ah-Ahh, wouldn't do that Captain. Wouldn't want to put a hole in Sergeant Barnes now, would we? Not yet at least." He stepped forward, but kept a wise distance from both of us as he did so. "She will be so happy to see you, Soldat. She hasn't been able to complete her mission, the punishments have been quite brutal." His smile was a vicious thing as it curved up his face.

I clenched my fists, the plates of my left arm shifting as my fingers curled tighter.

"Isn't that right Ghost?" A blur entered my peripheral vision, white hair and steely blue eyes. She didn't speak, only stared at the man, her eyes zeroed on his gun still pointed towards me.

The man let out a short burst of laughter before looking at Steve. "I knew you would come back to us Mr. Barnes. I did not predict that you would be here Captain, but it will make Sergeant Barnes death all the more enjoyable."

There was a tug at my hip and a distinct click of a bullet sliding into the chamber right next to my ear as a gun appeared over my right shoulder, aimed directly towards the man in front of me.

The room stilled and the man's eyes blew wide. "Ghost, stand down."

She didn't move. Her lack of response seemed to irritate the man before me,  his face contorting into rage. "I said, stand down!"

Still, the gun remained trained on the man. Unwavering. He roared in anger, "Useless Bitch! Your mission is to kill him! I am your commander! If you won't listen to me, I'll kill him myself!"

It didn't take more than a second before the shots rang out, hitting their target with perfect precision. The man's body dropped to the floor like it was made of lead, a hole in his skull and a hole in his heart. A third had been fired, and my eyes shot to Steve only to find him staring behind me.

My ear was ringing and there was a pressure right over my chest where my heart was, but I wasn't in pain. There was a soft grunt and the pressure left me, I stood cemented in place as the gun was moved out of my line of vision. I glanced towards the girl now as she took a few steps away. Her eyes were flicking between Steve's and my own.

She gripped the gun, my gun, in her right hand at her side defensively while the left dripped blood onto the floor. Her eyes scanned down my body, and then bored holes into Steve behind me.

I took a breath as I raised my hand to cover my still ringing ear, nodding at him before looking back at the girl, "Don't move."

"She has a gun, Buck." Steve clutched his shield tighter, lifting it slightly.

Her reaction was immediate, gun raised and aimed at Steve.

I raised my hands, stepping in front of her, "No! Don't shoot!" Our eyes met, chilling me to the bone as the light glanced off of irises that weren't quite human. "Don't shoot." There was a flicker of life, of an emotion I couldn't place, and then the gun lowered back to her side.

I heard Steve's breath of relief behind me as my own shoulders relaxed. She watched me, waiting.

I hadn't realized what she was waiting for until her eyes flickered again to Steve and then back to my own. I cleared my throat, "Stand down, he's not a threat."

In one swift gesture she flipped the gun, raising the butt of it towards me, not once breaking eye contact. The only sound made as I gently took the gun from her was the drip of blood still flowing from her hand. I watched it hit the cement before I spoke again, "You're bleeding." Idiot, she knows that.

She looked at her palm, raising her other hand and cramming her index finger into the wound without flinching.  She then, to Steve's and my own horror, dug around for a moment before metal dropped down to the floor with a clank.

I stared at the misshapen stud as it bounced a few times. The bullet that would have killed me had she not blocked it, hadn't caught it, rolled haphazard across the concrete just next to her bare foot.

She once again resumed staring at me, watching, waiting for orders with her glassy eyes.

My throat was dry and my heart pounded in my chest. "What is your mission?"

Without hesitation, she spoke. "Protect the Asset at all costs."

[hauntinginprogress]

neocities heracles trials: from a chaotic newbie

okay so i want to actually start posting here and i finally got it through my thick skull that this is LITERALLY A BLOG. i'm supposed to blog. so here's a blog post.

anyways, for context, i've been working on my neocities for a while now, recently started over to make things more original and more me. another thing to note is that i'm using VScode.

the issue here is that i have zero well not exactly zero but i lack any professional/academic background experience with making websites. the html isn't the issue (thankfully) but holy shit dude...css+javascript implementation . basic styling with css is no biggie, right? absolutely, however...may i introduce: smooth transitions + the absolutely tragic fact that the <marquee> tag is deprecated an accessibility issue.

so, my first goal day one was to recreate a marquee animation through css. so i tried to simply implement this incredibly useful bit of code into my site (in which if you're interested i totally think my failure to get it working was user error so please check it out it works great if you're not me) but, lo and behold, despite me getting it to work in my V1 project, i could not, for the life of me, get it to work. so i, not too familiar with css animation and completely lost when it comes to javascript, started grasping at straws. i ended up finding this tutorial and, with some improvisation since the tutorial is for webflow and i'm manually writing everything, managed to make my own css recreation of a marquee effect essentially from scratch, and even learned about the animation-play-state css attribute so i could pause the effect when the marquee is hovered over! victory, basically.

then, i looked around the many cool and absolutely awesome sites on neocities to get inspiration, and then i was like "hey what if i made a custom button background image" and with some trial and error, made myself a pretty decent base (for now) with aseprite, and learned more about the program in the meantime which is always a plus.

then i decided that i wanted to do more with the buttons. i wanted to make it animate on hover. not too hard right? you'll...you'll see why i struggled...in a moment...

anyways, i settled on a simple shrink animation. which THIS i could do with ease, messed around a bit, got the keyframes, assigned that to the button:hover and all of that and all was good!...until i realized that once i stopped hovering over it, it snapped back to its original scale instead of transitioning smoothly again. THIS is where the "fun" began.

see, although i can wrap my head around things easily when it comes to css, i have to constantly look up what the proper syntax for everything is because otherwise i'll mess everything up. and through my research i had conducted (aka surfing through multiple blogs and reddit posts alongside other things on random forum websites) i had discovered the very neat transition attribute.

but we'll have to return to this because i have adhd, and i ended up getting distracted during this process. see, originally i had decided that the button would change it's visual to appear like it was pressed when the user's mouse hovered over it. then i was like "i don't think this makes sense" so i changed it so that the button wouldn't change its background image unless the user actually clicked on it. so i did that. then i had to make sure that the button wouldn't magically scale up again so i had to transform the styling and blah blah blah those details aren't really that important ANYWAYS the actual important bit about this is that if you use the transition attribute and there's a change in background images that change will also be transitioned unless you set the transition to only apply to a specific change. and i didn't know that originally. so every time i tried to fix things up with a transition so the button wouldn't snap back to it's original size out of nowhere the background would slooowly change as well and i actually got so frustrated with this that i wanted to burn something down because that's a totally normal reaction i guess. anyways, then i started frantically searching for answers on the topic and EVERY. SINGLE. THING. THAT I FOUND. INCLUDED JAVASCRIPT.

i do not know javascript. i have not learned anything about it unlike css and html. it SCARES me and it is FRUSTRATING. but i thought i'd try it anyways. news flash that shit didn't work at all and i almost thought about scrapping the animation entirely especially when it randomly stopped working when i made certain changes, but i ended up eventually figuring out what i mentioned earlier (CSS transitions and the fact that you can assign them to only affect a specific change instead of everything) so with some dabbling here and there i eventually managed to finally figure out how to make everything smooth through pure css and although it still snaps if the element hasn't finished animating i'm happy with it.

moving on to another thing, i wanted to then make a sound effect play when you click the button. yes, we are still talking about buttons. THIS i could not do with css, like, at all. javascript admittedly is for interactivity and i had already been bending the rules quite a bit with the animations since those teechnically should've been done with javascript as well but this? this was impossible without javascript. so i found a free mp3, and searched up a nice little tutorial on the very basics of javascript.

little did I know that apparently, this would be my own personal little hell.

see, no matter how many times i tried a different script, the sound just would not work like at all. i'd do everything in what i assumed to be the correct way, and no matter what, it would not play. knowing that i'd just have to revisit this, i decided it was best to just sort of put it on the back burner.

and this is where i wish i could say this is the end of my absolutely gobstopping rant. however, i cannot.

see, one thing that i really like that i've seen in a lot of other people's sites is draggable windows. i think they're sick. but this ALSO requires javascript, but i didn't think this could POSSIBLY be that bad since so many people did it.

...right?.......right? guys. right?

MOTHERFUCKER I WAS SO WRONG.

see, it turns out that a lot of people do this sort of thing with jQuery, specifically for user interfaces. but vscode doesn't have a "user friendly" way to get jquery to work with it. and because i don't want to mess with program files, i decided that logically speaking jquery just makes writing things in js scripts less complicated and doesn't introduce things that are impossible in vanilla javascript so i decided i could suffer a little bit and try and do things without jquery.

this led me to looking at many sites with draggable windows to look at their own scripts, in which every single time i tried replicating things i FAILED.

i eventually stumbled upon a nice code that worked. but the issue with it - in which unfortunately i can't find it, else i'd link it - is that it works with not only element classes but also a specific ID. see, this would be fine if i only wanted ONE draggable element. but i want multiple. and i thought that maybe if i just duplicated the script and dedicated it to a different ID and changed function names it would work but nooo life cannot be this easy apparently. so after setting up my webmaster status window, getting that to work, i tried doing the aforementioned method for what will eventually be a guestbook of sorts. it failed.

so i decided, "hey i'll revisit this later!!" and i went on to finding a way to implement a status widget into my site. this honestly was really easy as i ended up stumbling upon status.cafe . so i registered, eventually got my account activated, and i got it working in my live port of vscode just fine!! all is good in the world.

well that's what i thought until i found out that since i had created my neocities account in march of 2024, and i'm unemployed since i'm still in high school hence i have a free account, that i could not. use the widget. in neocities. so i tried finding a work around, found this handy guide (which is genuinely useful by the way) and set up things through a RSS feed instead which is essentially just a work around that complies with the security restrictions of neocities that i'm bound by. anyways, this works great but i literally just can't customize it to how i want so this is another fail. then i find imood.com which, although is NICE, doesn't suit what i want on its own. so i'm at a loss here too.

so, again, another thing to put to the side i suppose.

so i started working on getting my guestbook, browsed through people's homepages again, and found chattable . and you probably think i have another paragraph complaining about this but honestly i can't write about something when i can't figure out how to even create a chat to implement onto my site in the first place so...y'know.

plus, i honestly have no clue if it'll work on my site either due to security restrictions so this is fun!!

anyways, after dealing with all of this, i finally decided it was about time i ported what i had so far over onto my neocities account. which isn't actually that hard i just had to wipe all of my files, overwrite the content in my index.html file there and paste in what i have now, and then upload my new files. but for some god awful reason after i went through all of this chrome just. kept depending on my old stylesheet??? so i had to clear some of my browsing data and eventually everything was loading properly for me.

and THIS is finally the end of my ridiculous documentation concering my neocities adventure so far.

i have no doubts i'll end up ranting here AGAIN about all of this but for now this is all i have on my plate...besides finally caving and learning javascript for real and continuing to learn more about html and css. hopefully one day i'll stop having such frequent issues but now is not the time and i doubt that'll be anytime soon either.

moral of the story, if you want to start something new and pick up a new hobby, please for the love of all that is of substance in this world don't go in completely blind like i've done if you're going to be making a project of some sorts. it will only lead to many misfortunes.

anyways you can see what i currently have done in my neocities here, make suggestions or give advice in the notes and whatnot i don't know.

[the-technicolor-whiscash]

Starliner finally landed (with the crew remaining on station to return home on a Dragon in February) so I am desperately hoping that its return to earth stops the comments from people who don't know anything about the situation who are like "there's astronauts stuck up there how can they do that to them!" Easily. It's part of their job.

I watched the entire reentry including undocking and deorbit burn through landing and first of all they gotta throw some cameras on that bitch next time. SpaceX puts cameras on everything even the shit that sucks so you can see their Starship falling apart in real time. This was (as far as I can tell I cant speak for what the inside of the spacecraft looks like) a nominal reentry and honestly the fact it lands on land is pretty impressive. It touched down really smoothly. When you're used to splashdowns where they look like they're hauling ass, it's quite the difference.

I've followed this spacecraft's journey from the first scrubbed launch all the way through its landing and I gotta say. A much longer ride than I anticipated. But beyond fascinating and historic to experience. Like, it was the first manned test flight to include a woman. It was the first manned launch on an Atlas rocket since they launched Gordo Cooper on MA-9 in 1963. It's the first American-made human rated capsule to land on land. And its time in space has shown NASA's dedication to the safety of their astronauts as well as the skill of their teams in finding creative ways to solve difficult situations.

It's a spacecraft not without ills, made by a company where the only reason why they haven't succumbed to lawsuits is because they kill whistleblowers and make blood money off of wars. But it shows you a fascinating window into the extremely complicated process of bringing a new human rated capsule into the space zeitgeist, and shows how we've learned from previous tragedies how to tread lightly in the water. It in and of itself is a learning experience for everyone involved - NASA, Boeing, and the general public. This was a shockingly public-facing PR disaster for Boeing and for NASA, to the point where even people who know nothing about the current space industry were talking about it. And because of that, misinformation was running absolutely rampant. People on Twitter were genuinely scared for these astronauts when really, there was nothing to be scared about, especially not when they're already on station.

NASA is big on redundancies when it comes to space flight - redundant thrusters, fuel cells, astronauts, etc. And after the shuttle fleet was grounded from the Columbia tragedy and their astronauts had to return on a Soyuz, NASA realized the importance of having more than one space transportation system for low earth orbit missions. That's why we have the commercial crew program. That's why we don't want to just have Dragon, that's why we want multiple options for if one goes out of commission. There are backup plans on top of backup plans. I'm sure if the Crew 9 capsule fell through, we probably could've sent Butch and Suni home on a Soyuz, and they would've been perfectly fine. Once you're docked on the station, you're able to have options. It's getting there and back which is the problem.

Anyway. That's my two cents. I think it'll be interesting to see now that Starliner's returned what they'll discover about how it was affected by its extended stay in space.

[two-sides-halved]

Continued | @erisdiamas

"Yes, Human Steven is the vice principal of Little Homeschool's program. He needs his rest and he needs to eat. I wish he didn't have to put more responsibilities on himself, but this is how he takes a little control of his life, and that's making sure this program runs smoothly." Gem Steven replied, as he cooked, hearing the sizzling calming his soul, as well as the pitter-pattering of feet slowly creeping down the stairs. The soft yawns echoing through the hallway, it made him feel a little better about the conversation. "Sometimes all we need to have in life is a little control... I have my own methods of escapism to give me a little control... I've got my games, and I've got mom's room... to help me go over things so I know that they are in fact my fault or not... because sometimes things bother me a little more than they do everyone else... and I know that's a me thing..."

"The fact that it happened once is already troubling... but maybe, you're right about this, maybe it is a different Lapis... and I'm just overthinking things as I am one to do... but I know for a fact, there is a fine line between lying and choosing not to say anything because they can't or they deem it as unimportant, from experience..." Gem Steven replied, he wanted to reassure her that this was coming from a place of worry and concern for her safety but he feels like constantly reminding her would make her sick of him. The boys finally round the corner.

"AaaaaaaaaHHHHHnnnnmmmm... Good morning Gem." Classic Steven said with a sleepy filled yawn as he slowly headed down the stairs, his eyes waking a little more seeing Eris, and waved back with a sleepy wave and warm smile.

"Good morning... you seemed like things were getting heated earlier in the conversation... you both doing alright?" Human Steven asked, as Gem Steven nodded simply in response lovingly making stuffing for the ravioli that he was making on the floured counter top, before gently putting them into a pot of boiling water.

"Yep, just catching up on Eris' time away from home for the last three days... very eventful... very troubling to her poor older brother." He replied with a playful overdramatic huff, before his mood swung back to being annoyed at the sight of that cursed substance, but said nothing since he didn't need to reprimand his brother right that instant since he say that he took it, and started carrying it over to the rest of his stash. "Thank you, Eris. I appreciate it."

"It wasn't a matter of rather Cherry forgave me... I am grateful you all do... it was just I don't forgive myself as easily...--" He stared at her offended.

"I DO NOT HAVE A LAZULIPHOBIA... I literally said through the entire conversation how I didn't like ONE LAPISS... I will admit that my experience with her isn't the most pleasant... and my brother's know how I can be with new people... so forgive me for being worried that you might have been with the one fucking lapiss that I despise because of how she has treated my family and my friends thus far... but it sounds like you're the one afraid that I'll forbid you from seeing her, like I'm some father from a super relatable sitcom, who's forbidding his one and only daughter out of his family of all boys since his wife is gone... is she dead, did she divorce him and leave him with the kids cause they were cramping her indepentant live style of drinking and partying with strangers because waking up to one man for the rest of her live is too fucking mundane for this bitch of a woman to ever want to have in her life... and he's left to raise two sons and daughter on his lonesome so he's even more worried that his only little girl is going to get hurt in that big scary unforgiving world and it'd be all his fault because he cares too much and ended up pushing her right into the dangerous, oncoming traffic of teenage hormones in the form of a bad boy, leather jacket wearing, dickhead archetype with dyed blond hair and kissable lips, who make you feel so special in the moment but so fucking stupid after it all comes crashing down around you. Who wears all the red flags imaginable on their sleeve to everyone else but to this teenage boy in the whirlwind of emotions and hormones that is puberty, all those red flags... just seem like shiny neat quirks on this cool and chill persona, who's only gonna end up breaking your heart the longer you watch this trainwreck of relationship go on because you know that never had any substance to begin with..." He huffed, his face twisting into a grimace as if he felt that personally. "But still you watch because it's just a show and the little people on tv can't fucking hear you scream he's gonna break your heart for that new more attractive looking toy on the shelf." He brushes his fingers through his hair and takes a breather.

"Like I said before, I don't have trouble trusting you to know what's right from wrong, it's just the company you choose to keep is what I question... same goes for this dork over here." Gem Steven replied as he gestures to Classic Steven. "So if there's this big announcement can it at least wait until after today... I don't think I can handle any big things other than you three and your birthdays... for once I actually want to relax and spend the day, not doing party prep... I know big shocker, Gem Steven wants to have a good time on the day that makes him feel like the worst person on the face of this timeline... but god forbid I have strong feelings, if I could turn them off I would but good god I can't turn them off even if I wanted to... I can pretend nothing bothers me, but you all would know there's something wrong..." He chuckled through his tears, before looking over.

"Why are you all silently staring at me... am I becoming incoherent and corrupting??" Gem Steven asked before Human Steven spoke gently. "No we were all just listening, and I'd like to tell you the pot of water is about to boil over." Gem Steven quickly refocused on his cooking, and whipped up the food in a lovely display of his cooking skills. "Right... right... I'm feeling a lot better now that I am no longer a dam waiting to burst... but seriously... I think we need just like one god damn day where things don't go down the toilet from minute one... please..."

[bagalois]

May I just get some of your time by saying, that it is possible that you are too harsh on yourself right now? Sometimes all the wrong circumstances add up and tip the balance (we assume everybody has some sort of balance-meter). From personal experience of a human who lost the biggest dream and gave up for years, I might say you a strange thing: it is not a bad idea to let the circumstance overwhelm you. One might give up. One might give in. One might throw everything to hell and do something else for a while. It might be the right thing at the wrong time. Nobody can predict future, but as long as one is alive, good things have high chance of occurring. Acute stress modus only makes thing not so fun. If you can image the worst-case-scenario and try to have a plan for this scenario, it might help. It helped me to take a 5-year-break and get back to things this time more mature.

It is desirable to have-it-all-smoothly-figured-out-being-a-genius, society tells us it is the only way. Nope. That is a scam.

I wish you all the best and give you all the hugs. You are very smart and will figure it out!

i've had this in my inbox a while now but never found time to respond to it. i really truly appreciate your words.

i place a lot of value on mathematics and my current community. becoming a mathematician has become kind of a symbol for me, because i was really sad and afraid of not being able to handle my own future when i was younger, and the only thing i liked to do that i was also good at was math. i've always made space for it even when i struggled with other things in my life. but mathematics has always been there for me. knowing i have more to learn and that a future is out there for me to do exactly this has pulled me through many bad moments.

so, its easy to pressure myself into one singular outcome, which is "don't fail out of graduate school" because that would mean i failed at giving myself this opportunity to grab hold of the future i kept myself alive for. this exact same pressure was always my best friend, basically. its difficult to let go of this.

i am only saying all this because i want to explain why i feel so, so strongly about not failing out of this program. its also because of this that i still am glad you sent me this message, because i need to look at the larger story of my life and not think so hard about these three classes, or even these next five years. in reality, what has this pressure done for me this semester? if i succeed, the stress will have been for nothing. if i fail and am overwhelmed by my circumstances, then where will i have learned the most? my experiences and actions are the things that make me more mature, not needless anxiety and suffering.

anyways, pressure is a complicated thing. just so people know, i did end up speaking to my advisor, and they reassured me that i would probably be just fine. it would take a lot to fail out of this program where i am at right now. so that issue has been solved for me, but this was a good lesson for me to learn anyways. thank you for the ask ^^

[muktimanch]

Understanding the Fees for Acting Classes in Mumbai and Choosing the Right Acting Studio

Mumbai, the nucleus of the entertainment industry in India, is truly the ultimate dream destination for aspiring actors. Loads of training options are available, but one major issue for many is understanding the acting class fees in Mumbai and picking out the available best acting studio in Mumbai that is right for them in terms of budget and requirements.

Factors Determining Acting Class Fees in Mumbai

Acting classes are set in different price ranges per the following considerations. Here are the key determinants:

The reputation of the Academy—Celeb Studios maintains its fees to ensure its credibility and successful alumni network.

Course Duration—Workshops are always cheaper than a full series of diploma classes.

Trainer Experience—Workshops by industry professionals or veteran actors will go for a higher fee.

Facilities Provided—A good-quality studio with the latest technical equipment, casting training, and facilities will increase the fee.

Batch Size—Smaller batch sizes warrant a higher fee since they amount to personalized coaching.

Acting class fees in Mumbai range from about INR 10,000 for any short-term workshops to some INR 200,000 for full-fledged programs. Prospective students must decide according to their budgets weighed against career goals.

What You Must Expect from the Acting Studio in Mumbai

Choosing the right Indian studio in Mumbai becomes extremely significant if you wish to receive adequate training and exposure to the industry.

Comprehensive Training Modules: Modules cover method acting, improvisation, voice modulation, and on-camera techniques.

Experienced Faculty: Get trained by actors, directors, and theatre veterans.

Hands-on Experience: Applied training by way of short films, theatre plays, and mock auditions.

Networking Opportunities: They should provide access to professionals from the industry, including casting directors and production houses.

Flexible Learning Options: Weekend or part-time batches should be available for working professionals.

How to Choose the Right Acting Studio for Your Price Point

With all these options available, it can be difficult to shortlist one acting studio in Mumbai. Meanwhile, the following tips ensure you navigate the process smoothly:

Research and Compare—Find the student reviews of past students, the success stories of students, and the course curriculum before you finalise the institute.

Visit the Studio—Inspect the infrastructure, training atmosphere, and expertise of the trainer.

Enquire About Payment Plans—Some academies will offer EMI plans or scholarships to deserving students.

Trial Classes—Attending demo lessons can help you get a feel for training quality before signing on.

Industry Tie-ups—Impart colleges that maintain healthy connections with the industry will have better placement.

Conclusion

Mumbai is a place that brings good fortune to actors by providing a huge platform for learning. However, selecting the right studio and understanding the acting classes fees in Mumbai are very important for finding a successful career. A big investment is the training you receive, through which you can enter into this huge door of the entertainment industry, improve your skills, and develop the trust you need to shine on screen.

Make sure it is the acting studio you've been looking for—the one that'll give you value for money while providing an environment conducive to realising your aspirations for quality education. The right training is the foundation for the path to stardom; pick one wisely!

[freelafan4life545]

So I wrote another fanfiction that isn't freela centric as I'm trying to prove to everyone that I care about the other Futurama characters.

This fic was originally going to be completely different, but I disapprove writing out of character actions.

So please enjoy my work.

@a-love-that-transcends-all @ladybender @capt-t-leela

The 1950s Change

Planet Express deliveries rarely went smoothly, but this time had been particularly bad. The crew had been tasked with delivering a suspiciously heavy package to the remote planet of Everwood-9, a seemingly quaint, 1950s-themed colony. The mission had gone sideways when the locals—who, as it turned out, were hostile robots programmed to enforce an outdated version of "proper manners"—deemed Fry and Bender "improper."

A fight broke out, leading to Fry getting thrown against a neon jukebox, cracking his ribs and earning a nasty concussion. Bender barely managed to drag him back to the ship while Leela fought off the mechanized housewives wielding rolling pins like medieval maces.

They barely escaped, but something had changed in Leela.

Days passed, and the crew noticed Leela acting... strangely. At first, they chalked it up to stress or guilt over Fry’s injuries, but things escalated quickly. She stopped wearing her usual tank top and boots, replacing them with pastel-colored dresses, pearls, and an unsettlingly perfect smile. She greeted the crew with eerily polite phrases like, "Oh, dearest friends, what a pleasure it is to see you on this fine day!" instead of her usual sarcasm.

When Amy, Hermes, and Zoidberg decided to check on her, they found her apartment completely transformed. The once-modern space had become a perfect replica of a 1950s suburban dream home—checkered floors, floral wallpaper, and a smell of freshly baked cookies that seemed to come from nowhere.

As they stepped inside, an old record player crackled to life.

The sweet, haunting harmonies of The Lennon Sisters drifted through the air, sending shivers down their spines.

Leela appeared in the doorway, wearing a pink polka-dot dress, her hair in perfect curls.

"I know, I know, you belong to somebody new..."

She swayed slightly to the music, hands clasped neatly in front of her.

"But tonight, you belong to me..."

Amy shot a nervous glance at Hermes. "Okay, this is officially creepy as hell."

Zoidberg sniffed. "I think it’s charming! Except for the crushing existential dread I feel in my shell."

"Leela," Hermes said carefully, "what in Rastafarian hell is going on with you?"

Leela giggled. It was light, airy—wrong. "Why, Hermes, I’m simply embracing a better way of life! Isn’t it wonderful?"

Amy reached out cautiously. "Leela, come on, this isn’t like you. You don’t even like baking!"

Leela’s eye twitched for a moment, but the unsettling smile remained.

"Perhaps I was simply mistaken about myself," she said sweetly.

That was enough for them to hightail it back to Planet Express.

Professor Farnsworth ran every test he could on Leela to see if that planet done something to her—brain scans, blood work, even one of his more "ethically questionable" experiments—but found nothing.

"Good news, everyone! Leela is completely fine. Just completetly insane."

"That’s not good news!" Fry groaned, clutching his bandaged ribs as he sat up. He had been growing increasingly distressed over Leela’s behavior. She barely acknowledged him beyond shallow, sugary phrases, and when he tried to talk to her alone, she’d just hum along to 1950s tunes and offer him lemonade.

Bender, ever the opportunist, had gone snooping and managed to snag Leela’s diary.

"I swiped this while she was busy baking another apple pie. A robot can only pretend to enjoy that garbage for so long."

Amy snatched it from him and flipped through the pages. Her face paled. "Oh no..."

"What? What is it?" Fry asked, moving closer.

Amy read aloud:

"I should have been able to protect him. If I had been better, stronger, smarter, Fry wouldn’t have gotten hurt. But no matter what I do, I always mess up. It's all my fault my boyfriend was injured. I’ve always been different, and I’ve always been judged for it. I don’t want to be different anymore. I don’t want to be wrong anymore. Maybe if I change, people will finally accept me."

Fry swallowed hard. He remembered how often Leela had been treated unfairly—how she was mocked as a kid in the orphanarium, how people constantly underestimated her despite everything she did. And now, her guilt had driven her to create this warped version of herself, one she thought people would finally approve of.

"We have to help her," Fry said firmly. "I don’t care if she thinks she’s happy like this—I know she isn’t."

Breaking the Façade

That night, they all went to Leela’s apartment. She greeted them with the same unsettling Stepford Wife smile, setting out a tray of cookies.

"You must try them! I made them with love," she chirped.

"Leela, knock it off," Amy snapped. "We know what you’re doing."

Leela’s smile faltered for a split second before she laughed—light, airy, unnatural. "Oh, Amy, you’re so silly."

"You’re acting crazy, woman!" Hermes interjected. "You can’t just erase who you are because you feel guilty!"

Leela’s eye twitched again. "I have no idea what you mean."

"You’re scaring us," Zoidberg added.

Silence.

Then, Fry stepped forward, his voice soft. "Leela... you don’t have to do this."

She didn’t respond, just stared at him with that frozen smile.

He took her hands in his. "I don’t love this version of you."

Leela’s breath hitched.

"I love you," he continued. "The real you. The one who’s strong, who fights, who never gives up. The one who yells at me when I do something dumb and then saves my ass anyway. The one who finally dates me after many tries. The one who’s Leela."

For the first time, her expression cracked. Her lower lip trembled.

"But... but what if—"

"It doesn’t matter," Fry interrupted gently. "You don’t have to be perfect. You’re already amazing the way you are."

A choked sob escaped her. Then another. And suddenly, she was crying—deep, wracking sobs as she collapsed against Fry’s chest.

The record player skipped and fell silent.

The pastel-perfect illusion around them seemed to dim as Leela shook in Fry’s arms, the weight of everything crashing down.

"It’s okay," Fry whispered. "We’re here. I’m here."

Amy and the others moved in, surrounding her in quiet support. Even Bender, who would normally mock such an emotional display, just patted her on the back and muttered, "There, there. It’s not like I care or anything."

Leela sniffled, looking around at them.

"...You guys aren’t mad?"

"Of course not, mon," Hermes said. "We’re your crew."

Zoidberg beamed. "And I’ve always wanted a loving family!"

Amy rolled her eyes but smiled. "We just want you back."

Leela wiped her eye and let out a shaky laugh. "I think... I think I’m ready to come back now."

Fry squeezed her hand. "Welcome home."

And for the first time in days, Leela truly smiled.

The End.

💜🧡

[helicopriorc]

hey this might be kinda weird but i was looking through the tags of an older post and you mentioned you are/were a dj for a college radio station! i'm going to have a radio show for the first time this semester and was wondering if you had any tips or advice! :)

Oh hell yes! I've only been at a few years, but I can definitely chime in.

I currently run a show that focuses on the punk music in my local area and more broadly in my state, but I've also run a jazz night and done other general programming.

Tips from my personal experience:

- take deep breaths whenever possible, especially when you're about to go on-air, this will help keep your nerves down and give you something to focus anxious energy into instead of your voice

- take some time to practice any required on-air content (ad reads, weather, etc) before reading it live, that way you can make the mistakes early and figure out your breathing patterns

- if you're going for higher energy, sit further forward in your chair when speaking and try to start speaking right after a deep inhale

- try to get a grasp on your audience. either ask around the station or envision who your ideal listener is and build around that

- ask for feedback from fellow station staff and listeners if possible. feedback feels bad sometimes, but it's in your (and your listeners) best interest to listen to it and decide how to apply that to your show.

- don't sweat the small stuff. radio keeps going even after a mistake. figure out if there are specific procedures or ramifications for the mistake, but otherwise let it go. shake it off and move on because the audience cares about what they're listening to, but once it aired, it's no longer in your control and that's okay

- try listening to other radio with a critical ear. what do you like/dislike? what feels awkward? did they transition between songs smoothly? what mood are they giving out?

That's all I have off the top of my head, but the biggest thing is to have fun. I'm so serious too. Your audience can tell when you sound flat or tired, and when you're having fun and being engaged, it's a noticeable difference.

Good luck! My DMs are always open to chat about it more.

[canmom]

mmo rp is kind of fundamentally not so different from RPing in any messaging program, something we've been doing since the days of IRC. the story you co-create is primarily driven by what's written in the text box. no matter how well made the emote animations are, they are not communicative enough to really tell a complex story, so you always fall back to prose. your character's voice will be limited to a handful of nonverbal expressions - a laugh, mm-hm, uh-huh. you are constantly having to reinterpret bits of game jank as you construct your mental version of the 'real story'. and yet

these visual aids do make a really substantial difference in how you experience it i think. to honestly a kind of surprising degree. of course having a character design on screen helps avoid writing tons of descriptive prose - but there's also a lot that can be done with simple movement through space, like a character positioning themselves besides another, retreating to sulk, getting up to dance.

like in visual novels and manga, you have essentially a set of codified, symbolic expressions - but in FFXIV, every race has its own set of very charming and polished animations for nearly every emote, which adds a huge amount of info in how you interpret that character (and slot them into the otaku database). a roegadyn will by default be loud and brash, a viera refined and dreamy, a lala mischievous and childlike. a mi'qote is a cat. since all of these are chosen by the player, they act as a strong signal of what your character's deal is - their body language comes across even if it's not like the actual scene fully acted out.

and what's fascinating to me is that even when i know what the player looks like irl, i still find myself responding to their game embodiment in how i think about them, i don't picture them irl... but also, having the embodiment helps me get into character. I have two alts, and with each one i feel drawn to a different style of roleplay. just like a list of prompts in a ttrpg sourcebook, the embodiment you've chosen gives you something to bounce off when you're improvising.

roleplaying is very similar to improv comedy, and many of the same analysis concepts - 'offers', 'yes, and' - apply. we're essentially improvising a digital puppet show. building up an RP venue and customising our model is a way of laying out props to help that process roll smoothly.

i often dream about an mmo animation system that would be less janky - more control over camera placement, better handling of interactions between player characters and characters with their environment, more ability to plan out timing and blocking and so on - essentially trending towards multiplayer source filmmaker.

the problem is that such a system would probably have way too much cognitive overhead to be usable in real time improv. i think what something like ffxiv shows is that even very simple elements - besides the emotes, your character looks towards your target and moves their lips when you talk, you can adjust their expression and there's animation hooks all over the place line chairs you can sit on - can actually be a very expressive palette and people are pretty good at filtering out the jank when they want to create a story together.

indeed, it becomes a skill - knowing what animations you have, how to reinterpret them, how to line yourself up with other players. and in the end you don't remember the time spent shuffling forwards and typing /hug again and again, or standing up and sitting down repeatedly until it lines up right. you remember the cute sight of your character sitting beside your friend, looking fondly at each other.

there's also another angle which is like... i find real life 'going out' very difficult - usually hitting a point of information overload very quickly in a pub environment, and while music is easier to manage than a wall of conversation, i never really learned how to interact with strangers at a club, concert, convention. I'm not good with alcohol. when i try to a pub, i usually end up retreating into myself and ducking out. in mmos, though... i find prose much more easy to be expressive in, and the limits of the animation system kind of level the playing field a bit in terms of The Autism when it comes to body language and the like.

still, sometimes it feels like a very sad existence - i rely on this simulacrum, pretending i am being intimate and social with people i can't touch through a computer program that draws triangles. everything in an mmo is muted, blunted by the medium - which makes it 'safe', but also tinges it with a loneliness that can't really be broken. but for now, i guess the simulacrum is all I've got, you know? and i can appreciate how it's put together, all the effort that has gone in from devs and players alike to realise this alternative channel for connection.

but yeah. i guess it comes back to this again... there's a reason my online 'face' is a low poly approximation of an animal!

[horizonwitsabroadeducation]

Canada Education Consultants in Delhi - HorizonWits

 Have you ever wondered how to turn your dream of studying in Canada into reality? With so many options and procedures, it can feel overwhelming. That’s where HorizonWits comes in! Known as one of the leading Canada education consultants in Delhi, HorizonWits has helped countless students navigate the complex world of international education. But what makes them stand out? Let’s explore how HorizonWits can be your ultimate guide to achieving your academic aspirations in Canada. 

1. Why Choose HorizonWits?

Choosing the right consultant is like choosing a reliable GPS for a road trip. HorizonWits ensures you stay on the right path, avoiding detours and unnecessary stops. With years of experience and a team of dedicated experts, HorizonWits has built a reputation as one of the best Canada education consultants in Delhi.

2. Understanding the Role of Education Consultants

What exactly do education consultants do? Think of them as bridge-builders. They connect aspiring students with world-class educational opportunities abroad. Consultants like HorizonWits provide expert advice, handle complex paperwork, and offer guidance tailored to individual needs.

3. Why Study in Canada?

Canada has become a top destination for international students, and for good reason. Known for its high-quality education system, cultural diversity, and safe environment, Canada offers unmatched opportunities. Plus, its post-study work and immigration options make it an ideal choice for students aiming to build a future abroad.

4. Key Services Offered by HorizonWits

HorizonWits provides a range of services that cover every step of the study abroad journey:

Personalized Counseling

Application Assistance

Visa Guidance

Scholarship Help

Post-Landing Support

5. Personalized Counseling Sessions

Do you feel unsure about which course or university to choose? HorizonWits’ personalized counseling sessions help you understand your options based on your interests, academic background, and career goals. Their counselors take a personal interest in your success.

6. Application Assistance

Filling out university applications can be daunting. HorizonWits simplifies the process, ensuring that your application is complete and error-free. From writing compelling statements of purpose to gathering necessary documents, they’ve got you covered.

7. Visa Guidance and Support

Visa applications are often the most stressful part of studying abroad. HorizonWits’ expert team ensures your visa application is processed smoothly by providing accurate advice and timely assistance.

8. Scholarship and Financial Aid Guidance

Worried about tuition costs? HorizonWits helps you explore scholarship opportunities and financial aid programs, making quality education more affordable.

9. Post-Landing Support

Landing in a new country can feel intimidating. HorizonWits ensures a smooth transition with services like accommodation assistance, local guidance, and more. Their support doesn’t stop once you reach Canada; they’re with you every step of the way.

10. Success Stories of HorizonWits Students

Stories from past students highlight HorizonWits’ impact. Many have achieved their dreams of studying in Canada, securing rewarding careers, and even settling there permanently. Their testimonials speak volumes about the quality of services provided.

11. How to Get Started with HorizonWits

Starting your journey with HorizonWits is simple. Book a consultation through their website or visit their office in Delhi. Their team will assess your profile and guide you through the next steps.

12. Common Challenges in Studying Abroad and How HorizonWits Helps

Challenges like cultural adaptation, financial planning, and academic pressure are common for international students. HorizonWits prepares you in advance, ensuring a smoother transition and better outcomes.

13. Why HorizonWits is Trusted by Students and Parents

Trust is earned through consistency and reliability. HorizonWits’ transparency, professionalism, and proven success rate make them a trusted name among students and parents alike.

14. Comparing HorizonWits with Other Consultants

Unlike other consultants, HorizonWits focuses on building lasting relationships. Their personalized approach, affordable fees, and comprehensive support set them apart.

15. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

In a world full of possibilities, why let confusion hold you back? With HorizonWits by your side, your dream of studying in Canada is just a step away. From the initial consultation to settling in your new home, HorizonWits provides unmatched support, ensuring a hassle-free journey to success.

FAQs

1. What makes HorizonWits a top Canada education consultant in Delhi?

HorizonWits stands out due to its personalized approach, experienced counselors, and comprehensive support for every step of the study abroad process.

2. Does HorizonWits help with scholarships?

Yes, HorizonWits offers guidance on available scholarships and financial aid to make studying abroad more affordable.

3. Can HorizonWits help with visa applications?

Absolutely! They provide expert advice and assistance to ensure a smooth visa application process.

4. Is post-landing support available?

Yes, HorizonWits helps with accommodation, local guidance, and more to ensure a comfortable transition for students in Canada.

5. How can I contact HorizonWits?

You can book a consultation through their website or visit their office in Delhi for personalized guidance.

Contact Us:

Call: +91 7303920900

Email: Info@horizonwits.com

Web: www.horizonwits.com

[theromanticscrooge]

My dad has been a computer programmer for 20+ years. I grew up listening to rants about the 'superiority' of Windows as an OS because it was corporate-backed and proprietary. Supposedly, proprietary means there's a stronger series of checks and balances for how the OS works because everyone working on it is getting paid vs the more community driven and volunteer based foundation behind open source (a.k.a. Linux). Dad has installed Linux on my grandpa's computer for casual use. He sees the utility of it. I think he's relaxed the hard line stance he had on it when I was younger, but I digress. He bought into Windows' propaganda. The exact propaganda that led to Windows as the default, ubiquitous OS on just about everyone's PC until more recently.

My partner (pretty much my wife but without official paperwork) is an active coder and HUGE proponent of open source everything. They convinced me to switch to Linux after Windows' stunt of force updating and killing computers running anything less than the then current version 10. My partner shared some of their experiences with the early horror show Linux was. They navigate everything computer related through a freaking terminal. Thankfully, modern Linux has user friendly versions like Mint or Ubuntu. Games run more smoothly on Linux. Updates are user driven and optional. There's actually more eyeballs on tech issues with most Linux OS and related programs as well as needed bug fixes than Windows sees because of corporate mandated nonsense.

I'm especially happy to see fellow Sims 2 players switching to Linux to get away from graphic glitches like the infamous pink soup! Yes! You guys get to experience what I've enjoyed for the past two years because I have a tech savvy partner so knowledgeable about this shit and willing to help me get my precious game up and running.

Its just so damn funny to me. I can point at OS preference to highlight some of the worldview and philosophy differences between my dad and my partner.

That's...a big part of why I was so hellbent on writing tech illiterate Professor Venomous or even play with ideas like 'Boxman uses an open-source OS for all of his tech.' It's an excuse to poke fun at some of this shit as an average tech user who's lived with different garden varieties of computer nerd most of my life. Plus, it fits when the actual cartoon went out of its way to make a pro-coding and pro-open source episode with "Dendy's Power."