#someone TAKE AUTOTUNE away from them

[absolutebl]

P’ABL! have you head James Supamongkol try to sing it’s so awful they’re clowning him on Twitter.

The general consensus is that bl actors need to stop singing. They’ve only granted exceptions to Jeff, Billkin, Gemini and Nunew. Khaotung got an honorable mention too lmao

Nunew came under fire from the Kpop stans too.

You know my feelings.

Unless one actually CAN sing, one should not sing. It's not safe otherwise.

And by "can" I mean a professional who is not paid by you or your people has given you an honest assessment.

And by "safe" I mean my poor traumatized ears.

[spaceagebachelormann]

im back hehehehehe could i get some headcanons of like. dating mischa. or ricky- either one- i <3 them sm

dating mischa and ricky

pairings: ricky potts x gn reader, mischa bachinski x gn reader

warnings: mentions of the rollercoaster disaster

a/n: i’ll give you both because ily liz <3

masterlist

Ricky Potts

okay so

UHHHH

he’s really sweet!!

100% randomly comes to your house and signs something like “wanna go stargazing”

you WILL say yes.

when you’re stargazing he doesn’t actually look at the other stars, because his star is beside him <3

you best believe his cats love you

they love you more than they love him

sometimes they just walk straight past him to get to you <3

i like to think he has a thing for noses, so when he’s close enough he’ll just lean in and kiss it so gently <33 or poke it

i feel like he gets tired really easily and stays up until like 3am

and because he loves you and he feels comfortable with you he leans his head on your shoulder and falls asleep!!

during the cyclone disaster, my man was holding your hand so hard and trying to keep you (and himself) from falling out of the cart

long story short it didn’t work and you fell together

back to the sweet stuff!!

you know all of the zolar lore and characters and give him stickers for his crutches

between classes he runs (runs??? he gets to you as quickly as he can with his crutches) and hugs you so tight

calls you the most random things ever

turkey-chicken-leg, monkey-love-drop (ofc <3)

im sorry but he would have called you kitten at one point. joke or not he 100% would have once. someone had to say it

i do think he’d call you love though

he loves you!! so much!!

penny aka his bestie has had to listen to him talk about you for hours

he’s very clingy!! constantly touching you in some way or is always near you

lightly hits you with his crutches when you say something outta pocket or questionable

your parent(s) LOVE him

he has that “anything for you love! <3” mentality and your parent(s) can tell this!! they know hed do anything for you and it’s why they love him!!

omg binge watching movies that take place in space with him <3

he gets so absorbed into the plots and points out every little thing

he’s so cute

will CRY (happily ofc) if you learn sign language for him

oh!! you’d also have a way to communicate from across the room if you can’t speak directly

like you’ll be visibly uncomfortable or tense and he’ll give you a concerned look or something to ask if he needs to come over there

i think he would be really protective, glaring at anyone who makes you uncomfortable and sometimes protectively putting a crutch or arm in front of you

incorrect quote!!:

Ricky: you want some leftovers?

Y/N: what are leftovers

Ricky: you’ve never had leftovers?

Y/N: no, im not a quitter

Mischa Bachinski

dear lord

the most overprotective soul ever

has body slammed ocean for looking at you weirdly…

will fight someone for you

just ask

also has that “anything for you love! <3” mentality but it’s more aggressive like “ANYTHING for you, love.”

oh he definitely uses you as an armrest

i like the idea of him and his s/o having a mean/nice dynamic

he’s mean to literally everyone except you

he’s also the type to put things on a shelf you can’t reach just so you have to ask him for help

sometimes he just picks you up in the middle of class and runs away while the teacher is screaming at you guys to come back

only listens to you

ocean: mischa no!! | mischa: mischa yes!! | y/n: mischa no | mischa: mischa no.

writes autotuned songs about you

okay but like imagine being his sweet sunshine s/o and one day someone pisses you off enough that you actually yell at them and he’s standing there with his jaw dropped and eyes widened

whispers over to noel “i love them.”

noel whispers back “i know.”

randomlt shows up at your house

if he can’t get in through the front door he scarily climbs through your window

SLEEPOVERS ARE A MUST!!

secretly the little spoon when you cuddle during sleepovers but don’t tell anyone

smiles into your neck, but pretends he doesn’t even though he knows you can feel it <3

it someone talks smack about you

well….

they mysteriously disappear that night

and when they come back they don’t even look in your direction again

he’s actually very sweet with you!!

holding your hand, cupping your face, whispering sweet little nothings in your ear <3

brings you alcohol on your birthday…

incorrect quote:

Mischa: *kicks the door down looking panicked*

Y/N: what did you do?

Mischa: nobody died

Y/N: WHAT KIND OF ANSWER IS THAT???

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

what do u think about the autotune usage it’s a hot mess over this discussion on all social media sites. but many music producers were saying “it’s a stylistic choice” but these randos who have no knowledge will bitch and cry about everything 😭

Fandoms have no place for nuance. I think that has been established and it applies both to those who believe everything an artist releases is a masterpiece and to those who dislike it because in a way, they are prepared for that. There's barely any room left for being open to be surprised or admit that a song might not be to one's liking.

There's also a confusion between liking/not liking made equivalent to good/bad. There's clearly no literacy here and when our own bias towards an artist/music style is strong, it can definitely take over the analytical abilities.

In the case of this song, I think it's perfectly understandable to not like the autotune. But when there are no arguments, or they're weak or lastly, not liking it means the song is shit, then that's the issue. I don't like how the end result sounds like, but that's a thing between me and my ears (😅) and it doesn't take away from the fact that I understand its stylistic purpose or play ignorant and say autotune is bad in all forms, regardless of its use. And it doesn't mean I will ignore all the other elements of the actual song, from melody to lyrics, to the entire production and consequently to definitely ignore the choreography and the music video. One aspect I would dislike does not make me hate the full work. Does it make my ears bleed? No. Am I interested in the song in its entirety and consequently I try and understand it? Yes.

But this is something that I can't expect from everyone because it's an impossible thing to want. Beyond the not liking it = the song is shit debacle, our bias is the one that is more visible in some reaction to the release. If one doesn't like BTS, then they won't like Jimin's song or they would be reluctant from the start. And if they find one element which invites criticism (the autotune), then that's enough for them. They're not going to waste their time anymore because they are not fans. Again, that is understandable as well. Perhaps I too wouldn't stop to observe all the intricacies to a song that I listened to once and it wasn't my taste. I would move on and not think about it and obviously not listen to it.

What I do find "interesting" (and which annoys me to no end) are the double standards. There is not a single K-Pop group or soloist who doesn't have shitty songs or albums. Just like it applies to everyone out there who makes music, including critically acclaimed artists. And they also use autotune at some point or another for various purposes. It's also pop music for fucks sake, not a live recording of a folk album or opera. There are also mediocre albums and songs releases in K-Pop. Which is fine. There is nothing wrong with something mediocre and I personally don't attach to it mere negative connotations. We can't have great songs and bad songs only. And great songs are usually rarer than everything else. We also do listen to a ton of music that is not good, but we still like it. There's plenty of K-pop song releases out there that sound the same. And they do that because regardless of who produces them, it's easier to see similarities because they follow the trends, be it from X or Y label. And we accept that. I know I do.

But somehow in what I've observed in the last 24h (although there's a history there), all of a sudden the standards change. Jimin is K-Pop as well, but he is not allowed to release anything other than a masterpiece. If it's not to that standard, then it's trash. How does that make any sense? Well, it doesn't because if someone doesn't like him, the group he is in and the company he works for, then they won't like the stuff he releases, even if it would be critically acclaimed. That's what it boils down to.

[jackinalex]

I don’t understand why Alex uses live autotune during shows. I first noticed it in 2021 at the sad summer live stream and then at their UK shows (it sounded awful during SKOD). I know it’s a new technology that basically everyone uses and I don’t mind when someone like blink uses it because let’s be honest, that way it’s way more enjoyable for everyone. But if you have a super talented singer with an amazing voice and 20 years of experience like Alex, it only takes away from the performance. At first I thought they were using some weird mics or settings or even that Alex changed the way he was singing, but when I realised it’s autotune, it made perfect sense. It just makes his voice sound really weird, more crisp and somehow like he has a cold? I don’t know how to explain it. When I watch a video of them doing the same song from even 2017, it just sounds like there is more emotion put into it and it sounds more natural. He’s always used mostly just reverb in the past which doesn’t take away anything, just makes it sound bigger. I honestly thought they weren’t using it last tour, maybe very minimally and maybe they don’t use it always but I watched some videos from the last show at the fair and my ears were bleeding a little from it. During Dirty Laundry Alex’s voice just randomly jumped to a weird note out of nowhere and he even gave his mic to some fan to sing into during the end of Dear Maria and that’s when it was really obvious. Because if you have a good singer it’s a lot harder to notice but when someone who doesn’t sing does it, it starts to jump the notes all over the place. It makes me sad because I’ve always preferred to listen to the songs live just because it felt more natural as opposed to the super polished recordings but now when I hear the autotune I can’t unhear it. What happened to the beauty of the not 100% pitch accurate performance? That’s what live music is about and what makes it special. Imagine putting autotune on somebody like Freddy Mercury during Live Aid…

I hate to give such a short response to this since it’s such a deep analysis. I’ve just never noticed and I don’t know anything about the ins and outs of music and vocals. 😭 I’m so sorry and I totally believe you. I don’t know why he’d be doing that. Maybe one of my followers knows something? 🙏

[softly-gazes]

Now that It's had time to gestate, I feel like I can articulate some of my feelings on Set me free pt.2.

I didn't really like it, at first. I couldn't get a handle on the lyrics and the autotune for effect, him rapping, the bravado of the track felt all a little forced to me. Just. Not what I expected of him. It felt incongruous with my understanding of Jimin as an artist. But then I returned to it, went through the lyrics again, watched the video and listened more. And I think I get it a little better now.

This song is the manifesto portion of Jimin's artistic reveal narrative constructed around his solo debut.

Jimin is using a dramatic, anthem-like hip hop track to confront how he used to be in the early days of bts, when they were stylistically so much more hip hop-oriented and he struggled with adhering to a specific masculine gender performance that did not align with him. In the lyrics, "I wandered into a maze/ Hennessy and nights" echoes both hip hop imagery and deep loneliness with the context of how that particular period of bts affected Jimin.

"Never stop, never stop" / repeat, again / "never stop, fuck all your opps" have quotation marks on them, because they're (in this context) inauthentic statements, borrowed posturing, an armour of affected arrogant confidence, which he is trying to free himself from. The angry "just get out of my way", "shut up, fuck off" and "I'm on my way" may not be for any physical haters out there, but rather the concept of pretense itself. He's being hindered from being his authentic self by arbitrary expectations laid upon him as both a celebrity and a man. He is frustrated by how he still occasionally finds himself back in the maze of pretending to be someone he isn't when feeling low, but finds comfort in the realisation that simply acknowledging his struggle is a step towards freedom from it.

The lyrics also reference a process of hesitating to take the steps to reveal himself to the world: "not yet, not yet" becomes "now yeah, now yeah" as he is confident he has matured into the proverbial butterfly, ready to take off into the unpredictable territory of open vulnerability. "Raise your hands for the past me" is an acknowledgement of the work that he has put into getting where he is in his personal and artistic development. Now is his moment to get his, to experience his prime as authentically as he can under the circumstances of celebrity.

The fact that Jimin is doing all this with a punchy, audacious hip hop track actually makes a lot of sense, as the genre has been such an integral part of his journey despite, or perhaps because, of him being so out of place in it as a contemporary dancer with a high singing voice and a discomfort with the archetypal masculinity so often associated with it. This is him showing how he approaches it now with his current understanding of himself.

However, this song is still him standing at the edge, a prologue of sorts. A manifesto of his intentions for what is to come, telling us that however he will be received, he refuses to hide anymore. That's why this is the pre-release single.

The video is great. It tells an effective narrative by using impressive choreography, three costume changes, and one location. The dancers form a physical manifestation of the figurative maze Jimin refers to and he is alternately weaving through it, controlling it and being swallowed by it, until he emerges, changed, at the end. His costume changes signify the stages of his metamorphosis. The Rainer Maria Rilke poem 'I live my life in widening circles' being literally printed onto his body serves to emphasise his conviction to embrace the world as himself. The white ensemble at the end separates him from the black of his previous self and the gray of the dancers and the location. The dynamically lit concrete bunker is an austere limbo, the inside of the cocoon, so to speak. He looks back at the camera meaningfully one last time, poised to walk away, having made his intentions clear to the audience. He's getting out now.

Yeah.

[scotts-takes]

Best of Ensemble Stars 2022

Number 5- Tell Your World- Switch & 2wink with Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin and Len

So this is a case where a Cover Series song really feels like cheating- not only do we have 2wink and Switch, but ALSO we have Hatsune F'n Miku and the Kagamines?!? Does this even count as an Enstars song?!?

Of all the cover series songs, this was the one I knew the most coming in- Tell Your World is a classic that you can play in many Project Diva games. It's probably one of Miku's 5 or 10 most identifiable songs. The Chrome commercial it was created for has over 5 million views!

So the question comes down to- why would you listen to this cover version instead of the original? This is a fair question, especially because unlike many cover songs, the original artist is a part of this. Hatsune belts out many lines on her own here. We are going from a solo song to one now featuring 8 total performers- it would be easy for someone to get lost. But the reason this made it to number 5 on this list is that I feel that the addition of all the new voices is addative to the song, instead of taking away from it. The autotuning effect they added to the Enstars characters make them fit in with the more robotic sounds of the vocaloids- right from the start, as Natsume opens up the song, you can tell this sounds different. This is a song that has been covered by thousands of utaite, and this still comes across feeling unique.

It should not be overlooked that Project Sekai/Hatsune Miku Colorful Stage is one of the most popular mobile games in the world right now, and it launched after Enstars Music. That is a game that also features 3D MV's- and it says something that the model and quality used for Enstars are worlds better than anything in Sekai. Really goes to show how well Happy Elements future-proofed the game!

This is the last cover song I am putting on the list-I'm a little dissapointed that in celebrating the best of new Enstars music, a full 25% of my choices are songs that had previously existed. That said, as long as they can figure out the copyright stuff (now that there is CN, KR, and EN, they really can't be doing these as JP exclusives), i'd be down for another round of Cover Songs. Let Switch and Ra*bits cover Despacito, let Ryuseitai cover the Power Rangers theme, and more! These were a fun distraction through the year

And regardless of anything else, this song proves that Sora Harukawa would be friends with Hatsune Miku if they met. And that is worth celebrating! (Also Yuta and Kagamine Len would be besties if they were real)

[firespirited]

I’m watching the Monster High live action to have some context on some odd takes. My main thoughts so far are they’re super cute, that’s non!bieber kid from The Other Two (watch it, one of the best comedies that’s actually snort-funny from the last few years) and it’s not as low budget as expected, but also it’s a high school full of... theatre kids *horror violins* (actually slightly less intimidating than the school full of arts majors who know how to ski)

It was different but I expected entirely different characters from the reboot and what we saw of the new dolls. It's just what happens. Besides it feels rude to have Garett Sander's canon and him not getting paid or a part of it.

My thoughts on Clawdeen is that I appreciate she was the lead, her story seems to be about integrating dual identities and we have a canon curly haired human and werewolf Clawdeen with more curl than her dolls ever got. Colourism is more than just skintone and I honestly expected them to cast someone with a thinner nose and less rounded face and now we get to hound them for the lack of textured hairstyles.

The bar for black actresses is CW level low okay. I'm used to seeing black brits in all face types and american tv has a few flat nose gals as sassy black friends but a love interest? mostly small nosed heart shaped face light skin ladies.

Draculaura was lovely: her grouchiness was just about pushing people away and she had the range (i think i heard autotune on pretty much everyone - did covid mean less studio time?) . Frankie has the squareness of the new doll and an endearing personality and duh you learn pronouns with language, gender with basic biology, social rules you learn through tv and friends. Their pronouns could because they're both genders, because they've understood they don't fit male or female or because they want to wait and see what fits best (which would fit the hyper logical character).

Cleo wasn't painted gold thankfully but not reddish tan like her doll either. I'm torn about Cleopatra depictions, mostly because no-one dares do her big nose justice. It's the one thing we know for sure and it's always erased. You can look middle eastern while being pale skinned if you've got the nose, Sevdalisa being the absolute icon of cheeks nose jaw that could cut glass AND ultra femme. But that's not going to happen and it's not on the doll. The story was generic but the core 3 friendship felt authentic, all the side characters were paper thin but they were doing a movie with a villain plot.

I suspect they're going to retcon half of this with the cartoons but eh such is the fickle nature of toy commercials pretending to be stories (go watch hbomberguy explain how transformers did their reboot, it's a doozy)

[rainydawgradioblog]

Welcome to Groupie! (The Carson Elliott Post)

Welcome to the inaugural post, which officially marks Groupie as part of the RDR cinematic universe! Yes, this humble (two-issue archive) zine has entered the digital realm with 100% less paper and at least 50% more risk of potentially exposing my identity on accident to the musicians I review. Ultimately, good art is not without its risks, and good music reviews/comedy/online dating experiences are not separate from this rule. Here at Groupie, we choose to take those risks (like the shitty terminally-online version of Indiana Jones) because we believe that, at the end of the day, everyone deserves a fan! In this new form of the zine, we’ll still be reviewing musicians from a pool of people I have matched with on different dating apps (Tinder, Bumble, Hinge) and give them the feature that they deserve, along with including a “tasting-menu” playlist so you can give their music a try.

With that all being said, the artist we’re reviewing today is Carson Elliott:

When I matched with him, I was immediately shocked because my first thought when I saw his profile was, “hey, isn’t that the guy who did the ‘Say So’ cover on Tiktok” and indeed, I was correct! That is him! Along with doing other short covers of songs like “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and “Let’s Groove,” Elliott has a solidly sized discography of original songs available for streaming on most music platforms. I’ll admit I was briefly starstruck when we first started chatting, but it did not go far because of two major reasons:

1. I absolutely hate texting. 2. Around the time we had matched, I was starting to get very tired of dating apps as a whole (this will be a consistent theme in many other posts).

Transitioning away from my eventual soft ghosting of Elliott to actually reviewing his music, it is the same way in which dating apps have left me slightly dissatisfied and wanting more that his discography also makes me feel. It’s full of the kind of pop music that is sleekly polished but inoffensive. While he genuinely puts in the work to make the auto-tune of the talkbox pulse with some emotion, there’s a lacking of variety in the surrounding track to his singing that ironically makes the songs seem more robotic than the autotune itself. For example, from his newest EP, “Simple Stupid,” the track “Anywhere” is a toy robot-type love ballad, while “Panic” is a dive-into late night anxiety. The themes could not be more different, but the same cannot be said about the actual songs. Objectively the music is catchy, and I don’t find any annoyance with it (I’d like to note my heavy bias of having been an intense Vocaloid listener in elementary school). Still, I would love some sound variance in the songs that could align with the variety of actual themes in Elliott’s work. After all, if your songs all sound the same, it begins to feel like you’re extending your cover work to your own stuff.

Tying everything together: Do I desire to listen to Elliott’s EP in its entirety again? No. Would I match with him again if given the opportunity? Yes! I believe passion is the sexiest trait someone can have. While I can’t always guarantee that I’ll like someone’s music, if they’re into making it, then I’m pretty fucking into them too.

! KEEP SWIPING AND REMEMBER THAT EVERYONE DESERVES A FAN ! - Groupie <3

[writingcold]

Neapolitan Pt. 3

A/N: Hi all - Welcome to smutsville.  If you’ve not read Pt. 1 or Pt. 2, here’s links to go get caught up.

I’m going to put this in here - I do not know any of the gentlemen of GVF.  This is a piece of fiction, through and through.  Jake is just my blueprint to a very interesting character to me.  A muse if you will.

Pairing: Jake (switch) X fem OC (switch) 

Content Warning: Minors do not read, do not interact, just go away now.  Alcohol use, language, adult situations, a long assed sex talk, unprotected sex, rough sex, Irish Garden / twerking sex, lots and lots of … yeah.  This is just the start of me being beet red and blushing.  Yikes. Also, mentions of self doubt - hint of something darker in Violet.  Bad, bad relationship.

Word Count: approx. 9200 words - total brick of sex - well almost.

Pt. 3

     Saturday wound up being more of a crazy night than usual.  Rain had come in, forcing everyone inside.  When the thunderstorm hit, people parked at her bar and did not move.  Pop music blared and she shuddered to the mechanical autotune and overly simple, suggestive lyrics.  She wanted to start kicking the herd out as the clock rounded two and someone switched it up to manufactured country pop.  

     She knew better than to be looking for the guys, but she found her eyes strayed to the door every time someone came and went from the door.  It was a relief when she was able to make ‘last call’ and get her shit done before heading home.  She squinted into the sunshine as she pulled into the driveway, and parked next to the house.  She was ready for a Sunday.  She nibbled on some toast and sipped some tea before pulling her blackout shades and sliding into the bathroom to knock the night off.  She landed on her pillow to snuggle into her spot.  Her hands slid across the pillows and a stray thought hit her.  Violet wondered if Jake’s skin would be as soft as the pillow under her fingertips.  The thought warmed her and lulled her into a peace she needed to finally drift to sleep.

     Mid afternoon found Violet rested, fed, beer in hand, and on the mower.  She was close to the road when a jeep zipped by.  She worked her way back up and looped around when the same truck zipped by again.  She chalked the vehicle up to a lost tourist as she looped back again.  This time, the truck stomped on its brakes and Josh’s blazing smile beamed from the driver’s seat.  She pointed to the driveway before taking another loop to work her own way back.

     “Well hello,”  Josh said as he popped out from behind the wheel.  “What a lovely home for the lovely lady.”

     Danny and Sam loped out with huge smiles.  “Hey,”  she said, pushing her sunglasses to the top of her head and grabbing her empty beer can before getting off the mower.  “I missed you guys.”

     Jake stood behind the truck, elbows on the hood, his sunglasses pointed directly at her, but his body was not moving as she leaned in to give a kiss on the cheek to Josh as he felt the need to ‘mwah!’  It was then she remembered she was wearing the teeny tiny black bikini top that framed her tits just right.  The corner of Jake’s mouth twitched as she waved them up towards the house.  She made sure he was following the tiny cut off shorts that also hugged the curve of her ass just right as the others innocently looked around, taking in her place.  

     “What are you guys doing this fine afternoon?”  she asked as they nearly collapsed on the wide deck.  

     Sam started to regale her about their adventure on the trailhead that was further back from her place as she slid open the wide sliding glass door to move into the house for drinks.  Jake stopped her with a firm hold on her elbow.

     “May I?”  he asked quietly as if trying not to interrupt Sam’s storytime.

     “Beers are in the fridge,”  she answered, still unable to meet his eyes as he kept them hidden.  Lowering her voice, she whispered,  “Cock’s next to the fridge.”

     The soft intake of breath made her smile as he pointed to a chair for her to sit.  “Sorry Josh, I only have beer or whiskey in the house at the moment,”  she said as she took her seat.

     Josh looked up at Jake who was waiting at the door for his twin’s order.  The man’s dark eyes slid over to Violet as if trying to figure out what his brother was up to.

     “Come on, Josh,”  Jake said, his tone impatient.  “The woman has waited on us for days, it’s her turn to relax.”

     The sharp ‘oh’ made her smile, but the other two even noticed a shift and turned her way.  She was about to toss her hands up in frustration over the men’s lack of moving forward when Sam blinked hard before he continued on with his news report, Danny stretched his long ass legs out to settle in, Josh found interest in the distance, and Jake disappeared into her kitchen.  She slipped her little tennies off and kicked her feet up on the railing.  The idea of Jake moving around her kitchen did not bother her.  She even pictured his hands reaching for the whiskey and maybe even taking a shot in order to steady himself after his little reaction to her saying ‘cock’.

      He delivered her drink first before handing out three beers, only to disappear to retrieve his own.  She smiled as he sat down beside her, showcasing his fine set of legs, much to her surprise since his twin sported some gnarly chicken legs.  

      “So, Sticks, did you make it to the creek while you were on Alice’s trail?”  she asked before taking her first sip.

     “Yeah, it was really something back there,”  he said with a nod.  

     “Then you made it to the back end of my place,”  she explained.  “Will, my brother, used to drag me back there when we were kids to catch frogs.  Did you all make it around to the dam?”

      They nodded and started sharing what they saw, all the while, she sat and listened, looking at how Jake turned towards her every time she would say something to add a little story.

     “Hey,”  Josh said, after he finished his beer.  “We were going to go down to the lake and hang out.  You should come with us.”

     She laughed until she saw that they were serious.  “Oh, guys, I got work to do around here.”

     “Looks to me like you’re almost done,”  Sam said, flashing puppy eyes at her.

     “Actually, I had just started.  Sorry,”  she said with a shrug.  She really did not want to pass on the offer.  Jake sat chin to chest and very still.

      Danny perked up.  “What’s left to do?  I mean, it’s not like we can’t help out.”

      Sam was looking around, hand slapping Danny’s ridiculously chiseled shoulder.  “Genius.  Where’s your shed?  I can…”

     The three stood up and started for her implements.  Jake set his glass down before reaching over and started twisting his fingers into her ponytail.  Before she knew it, her hair fell down around her shoulders and Jake was standing tying his hair back.  He moved right for the riding mower while the others each took a different job - weed eater, hand mower, and buckets.  Sam took the weed eater, and Danny set into using the hand mower to use by the house.

      “Looks like you and me, darling, to work in the garden,”  Josh said, offering his hand.  He tilted his head to the side with a concerned look.  “You okay there?”

      “I must be in an alternate universe,”  she laughed as they started walking towards the fenced garden.  “I have a goddamn rock and roll band doing my yard work.”

      He barked out a laugh that captured Jake’s attention.  “We are used to working our asses off while Dad sat on the porch smoking his pipe.  This is not new to us.”

     They set into weeding the different planting beds as Sam started to trim around the garden fencing.  Within thirty minutes, the work was done.  Violet watched as the boys tucked everything back into the shed.  She asked them for five minutes to grab a few things and switch the laundry around.  She slid into the matching bottoms of the bikini and grabbed a long sleeved shirt if it got cool. 

     Meeting them outside with her keys, Jake grinned as he volunteered to ride with her before any of the others could say a word.  The other three loaded in with a wave to meet back at their place to pick up supplies before peeling out leaving them alone to catch up.  Sliding behind the wheel, she was met with the smell of the sun and heat of his skin as he moved into the passenger seat.  She played with the key, not putting it into the ignition.  Her eyes narrowed as she pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth.

     “Violet?”  he asked.

     “I’m going to kiss you and you’re going to be fine with it,”  she said, her voice low and firm with authority.  It was a gamble that she was willing to take to see if he really was presenting what she thought she had seen in him.

     He turned his shoulders towards her, taking off his sunglasses for the first time to really look at her.  She leaned in, hovering just over his mouth.  He seemed to want to move, but he stayed still.  Finally, she drifted that last fraction and he allowed her to kiss him in the manner she saw fit.  She slid her fingers into his hair, tugging at the hair tie that he still wore, taking it back so that his tangled hair swished across his shoulders and over his chest.  He made a soft, lush sound against her as she deepened the kiss, tasting the whiskey on his tongue as she swept hers through his mouth.  Her heart thudded as he kept his hands in his lap, allowing her to touch him in how she wanted.

     Dragging her teeth against his bottom lip, he breathed out a soft whine as she parted from him.  The smile that spread across her face at the reveal of such a presence in him made her swoon on one hand, and absolutely dread on the other.  

     “Thank you,”  he whispered, just to put the fucking cap on it.

     Running her tongue across her lips, she started the truck and got the hell out of her driveway, otherwise she was going to drag that boy into her house and shackle him for days.  He let out a breathy laugh as she tore down the road in the seven minute drive to their rental.  Jake had returned his glasses into place, but kept his eyes on her.  He said nothing, just watched.

     She passed LP’s, noticing a ton of UTVs in the parking lot.  Typical for a Sunday.  Violet pulled into their place a few moments later.  The long drive was lined with trees as it moved up a shallowy hill.  The house was massive for the area, and had a truly grand view of the lake beyond the trees.  Josh, Danny and Sam were nowhere to be seen.  Jake slid out and started walking towards the open door.  Violet was slow to follow, taking a moment to gather her stuff.

      By the time she started to step inside, Jake was walking towards her with a cooler in his hands and an agitated look on his face.

     “What’s wrong?”  she asked, stepping aside.

     “We are out of ice,”  he grumbled, heading right for the jeep.

     “That’s an easy fix.  I’ll be right back,”  she said, keys in hand.

     She got back into the truck;  he was quick to get in as well after setting his cooler into the back.  Violet grinned at how he just sat, eyes fixed forward, ready to go.  Kind of reminded her of a yellow lab.  She started the engine and drove back to LPs.  

     “They aren’t going to make you work are they?”  he asked as she parked, his face scanning the number of vehicles in the lot.  

     “Fuck no. Tony’s not that dumb,”  she answered as she parked in the front lot, next to the UTVs.  She silently hoped that her boss would not bring up the fact that she had still not cashed out the tips from Wednesday and Thursday, oh, and Friday nights.  

      Walking in with Jake in tow, her eyes scanned the very full deck and the waitress that seemed to be stressing the moment.  Tony was pushing two trays of drinks to the end for easier access when he saw her.

     “Hey, Tony,”  she said.  “I need ice.  Can I just grab?”

     “Sure, kid,”  he said with a wave, but then started towards the dining room door.

     She held up a hand for Jake to wait while she stepped into the kitchen.  Chase was in his zone, totally ignoring her as Tony stopped her with empty ice bags.

     “Hey, you still haven’t cashed out those tips,”  he said, trying to keep his voice low.  “Vi, it’s a couple hundred bucks.”

     “Shit,”  she groaned.  “I…  Hey, can I have you order me some stuff for my thing in a few weeks and we call it square?”

     “Yeah, sure.  Stop in tomorrow while I do the order, okay?”  he asked with a nod before grabbing plates to carry out to the deck.  “I’ve got someone interested in the weekday bartender gig.  Might be nice to have you here for that.”

     Chase shimmied at her with his hands on his non-existent man boobs when she started scooping ice into the bags.  “Shut it!”  she shouted over the noise of the kitchen, a huge smile in place.

     She handed Jake two bags out the kitchen door before filling two more.  She waved at Tony with an added ‘see you around ten tomorrow,’ as she breezed out of the busy bar and back towards her truck.  Jake took the bags from her and tossed them into the cooler while she stood by.  He pushed his sunglasses up to look at her.  Moving closer, he traced the line of her jaw.

     “I am not always so…”  he started, rubbing his thumb over her lip.  The corners of his eyes pinched as he leaned in.  “I’m going to kiss you and you’re going to be fine with it.”

     It was the same low tone and authority that she had used.  She stayed still as he kissed her deeply, his hand against her cheek to hold her in place.  Her heart thundered in her chest as he broke free of her.

     “You switch, son of a bitch,”  she whispered as he stepped away from her.

     The smirk that appeared as he turned his back on her set her brain on fire.  Once back to their place, they were quick to fill the coolers and grab blankets and supplies.  She eyed Jake as he held the back door of Josh’s Jeep for her.  Danny slid into the front seat while Sam was already patting the middle seat for her in the back.  

     “You better behave, Sticks,”  she admonished as she climbed in, only to have Jake draw her closer to himself.

     Sam barked out a laugh as Josh started the engine.  They headed north towards the boat landing.  Violet tapped Josh’s shoulder and started giving directions towards a better spot.  Jake's fingers traced little circles on her low back as she leaned across the front seats.  She had him turn off the main road to a dirt one and told him to go back a few miles.  Sitting back against the seat, she glanced at him as he pulled his hand back to follow the curve of her tummy.  

     Tucked back in the woods, there was a little sliver of beach amongst the rocky shore, but the sunshine was perfect as the last afternoon began to stretch the shadows across the far side of the lake.  The guys were quick to pile out.  She took the blankets and was not allowed to take anything else.

     “Such gentlemen,”  she quipped as she marched down to the shore.

     They set up, with Danny and Sam splashing off into the water and Josh tossing out the massive inflatable raft to lounge on.  She watched as Jake slid the t-shirt he was wearing over his head and tossed it onto the blanket she had just spread out.  He pulled at one of the belt loops of her shorts as he kicked off his flops.

      She unbuttoned the button and slid out of the cut offs to reveal the teeny tiny bottom of the set.  He grinned as he looked at her, holding his hand out.  She took it as she slipped out of her ripped up tennies.  He tugged her gently before wrapping his arms around her torso and dragging her into the water with a laugh.  She plunged in as the world just fell away and all that mattered was that his arms were around her.  

     It felt good to just be.  Jake had her hooked.  It was not often, and it had been years since she had met another vintage such as herself.  He let her hold onto him as he swam; she let him hold onto her as she held onto the rocks.  The way his skin felt under her fingers made her mind fuzz over with so many thoughts and plans that overstuffed a dark file in her brain.

     Jake got out of the water to help Danny and Sam build a fire as the sun dipped down below the tree line, casting little sparkle spots and shadows across the area they were swimming.  Violet clamored up onto the raft with Josh’s help.  He pulled her close so that her head rested on his arm.

     “This is a great spot, darling,”  he said, eyes closed and his face trained to the sky.  

     “Yeah.  Been coming here since I was big enough to drive a car,”  she said with a nod.  “Used to party here.  Used to…”

      “Uh huh,”  he said in a very deep, low tone that rumbled through his chest.  

      They laughed loudly.  She noticed it was enough to draw Jake’s attention as he was creating a pit for the fire.  Though he went back to his task, she noticed that he seemed to keep one eye on her at all times.  

      “So you made your pick,”  he said, nodding at Jake and how he was watching them.

      She looked into his face, seeing Jake’s features, but a bit more wild and playful.  “Oh, Josh.  You were so, so close,”  she teased with a playful swat on his chest.

      “No I wasn’t, and that’s okay.  Just be careful, my lovely,”  he said, turning towards her.  “He has a tendency of getting bored quickly.”

      “Jake’s a man who likes to drink and fuck,”  she remarked.  “And that’s about all I can handle right now.”

      “Alright, wise one, let me have it,”  he breathed, his fingers tightening on her arm.  “Why not pick me?”

      “You know, you learn a lot from how people are when they drink,”  she started, picking out shapes in the dusky sky.  “Aside from the fact that Sam and Danny have significant others, each of you have something specific that gets you.  You, for instance, have this whole Pan vibe thing going on.”

      “Ooo, Pan vibe.  I like that.”

      “You need a fairy goddess that will run through the wildflowers with you, maybe even follow ant trails and shit like that,”  she continued with a giggle.  “But you also are into a woman who will contemplate and debate and learn from the shit around you.  Sammy is an explorer.  He comes off like a sensual bastard and if there’s not enough curves for him to explore, he’s not going there.  He also requires someone who will challenge his intelligence on many levels.  Danny is a ‘forever kind’ of guy, which he works so, so well.  Although, he probably has some serious kinks that need exploring.”

      “Alright,”  his voice took on that sharpness that forced her to listen up.  “What about you?  You’re sporting this gigantic bruise that is massively deep, but you try to cover it up with being flirty and seductive and friendly to everyone.  Is that why you landed on our Jake?”

      “See, you drink with someone and you get it,”  she whispered.

     He did not ask about her ‘bruise’, nor did he press about anything beyond, and Violet was thankful.  Sammy’s loudness invaded their space.  The smell of fire filled her nose.  She rested her chin on Josh’s chest to see the lanky man dancing around happily as smoke was drifting up in plumes.  

     “I think the John Williams’ ‘Jaws’ theme just started playing in my brain, my lovely,”  he said, moving his arms up above his head.  “Be read-”

     Hands appeared out of the water, grabbing Josh’s calves.  The whole raft flipped, knocking her into the water.  Calloused fingers drifted across her hips, pulling her to the surface.  Jake gripped her body flush against his, mouth crashing into her own.

     Behind them, she faintly heard Josh coughing, sputtering dramatically, and even saying not to worry about him, he’ll make his own way to shore as Jake claimed her.  She melted against his warmth as the water had cooled quickly once the sun had set.  He started to swim backwards towards the shore, dragging her along until her feet touched the rocky, slimy ground.  She shivered against him as he gripped the back of her neck to draw her closer.  He bit into her bottom lip gently before he drew back with a hum.

     “Come on, Jake, let the girl have something to eat other than your face,”  Sam scolded with an old lady flair.

     She laughed as really started to shiver hard.  Violet followed him out and was thankful that Danny held a towel open for her before Jake retrieved one.  “Thank you, Danny,”  she said with a smile.

      She sat down to Sam handing her a plate with a sandwich on it.  “To feast upon, my lady.”

     Jake handed her a beer before sitting next to her.  She listened as they talked and joked and made fun of each other.  All the while, her brain was making lists and plans for the next week.  If Tony had found someone to take over Wednesdays and Thursdays, she would not feel so awful when she took her week off.  That also meant that it would give her time to get ready for her big visit that was pending.  

     “What’s your week like, Vi?”  Josh asked as he stretched out on the blanket.

     “Work, more work, work some more after that,”  she grinned. 

     Josh playfully glared at her.  “All work, no play, and all that, darling.”

     “Yeah, yeah,”  she said with a roll of her eyes.  “Actually, it looks like my Wednesdays and Thursdays are about to open back up.  Tony may have found someone to take over those nights.  There’s that.  I’ll have some time to actually breathe.”

     They stayed until the mosquitoes got too bad to handle.  Josh drove them back to their place, inviting Violet inside.  She hung back, keys rattling around in her hand.  

Jake pressed his fingers into the small of her back.

      “I think I’m going to head home,”  she said as he leaned close to her.  “I’d like you to come with me.”

      He nodded and asked for just a few minutes.  She waited in the truck as he disappeared inside.  She fiddled with every ring on her fingers, her necklace, her keys as her anxiety began to spike and spiral.  When he walked out with a bundle under his arm and a smile, she breathed out once before he slid into the passenger’s seat.  

     She rolled down her window before taking off down the road, refusing to see or hear the bar as they passed.  Violet realized that it was just a fresh bundle of clothes in his lap and a pack of smokes waiting to be opened on top.   Pulling into her driveway, she parked, but did not move.  

      “Showers?”  she asked, eyes planted on the steering wheel.  He nodded, mirroring her.  “Talk after?”

      He nodded again before opening his door.  She pointed him towards the main bath while she zipped upstairs to her bathroom.  The anticipation of just a conversation made her skin prickle under the hot water.  Her mind raced, imagining what he had on his own mind as compared to hers.  The high of the prospect of what could be made her giddy, while the tiniest voice in the back of her head repeated one word.  One word only.  Freak.  She rubbed the shampoo through the invisible lake goo that she imagined lingered  in her hair in an attempt to quell the word she knew had no room within her, but had been placed a few years back against her will.  The man who was showering in the bathroom below her did not seem to have the term within him.  She was sure Jake had to be extremely careful with this side of him, but he glowed when she tossed the word at him.   

      She worked the day off her with her favorite wash.  Freak.  The word threatened to grow louder and rob her of the shred of confidence she held firm to.  She took her time to work the lather into her skin, relaxing her.  Violet heard the water cut beneath her, but she continued to just take her time.  The water held her in no esteem.  It did not care that she liked to slap a man’s ass and dominate him until he cried to be fucked, nor did it care that she liked to bow to a man’s whim in whatever he wanted of her.  Her brain stopped.  That was not true.  She was still at a point where she could only mostly allow a man to do what he wanted.  

      Rinsing quickly, she needed to turn her damn brain off.  It was her worst critic and if she was going to have any kind of release, she needed to tell herself to get the fuck over it all and move on.  Toweling off, she started to rub the coordinating lotion of her body wash into her skin, starting with her toes and working her way up.  She pushed the doubt deep while bringing in the glow that she spied when Jake decided to reveal his own need.  There had been a time when she could feel that way.  It was glorious to be that unspoiled.  The last time she had felt that light had been before-

      “Stop,”  she whispered, eyes squeezed shut, hands in fists.

      Her breath started coming hard as the memory of pain, real pain, shadowed against the back of her head and across her throat.  “Fuck,”  she whispered, standing up and tossing down the bottle with a loud bang in order to divert her thoughts.

      Violet opted for simple, sliding into comfy clothes as a show of low pressure, while the no bra and scrap of lace for undies would be left for a pop of surprise.  She left her hair damp, knowing that it would dry when it dried.  Scooting down the stairs, she pushed the moment she had just experienced to the bottom of her brain, but was unable to find the key to fully lock it up tight.  

     She half expected to find Jake in the kitchen, but instead saw the outside lights were on.  Looking at him from the kitchen window, she saw he sat, smoke in hand, beer next to him.  His face was relaxed.  He truly was pretty in a way that made her suck in a breath and wonder at him like a piece of art.  Putting on her imaginary big girl pants, she made her way outside to be with him.

      “Feel better?”  he asked, holding up a bottle of beer for her.

      Nodding, she took the offering as she sat down next to him.  “You?”

     He smiled at her as she breathed in his clean skin and hair.  She imagined he smelled good no matter what he washed with.  He dropped his smoke into an empty bottle he must’ve collected from her recycling.  There was a slight awkwardness, not uncomfortable, but a hesitation was present that she had not expected.  She took a sip of her beer before she stretched her legs out in wait.

      The laugh that bubbled out from him made her grin.  “Who the hell knew talking about sex could be this weird,”  he said, sliding his hand across her arm.

      It was the ice breaker that she needed.  “Maybe we should start with setting our time limit?  I mean, you leave…”

     “Second week of August,”  he said, pressing his fingers in between hers before sliding them out and back across her hand.  

      “We can agree, that is the end,”  she said quietly before taking a sip of beer.  “You should know that I’m on the shot for birth control, and my last encounter was four months ago and he was wrapped.  I’m clean.”

     “I’m not averse to condoms, and my last encounter, to which I was wrapped, was two weeks ago, but tested clean.”

      “Neapolitan Ice Cream.”

      He looked at her with brows pinched.  “Ice cream?  You want some?”

      “No,”  she said with a smile.  “I’ve used it in my past as my guide, perhaps we could use that to set our time together.  Three flavors - vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate.  Vanilla can be neutral.”

     “The other two ‘flavors’ dictate who is over whom?”  he said, taking up her direction quickly.

     “Yes.  So, we determine the ‘flavor’ beforehand to keep us in our roles.”

     “Simple.  I like it.  I call strawberry.”  He took a smoke and held it up for her.  She took it with a grin.  After he lit it, followed by his own, he seemed to relax further.  “I want to return to time then.  I think we keep our ‘flavored’ day to Sunday.  It gives you a chance to rest before and after.”

      Violet glanced at Jake and discovered that he had a hard focus on her.  Taking care of her was important to him.  It had been important from day one when he formed a routine in asking if she was okay to get home.  The look in his eyes was genuine, this was not just a show.  “Sunday it is.”

      He seemed relieved when she agreed.  “Okay.  Next up, what is on the table here?  Toys for you?”

      “Yes, please,”  she said with a wide ass grin.  “Toys for you?”

      “Hell yeah.  Binding?”  

      She nodded with a glint in her eye.  “I would really like to see you all bound up.  Is that okay with you?”

      He squeezed her hand in affirmation.  “Breath play?”

      She held still.  There it was.  The term.  Taking a drag of her smoke, she shook her head.  “Sorry.  Can’t go there.”

      “That’s okay.  It’s not for everyone.  That’s why we’re having this weird ass conversation, right?”

      She felt her breath stutter as the pretty man beside her was ready to move on without knowing that she struggled.  Sucking her lip into her mouth, she refused to let her brain take over the moment.  It was for her body that she did this.  It was for that part of her brain that had laid dormant for too long.  

     “Impact play,”  she said as a way to force her way forward.

     He drew in a hiss.  “I will not hit harder than a spank with my hand.  I admit, I’m soft in that department.  I don’t like causing marks.”   

     “I’m a spanker and maybe, if the situation calls for it, can slap the face.  Is that okay for you?”

     His eyes rolled back as his lids closed.  For a moment, she was unsure of what was going on, but the smile that accompanied the blush on his cheeks was precious.  It was like he was fondly remembering a past encounter.

     “Yes.  It’s more than okay with me.”  He smiled at her as a way to return.  “Sensory play?”

     “Blindfolds? Feathers and that kind of shit?  Sure.”

     He shifted, obviously not done with the topic.  “How do you feel about being blindfolded and earplugs?”

     “So, I wouldn’t see you or hear you,”  she said, thinking it through.  The thought was new to her; interested her.  “As long as I don’t have to wear those huge ass headphones that the old guys wear while on the mower.  You know, the angry loud orange ones?”

     He laughed quietly as his smile tugged across his face.  “Okay, that idea may have just been killed for me.  We’ll see.”

     She blew out a breath as she lifted her beer.  He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm.  “Please do not call me ‘Mommy’, or expect me to call you ‘Daddy’,”  she whispered, knowing that for some in her own past felt wounded when she could not play this piece.

     “I don’t have to call you ‘Mistress’, do I?”  He used the same volume as she did, keeping her hand close to his mouth.  

     “No.”

     “Thank you.  I just think that we have our names, that is enough for me.”

     Her eyes drifted closed.  “Mind if I call you a ‘whore’ and other gems?”

     “Please do.  I’m fond of ‘harlot’ myself.  Are there any names you do not like?”

     She had a soft laugh.  “Nice.  I can see you getting rather creative in the name department. I look forward to hearing filth from that pretty mouth.  If I don’t like something you say, I will let you know.  I expect you to do the same.”

     “Anything you do not like?”

     She shook her head.  “If you said you like toys, I’m going to assume that you wouldn’t mind if I played with your ass.”

      “I look forward to that.”  He took the last drag of his smoke.  “Safety.  Do you like words, taps, movements, stop lights, hit me over the head with a bat?”

      “What?  ‘Stop that you stupid fucker’ wouldn’t work?”  she panned with huge eyes.  He laughed at her joke but nodded anyway.  

      “I think our word should be ‘Napoleon’,”  he said against her skin.  “It’s easier, but close enough to Neapolitan.”

      “Alright.  And two deliberate taps on the elbow also works.”  She took the last drink of her beer.

      “I’m ready for some vanilla,”  he said with a grin.  “I’d really like to hear your sounds and take some time to learn ‘you’.  I’m hoping that you’d like to learn ‘me’.”

      She melted a bit at his words.  She stood up, picking up the empties as she went.  He followed her inside, closing the door behind him.  He watched her as moved around the kitchen before catching his hand to lead him upstairs.  The humidity from her shower and the light smell of her wash still hung in the air as she turned to face him.  

      “Damn, you’re so pretty,”  she whispered as he reached for her, his face washed in moonlight.

      His mouth barely brushed her lips but it was enough to light her body on fire.  He brought up both hands to cup her cheeks as he deepened his kiss, nearly robbing her brain of all sense.  She slid his open button up off his shoulders, tugging it so that he had to move his hands to allow it to fall to the floor.  Her fingertips grazed over his belly, taking in the softness before drifting over the small love handles that he sported.  Ghosting his hands down, he tugged gently at the hem of her t-shirt.  He slowly pulled it over her head, his mouth stretched in a grin at the discovery of her lack of bra. 

     Violet slid her fingers into the waistband of her comfy shorts and gave a little shimmy to make her breasts bounce just right and knock the shorts to the ground.  The way he looked at her, all of her: from her toes to her thighs and round hips, to her belly and breasts, all the way to her parted lips and soft eyes made her catch her breath.  He was studying her.  He dragged his fingers down each hip, before bringing just his fingertips back up across the hollow of her torso, up her cleavage and back to her face.           “Beautiful,” he sighed before bringing his mouth back to hers.  

      She could feel him thicken against her.  Violet’s hands slid into the waistband of his shorts, over his ass, forcing them down and felt him kicking them to the side on the floor.  Her hands first drifted across his back, taking in the strength in the muscles there.  Pulling her palms down across his flanks and over his hips, she found his ass once more, relishing in the firm flesh.  Dropping her hands further, she felt the strength of his thighs before drifting between their bodies so as to return to the suppleness of his belly, ghosting his cock along the way up.  

     She felt a little hum against her mouth as he broke contact to sit down on the edge of the bed.  She followed him, straddling his legs, bringing him eye to eye with her.  The rich brown that looked back at her stilled her heart.  A heat touched the tops of his cheeks as she glanced down between them so she could see his dick for the first time.  She touched his face at the enduring moment before taking him in her hand and reconnecting with his mouth.  The sound he made at the touch seared into her brain to replay in the future in her alone time.  

     He gripped her ass with both hands before flipping her onto her back and rising up at her side on his knees.  She took in the size of him, unable to hide the pop that her eyes made at the sight.  He reached, pressing his fingers against the top of her foot and drew upward, over her shin and knee, up to the thigh and stopping at the crease.  He looked back at her face as if thinking through what he was discovering.  

      She reached for him, drawing him down into another passion-filled kiss.  He left her gasping as he pressed his mouth against her chin, followed by the hollow at the base of her neck.  He brought one hand to her one breast, while taking the nipple of the other in between his teeth.  The sound that she released sent shivers through her body as he pulled her breast deeper into his mouth, all the while flicking the tip of the nipple with his tongue.  He rolled the other between his knuckles in a hard pinch, forcing her to suck in a hard gasp.  He moaned into her skin as he released her only to switch sides to ensure both tits got their due.  He dragged his tongue back up her cleavage until he reached her neck once more.  

      Sitting back on his heels, he smiled down at her.  “Did you like that?”  he asked in a whisper.

     “Fuck yes,”  she hissed reaching for his hips.  “Bring this bitch closer.”

     He traced his fingers around her belly button as she yanked her body closer to his.  He brought his hips up so she could wrap her hand around the base of him while he drew tiny pictures into her skin as he inched frustratingly slow down towards her center.  Violet skimmed her fingers across the skin below his belly button, following the barely there trail of blond hair.  She dragged two fingers across the width of his base and was rewarded with the feel of her thigh being craned to the side to open her up.  She trailed her fingernail up the underside of him with just enough pressure against the delicate skin to cause friction.

     “Oh fu…”  he stuttered as looked direct into her eyes, his chest heaving.

     She grinned as she let her tongue slide from between her lips to lick just the tip of him while his attention was on her.  His left hand came down to her cheek, tracing the ridge of her cheekbone in a way that surprised her after the hard display in his eyes.  His fingers ran the course of her folds while she was distracted by his face.  A wicked smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as her jaw dropped open.  He took her clit in between finger and thumb and giving it a tender little tug, eliciting a chirp that embarrassed her.  It was a sound that he created in her.  She was sure it was the first of many.

      He split his attention between her face and her pussy as he collected slick then rubbed into like fucking lotion against her labia and the creases of her thighs.  He pressed two fingers into her core, his dark eyes blown wide as her head came off the bed with a hard hiss.  She took him into her mouth as she finally could not hold back any more.

     “Goddamn,”  he whispered as she hollowed her cheeks to suck hard as she took him all the way down until he rested in the back of her throat.   “You’re even more gorgeous with my dick in your mouth.”

     He leaned down, moving his hips a fraction to keep himself in her mouth, and kissed the top of her head tenderly as he jammed his fingers up into her, curving them before he withdrew them completely.  She groaned against his shaft as he rose back over her, eyes trained on his face.  He brought his fingers up and slid them into his mouth, all the while maintaining eye contact that set her whole body on fire.

     Releasing him, she had to steady her breath first before she could talk.  “What are you thinking?”

     “I’m thinking I can’t wait until it’s strawberry time and I can eat your damn pussy while I pump a dildo in your ass,”  he said, his voice roughened with need.

     He slammed his fingers back into her to punctuate his words.  She writhed on him much to his delight.  The light that played on his features made her draw in a stuttering breath.  She reached past his cock, ghosting her fingers up across his belly, over his hard nipples, taking a moment to twist.  

       “What are you thinking?”  he asked as he pressed his thumb into her clit while scissoring his fingers inside.

       The sound that bubbled out of her as her body bowed against his ministrations echoed around them.  “I…  I…  I need to keep that a surprise, you goddamn cunt whore,”  she ground out as sparkles started to shimmer in her vision.

      “Ooo,”  he breathed playfully.  “I hit something right.”

      She was able to cup his cheek as he looked down upon her as he ruthlessly pumped and pressed and curled and jammed within her.  Getting just enough clarity as he played on her, she shoved her thumb into his mouth, beyond his teeth and onto his tongue.  He sucked at it eagerly, just as she had hoped.  Her body bowed as he added a third finger inside.

     “You’re fucking hands,”  she gasped as her body began to slam up and down against the mattress in her spasm.

     “So I’ve been told,”  he said cockily, teeth biting down into the pad of her thumb.

     Whether it was the bass in his voice or the tornado that he was causing in her core, Violet let out a shallow groan as her vision blackened and her orgasm slammed her sledgehammer style via ninja stealth.  His mouth parted as he watched her unravel, his tongue running the course of his lip over and over as he forced her to watch his satisfaction blaze on his features.  It elevated her body into parts unknown to her, setting her skin aflame and her core into brilliance.  

     “Is the fingers slut ready for something larger?”  he asked into her mouth as he slid his hands under her shoulders and lifted her up to meet his face.

     “Fist?”  she teased before his mouth covered her own.

     He slid away from her, his feet hitting the floor.  She studied his form as he pushed his hair back from his face.  Meeting her gaze, he seemed to like her looking at him.  Really seeing him for what he was and what he could be.  She traced the line of his jaw with her eyes, taking note the way his Adam’s apple made an appearance every time he swallowed.  She could see his pulse point beat as she continued down his torso and his arms.  The faint scars and nicks and blemishes that he wore without awareness was a testament to his comfort with himself.  

     “You like to watch me looking at you, don’t you?”  she asked softly.  “I know you like watching me.  I’ve been seeing it for days.”

     “You almost killed me with that fucking top this afternoon,”  he admitted, running his fingers over her toes.  “I had to hide my damn dick it was so hard already for you.”

     His hand drifted to her calf, smoothing over the skin as he leaned down and kissed her ankle.  His hands slowly moved their way to the back of her knees.  He looked across her body, taking in the way her hands moved to her tits, giving them a little squeeze to make him smile.  He yanked her down the bed, flush against him, legs splayed, his chin just above the curve of her belly.  He pressed one hand into her chest as he pressed a single kiss onto her clit.  Her sharp intake of breath made him laugh softly.

     “I can’t wait to make you scream when it’s strawberry,”  he whispered in her skin.  “Come here.”

     She stood, stepping into his arms as he bent to kiss her deeply once more.  Feeling his full body against hers sent thrills and shivers through her.  All of his soft and all of his hard parts made her want to weep at his beauty.  He dragged his mouth to her ear, biting into the lobe tenderly.

      “Will you let me fuck you?”  he asked, his voice just above a whisper as he kissed the flesh just below the ear lobe.  

      She smiled wickedly as she nodded.  “May I?”

      He held his hands up and her body screamed at her for the loss of contact.  She pointed back to the bed.  “Scoot towards the middle, not all the way against the headboard and stay sitting up legs wide open.  You’re a visual bastard.  You’re going to love this.”

      He climbed back onto the bed, giving his dick a few swipes as she moved beside him.  “What you got in mind, my lovely harlot?”

      The way the word rolled off his tongue made her moan.  She turned her back to him, sliding into his lap so that he was fitted against her ass.  Rising onto her knees, she pulled his hands across her hips.

      “I’m not sure where you’re going with this but…”  he started until she slid down onto his cock, grinding on him until he was balls deep within her.

       She leaned back against his chest with a shared moan that would melt ice.  “Fuck you feel good.”

      Sliding her legs back straight behind him, while keeping him deep inside her, she let herself fall forward on her elbows, bending his cock with her.  The hard hiss that escaped him filled her ears.  Looking over her shoulder at him, she latched onto the eye contact.

      “Grab my thighs and do not let go.  Lay back onto your elbows,”  she whispered, feeling his dick twitch inside her.

      “You brilliant bitch,”  he rasped as she began to roll her hips back and forth in a sensual dance that made her ass cheeks bounce and her hair wave across her back.  Her movements were not fast, but each pass he pressed into her hard and right against that delicious spot that sent her into orbit.

       He shifted into her just slightly each time she rocked back, meeting her cunt with a soft slap of skin.  “How’s that for sensual, pretty boy?”

       “So damn good,”  he breathed, eyes closed for a moment.  His hands gripped at her thighs to rock her back harder.  “I feel everything you are.”

      She twerked on him, feeling her core begin to tighten around him.  He lifted up, grabbing one of her ass cheeks in a firm grip.  “Fuck, I like watching this ass,”  he grunted, massaging the muscle as it bounced and shimmied just for him.  “More.”

      She was just starting to see little knockout stars in her vision, feeling her climax begin to coil within when he gripped her hips hard.  Yanking her hips, he drove her body forward until she was totally clear of him.  Looking up at him, she was surprised to see that there was a look that was unhinged sparkling in his eyes.

      “Pull your knees to your chest, but open wide for me,”  he said, his voice nearly gravel as he spoke.

     He barely gave her enough time to get into position before he slammed with a crack of his hips against her ass.  He practically howled as he set a blistering pace seeking to release hard for both of them.  Violet’s eyes rolled back from the force of each thrust.  

    “Come on, you son of a bitch,”  she growled, trying to lift her head. 

     His jaw set as he dug his fingers into her hips, eyes dark and dangerous.  He hit into her hard, the sound filled the room around them as they moved together, skin slapping skin, breath catching, squeals of him hitting her clit in a punishing rhythm.

     “Fucking cum,”  he demanded as he began to shift his thrusts from side to side.  “I feel it.  Let me have it, my goddamned cock whore.”

      Her torso began to bow and her hips shook with effort in trying to hold the position.  His cock began to thicken within her, twitching hard with each meeting.  When she met his eyes, he shook his head.

     “Goddamn it,”  he hissed, grabbing her legs and stretching them out to hook over his shoulders.  Both of his hands shoved under her ass and lifted her up as he drew himself up on his knees.  Her jaw dropped as her weight was shifted onto the back of her shoulders.  “Let that pretty cunt dance on me.”

      He drove into her with a force that she had not had in so long that it surprised her.  Her breath stuttered.  Her moan was thick.  She reached and started to jack herself off as he pounded away at her.  His eyes locked onto how she touched herself as if learning how she needed it.

       Violet felt heat.  Followed by flame.  Finally the total incineration of her body as her orgasm hit.  Her head lifted off the mattress as he began to become sloppy in his thrusts.  His mouth hung open as he let out a stream of sound that sent her soul into another realm.  He continued to pump into her shallow as he came hard, hands squeezing her ass impossibly hard.  

      Only the sound of their heavy breathing blanketed the room for several minutes.  Violet kept her eyes closed as he continued to hold her in place against him.  She shivered with every dick twitch and was rewarded with a soft chirp from him.  Finally regulated enough to take in the view, she opened her eyes to find him head resting against her calf, his hair stuck to his face and his chest heaving with a delicious sheen across his skin.

      “Fuck, Jake,”  she whispered.  His eyes cracked open to look upon her splayed out before him.  “That was so good.”

      He gently let himself slip out of her before lowering her down onto the bed.  He kissed each knee as he carefully placed her legs back, rolling her body down onto her bed.  Jake smiled as he leaned forward to kiss her.  “That was tremendously fun.”

      He sucked on her bottom lip before rising back up and sliding off the bed.  She held out her hand for him to take and help her up.  She held his hand, leading him to the bathroom.  She handed him a washcloth as he started the hot water in the sink.  She watched as he soaked his cloth only to wring it out and hand it to her while taking hers.  He held up a finger as he washed himself first.  He took her cloth back and knelt before her.  Slowly, he cleaned her up, wiping up and down her inner thighs before pressing the cloth to her center.  He kissed her belly before standing up again.

      “Charmer,”  she whispered with a grin.

      He laughed as she led him back to the bedroom to dress and head downstairs.  He held up his pack of smokes as she grabbed a couple glasses of water.  She did not bother turning the lights on, knowing that it would just become a bug fest.  Instead, they sat in the bright moonlight, content in each other’s company.  

     The hour grew late, so much so that even the frogs and crickets seem to be resting.  Violet watched as Jake drew tiny circles across her arm.  They had taken residence in her only double deck chair.  She relished just being able to snuggle up beside him.  The two encounters she had had over the past ten months had been ‘thank you for your prick, get the fuck out’, kind of men.  That brought her to her next hurdle.  

     “Still awake?”  she whispered into his bare shoulder.

     “Yeah,”  he answered, his voice soft and lazy.

     “I need you to know it’s been a while for me,”  she said like she was in confession.  “Chocolate, I mean.”

     He was quiet, like he was thinking her words through.  “I’m not sure if it’s my place to ask why, but…”

     “Let’s just say that it’s not been in the cards for me for over three years.”

     She sat up just enough to look at him.  His eyebrows were raised and the corners of his mouth turned down.

     “I am going to need to ease into things.  I just wanted to give you fair warning.”

     He was focusing on her mouth.  “I don’t know why, but the thought of getting to be your first after ‘a while’ is incredibly hot.”

     She grinned as he pulled her back down to him, kissing her sweetly.  That sweetness quickly turned to passion, turning into fire.  There was no stop.  She took him right there on her deck, much to their mutual pleasure.

Taglist: you can join here or send me an ask

@lvnterninthenight @doodle417 @luverleaver @maverick-rose @joshkiszkas @niallsboxx

[indieboysarehot]

QYURRYUS - Julian Casablancas x reader

A/N: I committed so many sins writing, but....I kinda popped off though.Y/N is 26 btw.

Being the (26 year old) daughter of a recording studio owner had its perks. Famous musicians coming in and out all the time, meeting them, and even becoming acquaintances or friends with them was the best experience, and you were forever grateful for your father for letting you come with him whenever he recorded people or mixed what they have recorded. He taught you all you needed to know, letting you even start to mix for certain artists. Another perk, though? You got to hear most music before anyone else got to. 

Today The Voidz was recording their album ‘Virtue,’ and you were more excited than you probably should’ve been considering MANY things. Julian Casablancas was your long time crush ever since you were a teenager when you discovered The Strokes, so…you could already tell today was going to be interesting. 

You walked over to your father who was practically ordering the band around, telling them who would record next, how he wanted Julian’s voice to really be pulled through the raucous of the instrumental, yelling when they got a good take, and sighing when they messed up.  Your dad ran a tight shift at Surround Sound Studios and sometimes you just knew not to get in his way, so, today you didnt. You wanted to talk to the band, but you knew you’d probably fall into the wrath of your father, telling you that you were distracting the men. So…you said nothing.

It wasn’t until everyone decided to take a break that Julian came up to you and complimented your t-shirt. 

“I love Sonic Youth.” He smiled charmingly. 

“O-oh yeah. My dad gave this to me. It’s uh…it’s from the 80s when they released ‘Daydream Nation’.”

“Oh that’s sick! That’s the first album I listened to by them.”

He smiled again and walked away when one of his bandmates called him over to listen to the track that they recorded. You sighed, a little disappointed that you and he didnt talk a little more, but, at the same time, he was there to work, not to chum it up with the owner’s daughter. 

——————

“QYURRYUS” was the track that was being recorded next and, you had to admit, it was your favorite so far. 

“Hot track, hot dress, undressing this hot mess. Getting off on the west side, all day on a roof in the west side”

You were entranced by his voice. HOW could someone sound so SEXY using AUTOTUNE!? The talking he did as the first three lines made your heart beat faster and faster, his deep voice making you rather...frustrated. WHY did he have to be so HOT?! And WHY did you HAVE to have a crush on him?! You cursed your dad for booking The Voidz. 

Looking away, you blushed hard, your face as red as a tomato. “Hey dad..? I’m gonna step out for a sec, It’s getting a little hot in here.”

“Yeah go ahead, get some fresh air, doll” He replied, a little distracted sounding.

You walked outside and lit a cigarette, trying to get your mind off of the man in the recording booth singing about how he wanted to “undress this hot mess.” God, you wished you were the hot mess he was wanting to undress—

‘STOP! NO! He’s like 40! That’s weird! And like…he’s here to work, not get lucky!’ You reprimanded yourself for even thinking about him that way. You didnt know him and he didnt know you, so why were you acting so awkward? Like c’mon Y/N!!!

You decided to walk back in like nothing happened. The band was still recording the SAME song they were recording since you walked out. Sighing, you sat back down on your stool and watched Julian sing. For some reason, he was looking at you as he sang. 

“Hot track, hot dress, undressing this hot mess. Getting off on the west side, all day on a roof on the west side.” He was staring right at you very intensely. Why….?

———————

“THAT’S A WRAP, GUYS!  Ya did great! See ya tomorrow bright and early for the next session, alright?” Your dad yelled into the recording room, utterly proud of the men’s work and the mixing that he did. 

Everyone packed up what they needed to pack up and, when everyone was walking out, Julian pulled you to the side. 

“Hey, Y/N, right? I was wondering if you wanted to listen back to the mix that we did? I’d like a younger ear to listen, yknow?” He laid a hand on your shoulder, smiling. 

“Oh..sure! I’d love to, especially since my dad didnt let me listen to the last mix. He said he ‘wanted it to be a surprise’ for me. Ugh..” 

“Alright, well, I’ll tell the guys that we’re staying back to listen to the mixes.” He walked off to tell the guys, and, when he came back, was still smiling and being very enthusiastic about listening to the songs. 

———————

“God, Julian, they’re great! BUT I think the bass needs to be heavier. Plus….you could ALWAYS use a little more autotune—“

“So you think my voice sucks, yeah?” He joked, nudging you with his elbow.

“Oh fuck you, that’s not what I meant.”

“Fuck me? Oh believe me, I’ve wanted you to all day.” Julian said matter-of-factly

You were taking a sip of water when he said that, making you choke. 

“Gotcha choked up, huh. Can’t really blame ya, I am gorgeous and sexy and all around man of the year every year.” The man shrugged, getting up. You didn’t know if he was joking about the whole you two fucking thing or not.

You bit your lip, a little embarrassed. You really felt like an idiot for falling for what he said. 

‘You dipshit, of course he was joking—‘

“I wasnt joking, yknow. I’ve been eyeing you all fuckin day and, Jesus Christ, the studio’s owner has got one hot mess of a daughter.”

“O-oh—“

“I saw ya lookin at me too, so dont act like you’re all innocent,” he laughed, “you were practically eye-fuckin me the entire time we were recording!”

You looked at him totally stunned. What the fuck was going on and what world were you currently living in?!

Julian stepped towards you and grabbed your chin between his pointer finger and thumb, making you look up at him. “I know you’ve got some…things up in that pretty little head of yours that you’re holding back. And believe me, I’ve got some things I was holding back all day. Like I said, the owner’s got one hot daughter.”

Your eyes were wider than saucers as you stared up at him, totally shocked that this was even happening. Oh god…you knew you were gonna do something kinda stupid with him, but at the same time…you didnt really care all that much. I mean come ON, PEOPLE, IT’S JULIAN CASABLANCAS, FOR FUCK’S SAKE! You nodded at his comment about how he knew you were thinking of some things because…you were. It was very obvious. 

The way you crossed your legs, squeezing them together whenever he spoke, the laugh you’d produce when he made a joke, the little shudder you made when he brushed his hand against your tense thigh - those were all tells and Mr. Casablancas knew them well from his years of experience. In simpler terms, you were horny and he knew it. 

“So what’dya want, love?”

Your breath hitched in your throat. Was this really happening?

“Use your words, cmon, I know you can.” Julian teased, moving in a little closer to your lips, barely brushing them against yours.

“I-i want to like…I wanna..—“

The singer was little tired of waiting, so he kissed you passionately, very lustfully.  His hand traveled up your shirt quickly, cupping your chest, kneading the soft skin as his lips devoured yours relentlessly. 

You let out soft moans into his mouth, giving him access to kiss you deeper and with tongue. He seemed utterly pleased with himself that the daughter of the recording studio’s owner would be into him and well…put out a little for him. It wasn’t like he saw himself as better than you though, it was more that “I cant believe this is actually happening” sort of feeling.  He was just as stunned as you were, but he hid it a lot better.

Pulling away was difficult for the both of you, neither party wanting to end the kissing, but human’s do need air and the both of you were severely out of breath. 

Panting slightly, he began: “What do you want? Tell me, I’ll do whatever. You’re hot as hell and I’m down for anything. Really. Your wish is my command.”

You nodded along with what he said. There was one thing you had been thinking about since he stepped into the studio and started singing and that thing was….

Gathering up some confidence, you got down on your knees and then looked up at him, silently asking if it was okay, to which me smiled and said a soft “go ahead, love.” Sucking in a breath, swallowing some spit, and then blinking a few times just to get the disbelief out of your head, you unzipped the singer’s jeans and pulled them down. 

You had only done with a couple of times, so you were quite scared if Julian - since he was older and more experienced - would be disappointed in your lack of ability, but here you were, going for it anyway. 

Kissing the outline of his member, you looked up with wide eyes, knowing it would drive him crazy. When you had decided that enough was enough with teasing, you got down to business. 

Pulling his length out of his boxers, you were nervous, but you licked his member from the base to the head. Julian let out a hiss, telling you to do that again. You did in an attempts to get him to do it again. I mean, the noise was hot as hell. 

Bobbing your head was a bit difficult along with not using teeth, but you managed as best as you could. Julian used your hair to help guide you up and down, causing you to moan out just like he was. The sounds made in that mixing room were definitely not traditional music, but…maybe we could call it noise rock in a way…? 

He was close, you could definitely tell that much from the way he was bobbing your mouth up and down his cock faster and faster. Your eyes were filled with a few tears, but you sucked it up (haha) and kept going; you wanted to get him to finish. You just had to. 

“Fuck, Y/N…goddammit, you’re so sexy”

Since you had a literal dick in your mouth, you couldn’t respond…obviously.

And like that, after a few more moments of your mouth going up and down on him, he finished. You swallowed, trying to show him that you weren’t afraid to do so. He smirked. 

“You swallowed, haha” He ruffled your hair and then helped you up after tucking himself back into his pants. 

“Y-yeah..of course I did.” You replied, totally shocked at what had just happened. 

Suddenly, the door opened and your father walked inside. 

“Julian, Y/N, how long have you two been here? We went to get dinner, but we had to leave cuz we were all done and you guys just didnt come.”

Julian smirked. ‘I know I did,’ he thought to himself.

“Well, we just got really hung up on the songs, yknow? She really digs ‘em. Says youre a great mixer, though you probably already knew that she knew that, yknow?” Julian smiled, being rather coy and acting oh so innocent, like nothing ever happened. 

“Well…thank you Y/N, but you two should probably pack it up cuz we’ve got an early mornin’ tomorrow, alright?”

“Yessir”

“Yeah dad,” you smiled at him before he left the room. 

You and Julian looked at each other, smirking. 

“Call me some time, alright?” He said, totally meaning what he it, as he handed you a piece of paper with his number on it.

All you could do was nod and smile back at him. 

‘Wow..’ You though, ‘what a night.’

------------------

I feel dirty.

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (March 1/2021) - Breaking Point

Sam has been unable to find a cause for the security breach, leaving Tommy trapped. A heated argument in the cell escalates to a horrifying end.

As the rest of server mourns, the Eggpire celebrates. With their biggest obstacle in the way of their objective gone, it’s time for the next step.

It’s the start of the Final Stage.

---

VOD LINKS:

HBomb94

Ponk

Tommy

Tubbo

Ranboo

Jack Manifold

Connor

Badboyhalo

Captain Puffy

---

- HBomb hosts Foolish and Jack Manifold’s episode of L’Cast!

---

The Prison Stream

(This portion of the recap will be more detailed than normal since it’s one long conversation and there are many important lines here, including a couple that were hard to hear during the stream)

---

- Tommy’s stream starts with him making sounds and singing “Roadtrip.” Dream tells him to stop, he’s trying to write a book.

Tommy: “What are you writing, Dream? What are you writing?”

Dream: “None of your business.”

- There’s a little gray and white cat sat on the chest. Tommy says it’s annoying.

Dream: “No he’s not...he’s actually the best thing that’s happened to us.”

Tommy: (Trying to lead the cat away) “Come with me, come with me...you know what I named him, don’t you? Pussboy, Pussboy!”

- The cat returns to its spot on the chest

Tommy: “Oh, Pussboy, you are so ugly.”

Dream: “C’mon, you’re being mean!”

(Tommy punches the cat)

Dream: “Tommy! Stop!”

- Tommy starts singing “Roadtrip” in autotune. Dream tells Tommy that if he can be quiet, he’ll give Tommy more potatoes.

Dream: “I think that...the cat is the best thing that’s happened to us.”

- Sam joins the call to say hello and ask how it’s been going. He’s come to drop more food into the cell. Tommy also picks up a new clock.

- Tommy asks to be let out, but Sam says he still hasn’t found out what the security issue is. Dream asks how long Tommy will be in here for. Potentially for a while, but not forever.

- Tommy protests about how bad the prison has been. He threatens to get lawyers on Sam, he knows Big Law.

Tommy: "Sam...you know I don’t deal very well in...close quarters situations for a long time, Sam. Sam, you remember when you visited me in exile, Sam? Alright, this is worse than that, Sam...let me out. I don’t like this. Let. Me. Out. Sam.”

- Sam insists he’s doing the best he can and leaves.

- Dream tries to say that it’s not that bad. He’s been in there for a long time, but now it’s better! Tommy writes a book to Dream, signs it and throws it to him.

Dream: “I have company. I have a cat -- I mean, technically it’s not my cat, technically it’s your cat, but still! It’s just as good, keeps me company when I write and everything, we talk sometimes -- ‘cause you’re annoying a lot of the time--”

- Dream throws away the clock in the lava, saying they don’t need it. Tommy punches the cat again.

Dream: “Tommy, hear me out, hear me out...what if...we get out together, okay?”

- Tommy is not a fan of the idea, Dream shouldn’t be let out too. He goes over to the cat and shouts at it for being in his spot. He punches Pussboy twice.

Dream: “Tommy...TOMMY, STOP!”

Tommy: “Excuse me! Come this way, come this way, excuse me Dream I’m trying to right-click Pussboy--”

(Dream moves to get in front of the cat)

Dream: “Tommy.”

Tommy: “Come here, come here! Do you like this cat, Dream?”

Dream: “Yes, I do.”

Tommy: “Why?”

Dream: “Because he -- Tommy, he keeps me company --”

(Tommy punches Pussboy again and leads him towards the lava)

Tommy: “Pussboy, this way. Pussboy, this way. Let me show you the light--”

Dream: “He’s probably low, he’s probably low!”

Tommy: “Oh what, you love him? Do you love him? Do you love him?”

Dream: “Yes, I do...Tommy, he’s made things better in here -- okay listen! When you leave, can you sit him down and leave him here?”

(Tommy goes over and punches Pussboy again. He tries to lead Pussboy away again, but when the cat doesn’t come he punches Pussboy twice more, killing him)

Tommy: “Yeah. And that’s what happens when you love something, bitch.”

...

Tommy: “See, now when I leave, when I leave, you’ll have nothing! ‘Cause you are lonely, and you’re m-m-manipulative, you’re a fuckin’ twat, and I mean that.”

Dream: “Tommy...I’m gonna get out! And you just motivated me -- you motivated me all the time, you just -- that was hope, right? The cat was hope -- the cat was hope that I could live a nice life in here--”

Tommy: “And now it’s dead, now it’s dead.”

- Dream insists that he’ll get out, and when he does, he’ll get his revenge on everyone who wronged him. Tommy asks if he’d kill Tubbo. 

- The subject goes back to Dream’s plan of escape.

Dream: “I have a plan. And the thing is, Awesamdude’s never gonna believe you that I have a plan because he thinks it’s unbreakable, unescapable--”

“I have a plan. And you know, there’s a certain someone who owes me a favor, but -- that might be a part of it, but...I do have a plan.”

- They argue about the conditions of the prison again. 

Dream: “I’ve been in here a for hundred times longer than you, and you sit there trying to tell me that it’s so horrible, that it’s so bad -- yeah, it was! But guess what, we have each other to talk to, and we had a cat until you fucking killed it!”

Tommy: “Dream...Dream, and listen to this -- fucking engrave this on you, write this into your arms, Dream...You don’t have me. You’ll never have me. We don’t have each other, alright? I am me, and you are this fuckin’ loser who goes around manipulating people, lying to get what he wants. You are a fuckin’ no one, man, alright? And when I’m going to leave here, you’re not! You might have a favor -- you think, who is it, Technoblade’s gonna be able to come in here to let you out -- Technoblade, he doesn’t like governments, but he likes self gain! You think he wants to piss off the owner of the most POWERFUL building on the entire server, just so that he can get a video that BARELY scrapes the five million view mark -- NO, Dream, alright? You’re a fuckin’ asshole, you’re deluded, you’re delusional, and I fuckin’ hate you.”

Dream: “Okay...yeah, but I have something Techno would want, so...it means knowledge, alright?”

- Dream says that even when he’s in here, he’s more powerful than Tommy outside. Tommy replies that if he wanted to, he could kill Dream right now. The only reason he doesn’t is because they need the revive book.

- Dream says that he will never use the revive book to help Tommy or his friends. Ever.

Dream: “So kill me. Go ahead, come on.”

- When if Tubbo dies, Dream says, they’ll come begging for Tubbo to be revived, and Dream will ask to be let out.

- Tommy then says that this isn’t worse than exile, because in exile, Tommy thought Dream had all the power, and Tommy knows something...he thinks the revive book isn’t real. Jschlatt was just a drunk, why would he have this book?

Dream: “Jschlatt gave me the book -- why else would I switch to Jschlatt’s side?!”

...

“I’m not lying! Jschlatt gave me a revive book after...before he died....because...he said--” (he cuts off here)

- Dream asks why he would be lying about that.

Tommy: “You’re a liar! You’re a liar, and really, through your Netherite armor and skin, I look at you and you know what I see? I see a sad little man who’s insecure about the fact that this server has gotten so far ahead of him that his only little glimpse of power in this world is gone. And I see an insecure, sad little man. So fuck off. You stupid green lad.”

Dream: “Your life...is literally in my hands. Does that piss you off? Does that make you mad? Does that make you so mad that I -- if you kill me -- I MIGHT AS WELL BE A GOD, TOMMY! YOU CAN’T KILL ME, AND I CAN KILL YOU! So what does it mean, that you can’t kill me because of the revive book -- what does that mean? If you can’t kill me, does that make me some kind of god?”

Tommy: “No Dream. I could kill you right now. If I wanted to.”

Dream: “Okay. But you won’t. But you won’t! I could kill you if I wanted to! I could kill you right now, actually.”

...

Tommy: “I don’t think this revive book is real. Schlatt? He’s fuckin’ dead. I’ve seen his grave! His grave is real, his corpse is there!”

Dream: “Okay...Why don’t you go see him then?”

Tommy: “NO -- stop it stop it stop it st--”

--- ---

CANON DEATH: TOMMY

Cause: Punched to death

--- ---

End of stream.

---

- Tubbo, Ranboo and Jack see Tommy’s death message in game chat.

- They go to the prison and Sam is there to tell them what happened. Sam couldn’t get there in time. He didn’t think Dream would actually kill him. They’re all in shock. 

- Tubbo and Ranboo think Tommy will be back. There’s no way he’s actually dead, right? 

- Jack Manifold is in celebration. He got what he wanted! He thought Dream would want Tommy alive, and killing Tommy himself would be an extra jab in the chest for Dream, but apparently not? And now he has a hotel!

- He decides to check on Tubbo and makes sure he’s okay. 

- Jack walks down to the shore and looks up at the prison, and...it hits him. He’s spent months plotting to kill Tommy. Jack realizes his victory feels hollow. Even now, Tommy and Dream have managed to take away this from him. 

- Of Ze Haus, he says that this place no longer means anything to him. He gets a flint and steel and sets it alight, watching it burn.

- He passes by Tommy’s house and finds Ranboo planting red and white flowers outside.

- Jack switches into his L’manburg uniform and walks along the Prime Path.

Jack: “I remember the day I joined the server. The day after the first war. L’manburg was still a big hole, and we built it up. And Tommy invited me to join. And I betrayed him (laughs), so really this has all come full circle.”

“Maybe I was always really just upset because I always felt like he cared more about the discs than...anyone. And I guess I just enjoyed it when we were friends...and...I’ve not really had any friends...since...then, really. Never really wanted any.”

- Jack later speaks with Foolish and tells him that Tommy’s never coming back from prison. Foolish didn’t know him too well, but he’s still a bit sad. When anyone passes, it’s sad.

- Jack heads back out into the wilderness, wandering to the beach area at the edge of the forest where Quackity had his argument with Badboyhalo a while back. There’s something just beyond the hill.

- Quackity meets him there and escorts him back home, telling him he was heading too close to something, could have gotten “a nice view of it.”

- He’s been thinking of writing up a draft of their contract. He also sees the new McPuffy’s.

- Jack tells Quackity that Tommy’s not in the prison anymore. Quackity says they need to talk to him and make sure Jack keeps his hotel. As the rain pours, Jack tells him. Tommy didn’t make it.

- Quackity and Jack have a moment in front of Tommy’s house. Though upset, Quackity says it’s time to get back to work.

Quackity: “Jack...don’t let this affect business. The train doesn’t stop.”

Jack: “No, it only goes faster.”

- Jack also speaks with Antfrost. Antfrost gives his condolences, and says he’ll put together a celebration “of life.”

Ant: “Bad and Sam will be happy...to attend, of course!”

- Afterwards, Jack heads down into Karls nightclub and ends stream there.

- Connor speaks with Sam Nook at the hotel.

- Bad meets Ant at the Holy Land. Ant asks if the church would be a good place for a celebration. Ant sits Bad down to tell him. Bad is overjoyed. 

- Bad says that now, they don’t even have to do any preparations: 

They can move into the Final Stage.

- They get milk for the cake and decide to throw the party at Tommy’s house!

- They meet with Sam at the prison entrance. He sounds dejected.

Sam: “I didn’t think Dream would ever actually...try and kill him”

Bad: (laughs) “Is this the same Dream we’re talking about? It’s Dream, Sam.”

Sam: “I mean...Dream had...I thought I had...broken the will out of him, to do something like that. But he...he did.”

- He says they need to find out what it was -- he wandered around the prison several times and couldn’t find any sign that someone had done something.

- Ant and Bad try to reassure Sam that Tommy signed the waivers, he went to see Dream, and Sam shouldn’t blame himself. Sam doesn’t see it that way.

- They say they’ll talk to Sam later and leave the prison. They see Sam Nook at the hotel. Sam is excited about the new upgrades for the hotel! Tommy will be so excited to see them!

- They return to Tommy’s house and speak with Punz as they make a party floor and sing the Crab Rave song in dudududus.

- Meanwhile, Captain Puffy is grieving, feeling like she failed Tommy. As she logs on, Bad and Ant decide that Puffy might want to join them for the party! 

- Punz meets them there, and they tell him that Tommy’s dead. Punz isn’t sure how he feels, it’s bittersweet.

- Puffy arrives and angrily tells them to leave. What’s wrong with them?!

- The Eggpire sees Sam Nook at the hotel and goes up the floors to find a place to party. Puffy comes up and tells them to find another place to party. They argue again.

- Foolish arrives to visit his room in the hotel. Puffy leaves them. They quarrel about who has the room for the night.

- Puffy mines down the Eggpire’s meeting room. She’s noticed that being a hero hasn’t worked. Sparing people, being merciful, it hasn’t worked. She might need a change of perspective. 

- The Eggpire decides to visit the Egg and break the news to it. They see the wreckage, but Puffy is in the Nether by the time they get there.

- Puffy visits Logsted.

- The Eggpire goes down to the Egg Room and finds the pathway blocked up with obsidian...is this why the Vines have been slower to grow lately?

- They break the barrier and find the Egg drenched in water. They wake up the Egg and it speaks.

“This world is mine. It belongs to me.”

“No no no, I know, but we’ve got something to tell you!”

“I see all...I...am...all...”

“Oh so you--”

“I know all.”

“You know then! Guess -- well, we’ll tell you anyway in case you don’t know -- but guess what? Tommy’s dead! Dream -- the green guy, you met him -- killed him in the prison! I guess Tommy got stuck there, and Dream killed him! Are you happy?"

“Feed me...I require nourishment.”

“No no no, don’t worry -- that’s coming soon! We’ll take care of that! We’re already gonna begin the preparations, right guys? Yeah, we’re gonna begin the preparations, and we’ll send out the invitations, we’ll let everyone know...and the final stage can commence! This is wonderful!”

- Once on the surface, Bad announces that with a little more preparation, they’ll all get exactly what they want. The final stage is about to commence. 

The day of celebrations, the day they’ve been preparing for, the day the Egg has been preparing for, is about to happen...

- Bad goes down to the Egg Room one last time and stands at the Egg to give a final speech.

“Everything leading up to this point, EVERYTHING, all the way going back to the discovery of this...beautiful, luxurious Egg, okay...we had it all planned. As soon as we found it, we knew what was gonna happen. We knew the objective...”

“We may have forgotten what it was, forgotten the ultimate goal as soon as we boxed the Egg up in obsidian. But guess what -- that didn’t stop the Egg! Boxing it up only made it STRONGER, and LARGER, and more powerful! And the Egg’s been storing up that energy, okay? You may have been thinking the Vines have not been spreading...but that’s because we haven’t WANTED them to spread. We have been working, storing energy, storing power...in preparation for the final plan. The final objective. And there were only a couple people getting in the way. But guess what? One of the biggest obstacles -- Tommy -- is no longer in the way...now that he’s not in the way, we can commence with the final stage...the final party...before it all comes to a conclusion...”

“Brace yourselves...everybody on this server, prepare. Anyone who is anti-Egg...you guys better get ready, because we know who you are. And at the end of the day, the Egg is gonna be victorious. And there’s nothing ANYBODY can do to stop it.”

“Good luck.”

[3wisellamas]

Giant Sweet Cap’n Cakes Headcanon Masterpost!

(Fun fact, I thought most of these up while on one REALLY long hike.  ^^;  You can tell I fell for these three pretty hard.)

Music:

-I like the idea that, while the three all share a love of hip hop, glitch hop, electronic music in general, and a little lo-fi for chill times, they all have different tastes outside of those.  (Meaning if you pass them the aux cord, they WILL argue!)

-Sweet's actually the biggest audiophile of the group, with by far the most eclectic tastes; he will literally put together playlists that go from dubstep to heavy metal to classical to rap to vaporwave to even country.  The others don't really get it, but they're cool with whatever he puts on, and learn a lot of new music from him!

-He also owns an electric guitar, which he just plugs into himself to use as an amp and plays early in the morning to wake the others up if needed (he's the early riser and the other two are night owls...)

-Cap'n's definitely got a more narrow focus than the other two; he likes rap and also R&B, jazz, and even a little swing/electro swing.  He's also been caught more than once listening to cheesy romantic pop songs, claiming he's just into them for their potential madamoizel-attracting uses but really he's just a sappy romantic.

-He can also rap, very well in fact, and gets Sweet to beatbox while he freestyles. 

-Heck, he's just got a good singing voice in general, helped by having a built-in autotune, and dominates at karaoke!

-K_K also has a really broad range, but stays more towards the electronic end of the spectrum -- melodic dubstep, synthpop, disco, trance, chiptune, DnB, even occasionally puts on straight-up ambient spa music to chill out to (the only genre the other two will NOT tolerate.)

-K_K has also, in the past, set up entire mini-raves just by themselves, complete with glowsticks and everything, while Cap'n and Sweet were out doing whatever.  They were...not pleased, when they got back, mostly because they weren't invited.  All three got to have one together eventually though.  

-Physical media is king in their shop; if it's not on a CD, cassette tape, or a vinyl record (or an 8-track, though they have to dig out their old player for it), they will refuse to play it, and might even ask you to leave.  "MP3" is an extremely dirty word to them.

-(In fact, they don't get along too well with the MP3 player-headed robots elsewhere in the city.)

-They are indeed always listening to music on physical media as well -- K_K and Cap'n are their own CD players (though Cap'n's one of those models that's also got a built-in FM radio), while Sweet has a straight-up Walkman.    

-(He's also the group's cassette champion, claiming his media of choice is superior to CDs because you can record music on BOTH sides of the tape!  The other two just don't have the heart to point out that each side only holds half as much music as a CD, and you don't even have to rewind those...)

-Jury's still out on Hit Clips.  Cap'n and Sweet think they're just toys, but K_K genuinely collects and appreciates them and treats them like actual music (it helps that they are only around four seconds long!)

-Believe it or not, the headphones are only decoration, all three actually just...listen to their music entirely within their own heads, though they can also switch to playing it externally on their speakers as well.  Perks of being robots!  Though, sometimes K_K has his internal volume up too high, and misses things that other people say because of it.

-Sweet also has an input port, and connects himself to his turntable to act as the speakers!  The other two are WAY too embarrassed to ask if they can use it as well.

-Sweet can play almost any instrument you throw at him, as long as it's not a woodwind (Surprisingly, he can do brass, since those work on vibration rather than air!).  He prefers his guitar or violin when he isn't spinning records on his turntable.  Where the other two just enjoy music, he's the actual trained musician.

Voice headcanons:

-Sweet:  Kind of deep, bass-y, lots of reverb, a slight tinny audio distortion to it like a low-quality recording that becomes much more pronounced when he gets upset or starts shouting.  And since he's a speaker, you can literally feel the vibrations he makes when he's speaking!

-Cap'n:  Scout from TF2.  I am sorry, but I absolutely cannot get that out of my head for him.  XD  However, he's actually putting that voice on as an "accent" of sorts, his real voice is actually super autotune-y like K_K's, and it comes out whenever he gets flustered, his pitch only getting higher and higher as it gets worse...

-K_K:  Pure autotune, he can just do whatever the hell he wants with his voice -- pitch, tone, whatever, and while he tends to keep it a little higher he can and does change it to fit his mood!  He often has a completely different voice every day, but the others are used to it.  He also just straight-up vocalizes sound effects (like, the kind that make you go "How did you just make that sound with your mouth?!") and can mimic other people perfectly (though the slight mechanical distortion does give it away).  There are absolutely no rules when it comes to K_K's voice.

-They harmonize perfectly whenever they sing together! 

Sweet:

-I like to think Sweet's actually the brains of the group; like, not SMART, he just holds their one collective braincell most often.  He does any technical work when they're building stuff, like soldering circuits or the occasional programming, and even handles a lot of the actual business operations and pays the bills.  The other two also like to follow his lead when it comes to rebellion plans, even if he’s not the official leader.

-That said, though?  It's balanced out by him being rather hotheaded and having the shortest temper by a lot.  There are REASONS why he's not usually out selling bagels with the others -- he's unfortunately prone to some more "extreme" sales tactics, like hurling half their stock at random passersby until they finally agree to buy some.  On the plus side, he's always the first to step up to defend the gang from anything that dares to harm them, and is always on guard.

-He can also hold a heck of a grudge -- don't ever get on his bad side!  Cap'n and K_K are mostly immune to this though, if he gets upset with them he works through it by the end of the day.  It helps that they can all hug it out.

-He's a bit of a perfectionist, often working overtime to try and get everything they build exactly right.  He can get really frustrated when things don't work out the way he plans, or when he can't make sense of a problem, or when Cap'n and K_K are goofing off instead of doing their part, and needs to go blast some loud music and blow off steam.

-He does have a really tough time keeping his balance, since his head is a bit heavier than the rest of his body, but he takes tripping over his own feet constantly in stride.  The biggest problem he has is with dancing -- while he'll join in with the others on occasion, he can't match their more acrobatic moves and sticks more to actually PLAYING the music they're dancing to.

-He's also really, really unlucky, just in general.  He actually considers the other two his good luck charms, since they help him out whenever he trips or gets into a bad spot!

-He's the fashionista of the group, surprisingly.  It's difficult for him to find clothes that fit his body, so he tends to get a little creative with it and has a whole closet full of different stuff!  And since Cap'n is roughly the same size they'll occasionally swap jackets.

Cap’n:

-Cap'n actually has managed to score a handful of dates with girls in the past!  However, NONE of them went well, and only one actually made it to the second date (only to break up right in the middle of it), so he always ends up returning home heartbroken and in tears.  Sweet and K_K, by this point just ready for it whenever they hear that he's going out that night, always dry him off before he shorts himself out, take him to bed and cuddle with him (platonically, I don't see them as brothers but I also don't see them as having that conversation until Cap'n's ready, which he clearly is NOT), remind him that it doesn't hurt forever and he isn't unlovable and that he'll find someone eventually, etc.

-They have sat him down multiple times to try and gently suggest to Cap'n that he might just not be into women?  And that he’s actually turning them off by trying so hard?  To which he's always just like "No, of course not.  I'm straight.  Love the ladies.  Totally.  Oh no they didn't catch me checkin' out that one dude earlier did they?  Is that what this is about?!"

-(Basically, Cap'n is just a hopeless romantic in love with the idea of being in love, but is absolutely clueless as to how it works or what he actually wants, and his best buds are always there to catch him when he falls.  ;v; )

-The glasses are prescription -- he's SUPER nearsighted, a hardware glitch he refuses to fix.  Sometimes when he's working on something close up he'll take them off, panicking when he can't find them afterwards, only to have the others point out that they're just on his head.  He’s also got non-tinted glasses, but you will not catch him DEAD wearing those unless it’s an absolute emergency.

-This dude is SUPREMELY insecure with himself.  Like, his rather questionable fixation on romance aside, he basically runs off of others' validation, the "cool" persona he's spent much of his life building up being how he hides the fact that he isn't really sure who he is, or what he wants to do with his life, or what he's even good for -- the others have learned to check on him now and then whenever he hides away in the back of the shop, since he can slip into some pretty dark places when left alone to sulk.  It took a long time for him to open up even to them to share his feelings, and sometimes still has doubts about whether they or anyone else really care about him as more than just The Smooth One...

-He's the only one of the three to actually enjoy the occasional silence, especially when he's trying to think, or whenever he's upset.  So, his headphones also serve a dual purpose -- they're noise-cancelling!

-He's the video guy, carrying around a small camcorder and constantly trying to record the group's activities, to put together into music videos!  He also just likes to record himself doing stupid stunts for posterity, though K_K just takes these and makes (affectionate) blooper reels.

-Cap'n is not his real name, similar to K_K.  However, unlike K_K, he refuses to say what it is, just that it's embarrassing.

K_K:

-K_K has a bad habit of just completely zoning out when he gets into his music, getting completely lost in the groove and needing to be pulled back to reality.  It's not a bad thing during jam sessions, but at work, or in the middle of a battle...not so much.

-He kind of needs to have some kind of music going at all times -- silence drives him absolutely CRAZY!  Though, because he gets distracted by his own music, he then misses out on entire conversations, only tuning back in towards the end.  Sometimes the other two have to repeat or summarize what they just said for him.

-He knows sign language, and taught the others to use it.  They're able to communicate reasonably well no matter how loud their shop gets, or on days when K_K isn't able to form words properly (he's just shy, and even when he isn't he gets tongue-tied a LOT).

-He's easily the best dancer of the three, and uses his extendable body to get really creative with his moves!  He even knows a little ballroom, somehow, which he'll pull out sometimes to make the others laugh.

-(Seriously, K_K CANNOT stand to see Sweet or Cap'n not smiling.  He'll do anything to keep the group's spirits up, usually cracking jokes during a scrap project or doing little favors, and they appreciate all his efforts!)

-K_K has the WORST sleep cycle, ever.  If you let him, he will stay up all night working or partying, finally going to bed at 6AM, and will then sleep until 6PM if the others don't wake him up at some point.  If they know he was up really late they'll let him sleep in a little, but he's often pretty sleep-deprived and running solely on sugar and caffeine, which doesn't help his natural loopiness.  

-He is a VERY physical guy.  Seriously, he will just scoop up and hold Sweet or Cap'n like a cat every five minutes; at first they were just like "Oh.  Okay.  We're hugging now I guess," but after a while they got more used to it and even anticipate when K_K is going to do it.  And he also initiates tons of snuggles and gives piggyback rides whenever one of his bandmates (usually Sweet) requests.  

-K_K actually scrapbooks, collecting pictures and little mementos of places he and the others have gone and things they've done.  After the library fountain is sealed, he pulls them out to show everyone else from Cyber City and reminisce about home.

-It's very hard to make K_K angry, since he tends to stay super chill and brushes off almost everything.  But, on those very, very rare occasions when something does get under his metal outer casing, he'll go full-on silent treatment, not speaking to anyone for up to a week as he sulks and stomps around the junk shop, and even refuses to play any music!  And no amount of sweets or hugs or cheering up will bring him out of it, either; the other two have learned to just wait him out and let him have his space, letting him come to them when he's finally ready to talk about it.

Misc:

-Though all three love everything sweet, K_K's the only one who really goes overboard with it, making whole meals out of candy.  Sweet, ironically enough, actually prefers more salty/savory snacks, while the less is said about Cap'n's hot sauce addiction, the better.

-Okay, actually, I will say more about it.  Cap'n loves spicy food in general, and literally drinks tabasco sauce right from the bottle.  However, he's got a bad habit of daring himself to eat hotter and hotter stuff, ESPECIALLY if someone is watching, and can easily get in WAY over his head before begging for milk.

-They also all totally drink battery acid like Queen.

-Heck, being both Darkners and robots, they can really eat literally anything.  Normal food, milk, oil, batteries, gallons of pure sugar, toothpaste, moss, glitter (NEVER let K_K get hold of any though, he gets lost in the sauce), broken glass, etc, and of course their own deep-fried CDs.  Only thing they can't do is water, since, you know, robots.

-With a lot of the aesthetics of Cyber City being close to turn-of-the millennium and early 2000s (CDs and boomboxes, popup ads, wired mice, Queen theorized to be one of those see-through iMacs, EVERYTHING about Spamton), I like the idea that the boys DO NOT have smartphones, and if you handed them one they'd have no clue how to use it or what to do with it.  But they do have cell phones:  Sweet's got an old flip phone covered in stickers (courtesy of K_K), Cap'n splurged for one of those that slide open and with a camera (he set his background to a tiny, grainy photo of the three of them!), and K_K has one of those indestructible Nokia bricks, that Sweet got him after he kept breaking all his other ones.  They can all text, but that's about as high-tech as they get.

-Same with tablets or newer computers in general, they might share one tiny netbook at most.  Cap’n never remembers to log out of his Dark World dating profile, so the others will snoop or post embarrassing things to it.

-They're really, really durable, even without milk -- they're made of 90s plastic and electronics, so it takes a LOT to take one of them down!  Plus, they regularly repair each other back at the shop (it took a LONG time for them to gain enough trust to physically open and work on each other), so as long as at least one's left to drag the other two to safety they'll be just fine.

-However, if they get splashed with water, caught in the rain, or worse, drowned, they will short out, or shut down on the spot to prevent damage.  Once they completely dry out, though, they'll start right back up, no worse for wear.  When only one of them gets waterlogged the other two will break out the hair dryers to dry them out faster, or even pop them into the oven in a pan of rice like an iPod that got dropped in the toilet...

Finally, backstory?

-Cap'n and K_K met first -- maybe both as new recruits to another, much less savory gang of music equipment robots, and bonded as a result of being put upon by the more established members (Cap'n probably even had to defend K_K more than once when his inattentiveness got him into trouble!)  But, they both had enough one day, and decided to break off and form their own thing, making music and selling CD bagels to support themselves.

-Sweet, meanwhile, has the complete opposite background, coming from a rich and important family of musicians in Cyber City who regularly entertained Queen in her mansion (hence why he always used to get sweets from her!)  But, he was kind of the black sheep, preferring his own style of music, and decided to strike out on his own as a street musician instead.

-They met when Cap'n and K_K accidentally set up to sell bagels on Sweet's usual corner, and he battled them to reclaim his turf.  But, they were evenly-matched (even two-to-one; Sweet's definitely the strongest of the trio!), and impressed each other with both their fighting and musical skills, so Sweet decided to join their tiny group, and thus Sweet Cap'n Cakes was formed.  

-After the whole situation with Queen is resolved, SCC turns their rebellion into an anti-DRM kind of thing?  Nobody can hold back the music, man!

[strawberrymilkgeorge]

okay this is super long sorry and unedited (not as great as your writing lol) i'm okay with it being posted and hope you have a good sleep!

“Well Bugsy, you’re down to your last two options. Mr QuackityHQ-” Austin announced as Quackity waved his hand before saluting to the camera, “-and Mr DreamWasTaken!” Dream’s discord lit up as he let out a whoop. Austin paused for dramatic effect, “okay before we let these two have their final chat with Ms BugsyGames, I want them to DM me their decisions.” His phone pinged twice before Bugsy and Dream were left to talk.

“Come on Bug! Sweetheart! We have a treehouse and two children!” Dream announced passionately, “Are you really going to leave your loving family to be with the guy who can’t cook pizza babe?” Bugsy giggled, flustered by all the pet names Dream was using during the game. “-and you can cook pizza?” she asked with scepticism in her voice. She heard a crash from Dream’s side, “Well not pizza, but I can cook! What do you say, baby? Let’s take the leap.” Bugsy opened her mouth to send a retort, face on fire but was cut off by Austin announcing the end of Dream’s time. He protested but it was to no avail.

Quackity entered the voice channel with his usual auto-tuned scream. Bugsy joined in, without the auto-tune of course. “Ms BugsyGames, I have never shied away from my affections for you. Unlike a certain someone, I flew out to meet you and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. Bugsy laughed as Quackity continued, “I’d never host you in Minecraft, in Love or Host or even in a Jackbox. I wouldn’t kill your children in lore because they’d be our children, mi amour.” He wiggled his eyebrows, even bowing for good measure. Austin entered the voice channel and announced that they had to enter the main chat. “Okay Bugsy, please send me your choice.” she looked at Naomi and Karl who were both sitting on her bed. The two of them flashed her thumbs-ups as she DMed Austin.

Quackity started praying in Spanish, expecting Austin to announce the winner. “As we all are aware, Bugsy is technically a mother and how could we continue without talking to her sons? So please give a round of applause for Tubbo_ and Ranboo!” Both boys logged in and greeted Bugsy who let out a squeal. “Okay, who would you prefer, just know we already have the result,” Austin said as Quackity pointed to himself. “I’d say Quackity but Dream did mail me a 20 dollar note so I don’t really know,” Tubbo said holding up a note in his hands. Ranboo nodded, fixing his facemask. “That’s pocket money! I’m being a responsible husband!” Dream shouted above Quackity’s screams. “Austin!” Bugsy said with laughter in her voice, “I think we should announce the winner!”

“-The winner of Ms BugsyGames’ Love or Host is, drumroll please.” Taboo and Ranboo patted their desks, “MR QUACKITYHQ!” Dream let out a scream. “Bugsy be glad to know Quackity chose Love!” Bugsy turned the rest of Quackity’s victory speech out, busy with the text messages Dream was sending her. - 🔥

HAHAHAH OH MY GOOOSSSHHH DUDE THIS MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD OMG omg omg okay this made me SO happy hahahah thank you so much this is so cute (thoughts below the cut bc WOWOWOW)

also you said he was texting her after Quackity won so I made these

wait okay there's so much to process (in a good way) okay I broke it down because what you wrote is AMAZING AND I LOVE IT AHAHAH

dream pleading his case by just using a bunch of pet names like THAT would win her over it might and slamming his desk when she's like oh you cook??

QUACKITY ENTERING BY YELLING IN AUTOTUNE HAHAH his speech almost won ME over dang I woulda picked him too after that are you kidding me???

"I flew out to meet you and wouldn't hesitate to do it again" 💀💀 facts. don't be shy Dream, go fly out to bugsy and meet her

"I wouldn't kill your children in lore because they'd be our children mi amor" OKAY HE KNEW TO USE TUBBO AND RANBOO TO GET TO HER HEART HAHA

Naomi and Karl just sitting on her bed both going 😄👍 oh my gosh I love them

Dream bribing Tubbo that's so accurate oh my gosh

also Tubbo and Ranboo drumming on the desks for the drumroll why did that make me go 🥺 I love them so much

Dream would ABSOLUTELY spam text her after bc he was so confident he was going to win bc why WOULDNT he so "what the heck bugsy this needs to be addressed" type spam

🔥 I would 10/10 die for you tysm

[norcumii]

...oh thanks, Tumblr, it wasn’t like I was trying to answer that ask or anything. -_-

OHKAY. Take two! For this trope mashup meme, @dogmatix asked:

Rex/Obi or pairing/characters of choice - Apocalyse AU / Mermaid/Siren AU / Aroused by their voice

This modern!AU got a liiiiiittle bit more absurdist than planned, but NO REGRETS. Assistance was provided by @dharmaavocado and @deadcatwithaflamethrower -- THANK YOU BOTH!

*****

There was a lovely breeze coming in across the ocean, the sky had just enough puffy white clouds to keep things interesting, and Rex was taking a maintenance day. The last family group of tourists to charter a day trip had included several children that were at least two parts sticky and three parts grime. His poor Vigilance needed a serious scrub down, and Rex was not looking forward to restocking. Small Grubby Fiend 1 had stumbled – supposedly due to a sudden swell, but more likely because Small Grubby Fiends 2 and 3 hadn’t stopped ‘not kicking’ each other for way too long. Not being an entire idiot, Rex has gone right for the band-aids with cartoon characters, but since it wasn’t a cartoon Small Grubby Fiend 1 liked, that meant another – until all three Small Grubby Fiends had been plastered with far more of his first aid kit than was good for anyone.

It had been a long day.

So there he was, untangling life-vests that hadn’t even been used, while singing along with whatever music was playing from the boat’s speakers. Rex wasn’t sure if the music was pop, rock, or some other unholy category he’d never heard of, but thankfully it didn’t matter. He liked it, and could figure out which of Tup’s mix tapes it was on, which was the important thing.

Tup always made hilarious offended noises when Rex called them mix tapes, which was a significant reason why he did so. They were music folders, sensibly labeled by mood, because his little brother had realized at some point that was the only way to keep Rex up to date on anything past the 90’s grunge music.

Tup’s accusation, not his. Rex damn well knew how to use a radio – several kinds of radio, thank you very much.

He was several songs into mind-numbing chores when he spotted a flash of red streaking under the dock, and Rex ducked his head to hide a grin. He’d started spotting movement like that a couple of weeks ago, around the time the neighbors descended on their beach house. There were several ginger teenagers, so he figured one of them was a hell of a water rat who had damn odd taste in music.

To be fair, so did he.

It’d been weird at first, realizing he had an audience that disappeared the moment he acknowledged their existence. But the most he heard or saw out of them beyond the momentary glimpse was a bit of percussion, someone drumming in time against the water – and once, the dock itself – so Rex had shrugged and accepted their presence. It was kinda nice, actually, just to have someone around. He lived a ways off the end of a long, sparsely populated road, and while he didn’t mind the solitude, sometimes you just wanted another–

Rex’s train of thought went off the rails with a loud yelp as he discovered something slimy stuck to the back of a life-vest. It might have been edible once – it was a shade of radioactive green he didn’t associate with anything other than candy or video games, at least, so that was his best guess. Much as he wanted to blame the Small Grubby Fiends, he hadn’t done more than a spot check of these vests for awhile – could’ve been anyone.

Ugh. At least unlike some clients he could name, Rex’s eavesdropper wasn’t vandalizing anything. Wasn’t about to begrudge that.

Rex had managed to get most of the neon green grossness cleared when the rumble of an approaching car caught his attention. He wasn’t expecting visitors, not that that had ever stopped any of his brothers. Lost delivery drivers usually turned around before hitting up the driveway, which was long enough and had enough private property signs to keep out idiots looking for easy water access.

“Who the hell is this?” he muttered, setting the vest aside. He didn’t recognize the little black car, or the burly guy stepping out of the passenger’s side, but the guy waved and casually started towards Rex as if he knew who the hell he was.

Not reassuring, especially since the stranger rapped the car’s roof, and it headed back up the driveway.

“You seem lost,” Rex said, standing up and trying to look just the right level of intimidating.

“Nope,” the guy said back, still heading towards him. “Need your boat.”

“That’s work related – you need to wait till I’m back at the marina tomorrow. I’m at home, it’s my day off.”

Burly guy finally stopped, planting his hands on his hips – a move which just happened to part the jacket of his cheap suit enough that Rex could see the gun he carried. “I don’t think you understand, Mr. Fett. I don't want any trouble – I just want you to head inside, and take that day off while I borrow your boat.”

Oh, FUCK. Nobody really talked about how the mob owned most of the marinas in Tatooine Bay, but you didn’t need to declare water was wet to get drenched in the rain. It just wasn’t something that ever happened to someone you knew, just friends of friends or something.

“And if I don’t agree?” he couldn’t keep from asking.

Burly Guy had a surprisingly expressive shrug. “Most people don’t enjoy pushing their luck that far.”

To his credit, it was a remarkably polite threat. “I’m surprised anyone ever does.”

“Eh, every now and then there’s some freaky masochist looking for cheap thrills, but it ain’t my kink. Don’t think it’s yours, either, so if you’d just head inside, that’d be appreciated.”

The smart move was probably to comply. Rex wasn’t inclined to cooperate anyways. He was saved from making either bad decision by...sound.

It didn’t register as singing – there was something too off about it, a combination that wasn’t quite autotune, or that polyphonic singing Echo had gotten into when Fives got obsessed with the guitar. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t right in a way that was madly distracting.

The...singing? – pulled both Rex and the goon around towards the end of the dock, and if Rex hadn’t been so muzzy-headed from that sound he would have been gaping much more blatantly.

There was someone slipping out from under the dock, and it was most definitely not one of the neighbors.

It was a trim, shirtless figure in the water – ginger indeed, short red hair just dry enough to be messy spikes. Pale skin was freckled in scales of shimmering reds, protective lines over what would be vulnerable areas on a human. It swam close enough to the surface that Rex could see the sleek fins and tail, and part of his brain kept screaming ‘mermaid!’ while the rest took in the long, sharp claws on webbed hands and whispered ‘predator.’ Its singing showed sharply pointed teeth, and it should not have been nearly that gorgeous.

The mermaid glanced over at him, eyes a deep blue-on-blue that could never masquerade as human, flicking a look up and down him that could have been flattering or terrifying – it all depended on if that was measuring him for a meal euphemistically or not.

The singing changed as the creature turned its attention back to the goon, and the magnetic pull on Rex lessened. He staggered back a step, not too surprised to find he was halfway down the dock without noticing. The hazy feeling in his brain stopped, or at least dropped down to levels that were close enough to normal, so he got a clear view as the goon started walking into the water, oblivious to everything except the mer-siren-thing he was shambling towards.

The siren moved when the goon was almost waist deep in the water, flowing forward to delicately place a hand at the goon’s throat. The singing continued, but now there was a new undertone, soft and somehow questioning. Rex couldn’t tell if there were words to it or not – maybe a whole other language for all he knew – but the goon responded, voice soft enough that he couldn’t make out what was said.

Whatever he said, it didn’t please the siren. It kept singing, but it snarled, showing more of those pointed teeth, then it twisted and dove, hauling the unresisting goon under the water.

A terrifying few moments more, and the last hums of the song seemed to stop vibrating through the water.

“What the absolute fuck?” Rex said numbly. Thank everything, no one answered.

A smart man would’ve hidden inside, or driven off to a movie theater or something – inland and away. Rex wasn’t sure why he stayed: curiosity – morbid or otherwise – shock, or a healthy disbelief in the whole debacle. He was maybe a bit too numb to not have some kind of shock, but –

He felt like he maybe deserved it. “Yeah, I can have a bit of shock,” Rex muttered to himself. “As a treat.”

Okay, he might have more than a bit. But by the time the siren poked his head out of the water again – politely out of arms’ reach – Rex had calmed down a decent degree. They just looked at each other for a bit, then the siren gave him a polite nod.

“Hello there,” he said in a pleasant, deep voice with a hell of an accent.

Rex held up a hand, needing a moment. Of fucking course the British even colonized under the goddamned sea. “Hi. You speak English.” It wasn’t quite the most inane thing he could’ve said, but his brain hadn’t managed to catch up yet.

He was talking to a goddamned mermaid who had just kidnapped and possibly eaten some mob thug who’d been trying to take Rex’s boat. It had been a day.

“You’re not the first land-dweller I’ve made the acquaintance of.”

Rex absolutely refused to make any kind of a crack about being charmed. There was too much hysteria lurking in there. “Speaking of acquaintances, you didn’t, ah, kill that guy, did you?”

The siren’s lips pulled back from his teeth a little. “I still haven’t decided what to do with him, so right now he’s out of the way.” He must’ve seen something impressive in Rex’s expression, because the angry disdain smoothed over to something more neutral. “He’s stashed in a cave I know. Enough air to breathe, but the only entrance is underwater and too far for most humans to swim without assistance.”

That was...a lot. “Thanks for the help.”

The siren smiled, an oddly sweet, bashful expression. “I’d be a very poor guest if I didn’t assist.” He cleared his throat, his expression going awkward. “Though I...suppose ‘guest’ is a bit presumptive.”

Rex grinned. “No, I spotted you a couple weeks ago – ah, I mean, sort of.” Before he could make more a hash of that, he cleared his throat. “The name’s Rex.”

The siren folded his hands together and did a little bow thing. “Obi-Wan. Pleasure to meet you.”

He wasn’t blushing. He absolutely was not blushing. “So...you in town for long?” Ok, now he was blushing, that was worst subject change ever meeting worst fishing attempt – meeting worst and wildly inappropriate pun.

Obi-Wan’s expression fell, sorrow way too visible in those non-human eyes. “I suppose you could say that. I...no longer have a home to return to.”

Definitely not a topic to change to. Right. Rex cleared his throat and shifted. “Well. You’re welcome anytime, for what that’s worth.”

The slow-growing smile didn’t remove that sorrow, but it did kindle something warm inside. This was at least three different kinds of trouble, but Rex didn’t think he’d regret any of it.

~end

[lovesanmotion]

yandere!ateez 99 & 00 liner reacts: seeing s/o kill for the first time

💌. This is: requested | 98 liner reaction here 

TW: blood and gore 

Yunho: 

The thought originally came when Yunho let you borrow his playstation controller while playing an rpg game. Situated in the living room, he made himself comfortable besides you on the couch and watched how you strategized and kill your enemies through the screen. And then the thought came into him, what if you kill with him? Slowly his mind drifted into the new found thought and kept pondering about it besides you. 

“Are you okay, love? I said I finished the game and look!” You smiled as you pointed at the screen with the words YOU WON. He smiled and placed a kiss on your cheek before turning off the controller and helping you cook dinner. 

When the following week came, Yunho was on his way home from the groceries when someone he knew particularly bumped into him. 

“Watch where you’re going man. Jesus.” He sneered at Yunho before going back to whoever he was talking to on the phone. That particularly person isn’t just a random stranger, it was your ex boyfriend who dumped you for a random girl he met online. Yunho stopped on his tracks, pondering in his thoughts before putting the paper bags inside the car and walking over to some place else. 

“Y/N look what I have for you!” you went over to where you heard Yunho was and it lead you to the living room, in the middle of the room is a man tied onto a chair with a sack covering his head. 

A smile still plastered on his lips as he hands you a metal baseball bat. You blinked twice before taking it in your hands. You were using the same kind of bat while playing Yunho’s game. He was sensing your hesitation before he went behind you and whispered in your ear. 

“This is your ex boyfriend. He bumped into me the other day, wouldn’t it be nice to take your revenge?” And with that, a thousand of horrible memories came flooding into your head. There are good memories with your ex, however, they were overshadowed by the bad ones. Gripping your hold on the base, you swinged the bat and continously swung it over his head. Hearing a few bones cracking and watching as the white sack turn into bright red. You wouldn’t stop not until Yunho wrapped his arms around you from behind and took the bat away from you. 

“That’s enough, darling. You did so well today. Done beautifully.” Sensing his smile, he wrapped his arms around your waist, burying his face on the crook of your neck and hearing the thud of the metal bat onto the floor. 

Yeosang: 

“Do you love me, Y/N?” 

His voice ran chills down your spine. In front of you is the love of your life, staring deeply into your eyes while a third party whose hands and ankles are binded, hid behind Yeosang’s back and body on the floor. And this was no ordinary person who’s binded and laying pathetically on Yeosang’s basement. It was your old college dormmate, now all botched up, who tried to take Yeosang from you. 

“If you love me” Yeosang says, taking your hands in his before placing a small pointed metal with a wooden handle into your hands. An ice pick. “you would kill for me.” He ends his sentence before moving away, his eyes never removing from you. Yeosand’s smart and you knew why he chose this weapon. Once stabbed, the victim doesn’t die immediately, rather, the stab wounds would turn into injuries forming blood clots until slowly the victim slips into their death. Making the victim look like they died from blood clotting, internal bleeding or aneurysm. 

You slowly kneeled down besides her head, watching as her eyes gloss with tears. 

“Please Y/N. Were friends” she chokes out before breaking into a sob. You softly cooed at her, brushing a few hairstrands away from her face. 

“This will be quick” raising your right hand and then stabbing the ice pick onto her forehead, burying the metal surface deeply into her skull, twisting the weapon and then swiftly pulling it out of her. 

Yeosang’s giggles broke the silence of the room as he takes the ice pick from your hand, placing it on top of the table before wrapping his arms around you. 

“I knew you love me too, Y/N!” He chirps. Seeing him happy made your feelings swell and warm your insides, you raised your arms and slowly wrapped them around his nape, hugging him back. 

San: 

You and San are not in the best of terms as of the moment. You had raised your voice at him and disobeyed him, causing him to leave the shared home, only to return home with a random girl he picked up from the streets and started to have sex with her in the living room. You took your earphones and mp3 player from your desk, playing a random song just to block the girl’s annoying autotuned moaning from your ears. You couldn’t care less if San was dicking her down, you knew you were bound to die in this place before you could even see San in a different light. 

And everything was going fine until your bedroom swung open and a shirtless San barged into your room, grabbing your forearm and then dragging you into the room next to yours. 

“Let go of me you manwhore!” You tried yanking your arm away from his grip only to fail. You were expecting to see a naked woman on his bed, whoever it turned out to be the opposite. The woman, still fully clothed, has her arms and ankles tied onto the bed posts. You were confused, you looked at San for an answer. 

“Do you think I’m a manwhore when I dedicate my whole life to you?” He says, walking closer to you, eyes staring straight into your dark brown orbs. “Kill her, if you hate her presence bothers you so much.” He says before taking a hold on your shoulders and spinning you around. The woman shook her head, pleading for her life. But all you did is grab onto the pillow and watch her suffocate while struggling. When she was no longer struggling, you immediately let go of the cushions, your back bumping into San’s hard rock chest. 

“That’s my baby.” He whispers softly, hugging you from behind and placing his chin on top of your shoulder. 

Mingi: 

He doesn’t see the point of you still working in your corporate office when all your boss does is humiliate you in front of your co workers. For all he knows, your boss should keep his mouth shut or else he’d kill him. Kill. The word rang into his mind. What if you, the love of his life, kill your boss? It sounded like a good plan. Better even. That night, he stepped out into the night and kidnapped your boss who is easy enough to locate. 

Your self esteem went lower and lower as your boss would continue to humiliate you inside the office. But when you heard that he didn’t come to work today, you were wondering where the devil is he. It wasn’t until you clocked out at 6pm and went straight home. 

“Hi Y/N!” Mingi smiles, waving his hand happily but with your boss all tied up into a chair. Your eyes widened in surprise making you drop your handbag. 

“I can’t let this fat fuck run his mouth and talk shit about my baby. So I did the honors for you.” How could he still smile in a situation like this? He kidnapped your boss and he’s happy about it? 

“And so, to end my baby’s pain, she gets to do this. One time big time only.” He hands you a jagdkommando knife. 

Your breath hitched. “H-how do you have this?” you asked, your voice coming out merely a whisper. Mingi takes a step closer to you, cupping your eyes as he looks into your eyes brimming with tears. “Don’t ask questions like that now, jagi. What matters here is that once we, well you, kill him, all the money he has will be wired into my account and you wouldn’t have to work for that damned office anymore. Don’t you want that?” He leans down and places a kiss on your forehead. 

You turned to face your boss whose wailing around his seat, his pants dampening with his pee. Raising your hand, you brought the knife down on his neck. Hearing that squelching sound before taking the knife out, raising your hand and bringing it to his stomach and pulling it out. Your work clothes stained with his blood, watching your boss bleed out through the large holes you’ve created on his skin with the knife. 

“Don’t hurt yourself now.” He whispers, taking the knife away from your hand. “How was your day today, jagi? Let me run you a hot bath before we have dinner.” He says, taking you upstairs. 

Wooyoung: 

He got a little carried away torturing a guy who confessed to you the other day for liking you. He was having his own little fun by purposefully making him trip on his own feet and stab his legs, dodging him whenever he would lunge at him and then hit his head on the wall. That was what he was doing until you came home. 

“Hear that, idiot? She’s home.” He says, leaving the basement with a mood shift. Happily skipping to the living room to greet you. “Darlinggg~” he flings his arms around you. 

“What’s got you so hyper right now?” You chuckle softly, turning to face him. Instead of replying, he took a hold of your hand and lead you the basement. To your surprise, you see a man whose lying on the floor, pants bloodied and covered in sweat. 

“It’s your turn to get into the fun!” He smiles handing you a russian roulette with only one bullet inside. “I already had my turn with him and I reserved for you the grand finale.” He says, hugging you tightly in his arms. “Think of this as his final dying act. When he dies, the curtains will close and the people will praise you.” He places a big kiss on your cheek. 

You weren’t skilled like Wooyoung, but you hoped that this bullet would go into his head. You took a deep breath and pulled the trigged. And as you wished, the bullet pierced through the skin of his forehead and into his skull. 

Wooyoung clapped and stood up from his seat like a standing ovation. He walks up to you and takes your hand in his. 

“What a natural.” 

Jongho: 

Staring at you is something that Jongho will never get tired of doing. Even when you get embarrassed, Jongho will never keep his eyes off you. If his eyes were his stomach, they would feel so full just by looking at you. Only he can stare at you how he wants to. No one else except him. Not until his next door neighbor accidentally discovered you when you opened the door. 

He was furious at you and at his neighbor and dragged both of you into his basement. Before he left, you pleaded not to let him leave you alone. Seeing the tears in your eyes were his ultimate weakness, he hated the feeling that it was him who made you cry. But you broke a rule, and it is only fitting that you receive a punishment. 

“Wait here” he says, ascending up the stairs and going somewhere. When he came back, he has a 7 needle gauge in his hand. 

“You broke a rule, darling. You shouldn’t have answered the door. If you want me to forgive you, stab his eyes.” He says, your breath hitched. Never once did you imagine yourself killing someone. Let alone be an order from a person. When you sat closer to his neighbor, you quickly pierced the needle into his eye. Letting out a blood curdling scream, your heart raced. Swiftly taking the needle out, the man lets out a cry before screaming again as you did the same into his left eye. 

When he was no longer moving, it was your turn to cry. Tossing the needle away as you brought your knees close to your chest, sobbing. Jongho’s footsteps could be heard behind you, slowly he lifted you up and carried you bridal style. 

“It’s over now, sweetheart. I’m not mad at you anymore.” 

[scarawayfromfallingapart]

but The (After)life of the Party is one of THOSE songs to me that’s like… to be cliche… a kick drum beating in my chest (again) like idk. This is one of those songs where I think they succeeded in writing it better than I’ve ever felt it but here I go trying to analyze it anyway… I realize I am taking your shtick @petewentzisblack1312 … but this song NEEDS to be analyzed and I am going to try and make you like it :) I have been lurking in ur asks as an anon for a couple weeks and I HAVe to say this off anon… I’m sorry to bother u. My greatest hits include my autotune does not equal bad/talentless rant and my Wilson (Expensive Mistakes) mini-analysis 🤪 but also I learn SO MUCH from ur blog I love it. Anyway!!! Analysis of this song:

Tw : mania, depression, anxiety, substance use

To me this song is about coming down from a manic episode, maybe not even necessarily transitioning right into depression but like. Just coming down from it and kinda seeing the world as it is again, and feeling that kind of mellowed out, where your body allows itself to feel tired again. The title makes it more obvious - he’s no longer the life of the party - it’s over, everyone’s gone home, but he’s still there trying in vain to carry it on.

“I’m a stitch away from making it and a scar away from falling apart” is my FAVORITE line (hence my URL lol)… but the fact that this song opens with that and the narrator is oscillating between feeling 100% and feeling like they’re going to breakdown like THAT is what these transitions feel like to me (ok also I generally feel like this on a daily basis). But this line also gives you a hint of how well it is going… like he’s a stitch away from getting there - the cut hasn’t completely healed so he’s not getting there any time soon : but a scar away from falling apart - like a scar has already healed so it’s old hurt that is threatening to tear him apart —> “my old aches become new again”.

Then we get “blood cells pixelate” which I personally find hilarious since this song has been likened to the sims 3 soundtrack 💀 (I played the sims but I refused to have the music on so I have no idea cannot confirm or deny). Butttt this is obviously like a nod to everything being on film like even everything down to the blood coursing through his veins is made into an image, poster boys for your scene am I right? Also has to do with the scar/stitch - his breakdown is there for everyone to see, immortalized on magazine covers and interviews and E!News segments. But like only the blood cells, like no one gives a damn if he heals from this, thats not newsworthy. Eyes dilate (drugs and/or sex but maybe drugs Bc of the next line - full moon pills got him out on the street at night) butttt mania often comes with insomnia as we well know so. Maybe the pills are metaphorical idk

THEN the narrator becomes an observer - it’s no longer introspective, he’s watching someone else work the room, he’s cutting all ties to them loose, just sitting back and relaxing and watching and I always had this vision of Pete and/or patrick watching some girl flit around the room while he sat there with a lazy smile and drank a beer and leaned back in his chair. BUT on thinking on this more… I think- bear with me - maybe… just maybe… he’s watching himself outside of himself like some kind of dissociative thing (I personally experience that but it’s due to anxiety but it is common among just the general population so who knows) and it’s like you’re feeling that irritable high from the manic phase still and you’re trying to push through and just be part of this party right (or just part of life in general right, like the party is metaphorical IMO) and you separate form yourself in order to get through - your mind and body are not one. You have to watch yourself from the inside out, rely on muscle memory to get you through the party or your job or the tour or whatever it was in his case.

also tying back to I’m a stitch away - right like some part of you is cut in half and I’m a scar away - again, you were cut somewhere, something was severed, mind and body maybe… big brain hours (but also I’m probably reaching for that one)

Anyway then we have the “put love on hold” bc fuck if he’s ready for a relationship - he’s watching this girl desperate for stardom, maybe it’s the girl he’s watching work the room (if it’s not a dissociative thing, or maybe it’s both tbh). Her nose runs ruby red (cocaine is probably the cause I’m thinking, she’s doing lines at this party to be working the room). Death’s in a double bed (orgasms… nice one Pete) but really it’s a classic tale of a girl desperate for roles that she’s willing to sleep around to get there, she’s singing songs that could only catch the ear of other desperate people like her… but… Pete is writing THIS song and Patrick is singing it and they are just as desperate, right, like he’s helplessly watching someone enjoy a party and he’s verging on miserable (or he’s watching himself try to enjoy the party while he’s actually miserable) and they’re trying to catch our ears… we are the desperate… —> “I’m here to collect your hearts/it’s the only reason that I sing”

Then the bridge is where he starts to actually breakdown, the vocals get more intense and strained and chaotic, the sims 3 soundtrack music swells, and he repeats the beginning, reiterating that but adding on “kiss away young thrills and kills on the mouths of all of my friends” - to me he wants to take away all their joy and pain (kills could also = orgasm if u want to be nasty lol and tie it into the death in a double bed) and he wants to feel it for himself because right now he feels NOTHING like he’s right in the goddamn middle of feeling great and feeling like shit and again, to me that exemplifies the transition between mania and depression and we are back to square 1 (to me also thrills = mania and kills= depression but that’s just probably dumb lol).

Also he’s kissing it all away - it’s gentle, it’s loving, like brushing someone’s tears away, he’s not trying to be forceful about it, but he feels like HE should be experiencing all the highs and lows not his friends… or he doesn’t want his friends to suffer… both probably and the chorus is unhinged this time, patrick gives it his all, loses it, signifying hey wait, the narrator DID lose it… but then the song ends with the music coming off that swell, slowing down, relaxing, the narrator resignedly signing off “I’m a stitch away”… giving us maybe an etch of hope, that maybe his stitches healed after all and he did make it through (with hearts and wrists intact I am so corny sorry)

ANYWAY tldr I love this song and it means so much to me and like when I was 15 and found it the first time I was always like “why does this one hurt me so bad, like I don’t get it” but like. Now that I know what bipolar disorder is and that I suffer from it I understand lol. I don’t know if this is how Pete intended this idk I feel like I got some lines right but to ME this is what it feels like. Also it is v fun to play on the violin :)