#there are audio recordings of me crashing out over them

[c4shm0neyxxx]

Bare with me here…univerisity setting kang wooyoung x reader having a friends with benefits relationship but surprise reader catches feelings she decides to ignore until one day she learns there are rumors going around campus about wooyoung having multiple girls he sleeps with so she decides to break it off bc maybe they agreed to not sleep around while they have their lil deal going on? And that leaves wooyoung confused bc he doesn’t know what he did wrong until he finds out about the rumors and confronts the reader bc he also caught feelings and he’s like let me put an end to any rumors and since we know he likes to make lil videos this time he keeps the camera rolling while they do their thing but out of respect for the reader and also not wanting people to see what’s his the video doesn’t show much but records the sound of what’s going on for everyone on the campus to shut up with their silly rumors 👀

Ok ngl this was kinda confusing (but that’s ok!!!) so I hope you like this😘

“Rumors & Recordings”

Pairing: Kang Wooyoung x fem!Reader

⸻

You should’ve known this was a bad idea from the beginning.

Friends-with-benefits rarely stayed just that. Not when the lines blurred so easily — in the way Wooyoung would stroke your hair after, or pull you close as if he hated the idea of you leaving his bed. Not when his texts came in at midnight just to say “missed you,” like you were anything more than a body in his sheets.

But you had rules.

And you were foolish enough to believe he’d follow them.

So when whispers started floating around campus — about Wooyoung and a girl from his stats class, then another from his gym club — you told yourself they were just that. Whispers. Cruel rumors. Until your friend accidentally let it slip:

“I thought you and Wooyoung had, like… an open thing? He’s kind of all over the place.”

That was it. The crack that split everything open.

Because no matter what you told yourself — that this wasn’t real, that you weren’t allowed to care — it still hurt. Maybe more than it should have.

You didn’t cry when you ended things. Just gave him a quiet, “We’re done,” before walking out of his dorm.

Wooyoung didn’t chase you. Not at first. Just stared after you, jaw tight, eyes sharp like he was trying to figure out a puzzle he didn’t know he’d been handed.

⸻

Three Days Later

“You’re avoiding me,” he says, cornering you outside the library like it’s nothing. Like you didn’t just shatter whatever fragile thing you had.

“I’m not.” Lie. “We’re not anything anymore. I’m just giving us space.”

Wooyoung frowns. “You ended it out of nowhere.”

“Did I?” Your voice is cold now. Sharper than you want it to be. “Thought maybe you were too busy with your other hookups.”

He goes still. “What are you talking about?”

“Come on, Woo. People talk. They say you’ve been with half the girls in our year. What, did you forget we said no one else while we were—”

His hand shoots up. Not in anger — in frustration. “I haven’t touched anyone but you.”

You blink. “The rumors—”

“Are bullshit.”

Something in his voice stops you. There’s none of his usual cocky charm, no teasing glint in his eyes. He looks… tired. Hurt, even.

“I wouldn’t break the one rule we had,” he says. “You think I’d risk losing this? You?”

You look away.

“I caught feelings too, Y/N.”

It crashes into you like a wave — the admission, the weight of everything unspoken between you.

But he’s not done.

“Let me fix this,” he murmurs. “Let me make sure they know who I’m with. Who I want.”

⸻

That Night

It’s familiar, the way his hands explore your body like they already know every scar, every freckle. But there’s a different energy now — something raw, something laced with emotion neither of you want to name out loud.

You notice the camera first.

Perched silently on his desk. The red light blinking.

“Wooyoung—”

“It’s not for anyone’s eyes,” he says quickly, seeing the look on your face. “Just the audio.”

You freeze.

“I want them to hear what real sounds like,” he says, voice husky. “Let them talk. Let them wonder. But they won’t have a single doubt who I’m with.”

It’s crazy. Messy. Petty.

But you understand it. The need to take back the narrative. The need to show the world that you’re not some secret. That you matter.

So you let him.

The camera rolls, but only the sound of tangled sheets, whispered names, soft gasps, and the distinct, unmistakable rhythm of passion fill the air.

He kisses your collarbone and whispers against your skin, “Only you. Always you.”

And when the audio clip somehow finds its way into the group chat of a certain gossip-prone student society — cropped, tasteful, and full of unmistakable truth — the rumors stop.

Just like that.

⸻

Days Later

You’re walking across campus when a girl smirks and says, “Guess we were wrong about Wooyoung.”

You don’t answer. Just smile — a private, satisfied curve of your lips — and disappear into the arms of the boy waiting by the quad.

He kisses your forehead in front of everyone.

Let them talk.

This time, the story’s yours.

[anteatrrr]

i am extremely extremely extremely ill 🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦

also ignore the bad hands. if you THINK about them or point them out i will cry

edit: ofc i noticed that i forgot to give tape measure prosthetic arms AFTER i posted this bro😭😭fixed it…

glitchtape and my death!

1st art is in my head where they sorted everything out!

others are glitchy partying! i feel like they barely ever get themself drunk (or go out in the first place) but the divorce hit hard, and beer keg offered.

i am actually terrified of posting but the obsession has gotten so bad i have to. sorry for the DISGUSTING art💔💔

i usually draw glitchy with curly hair but i feel like they’d straighten it every so often. so. playing with that idea because i actually do not have anything else to do.

BOOO🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅I HATE THE TWO OF THEMM!!!🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅i say as 2763 viginitllion pieces of artwork, screenshots, and videos of them fall out of my back pocket

[wonderjanga]

Marvel not Caring

I feel like the few times Billy needs to get something over with, he just doesn’t care. Like honestly, I’m going to connect this to my Marvel Compilations post. (In that post I just talked about how Marvel could be a clip farm and the potential vids he would have) Let’s say these are all from the 8 minutes and 47 seconds of the Big Red Cheese tweaking out vid. Cause why not?

One day, Marvel’s doing patrol. See, he wants to get it done with, hopefully with no major villain attacks happening, because Darla has a school play, and he wants to see her, even if she got cast as a tree. But of course, things didn’t go his way, especially just when he needs to start heading out for the play.

*vid opens up to Marvel floating in the sky looking down at a Female Villain*

Female Villain: *attacking people and causing general havoc*

Marvel: *looks around for any cameras and doesn’t see the one recording the vid*

Female Villain: *sees him and his about to do something*

Marvel: *winds hand back (as if he needed to) and backhands her like an abusive husband*

Any Nearby Civilians: *cover their mouths as they look away. A good chunk of them sped walked away*

Female Villain: *knocked the fuck out*

I’m telling you right now, a good chunk of the comments on that video were something along the lines of ““that’s not right,” I whisper to myself as I speed walk away” or ““You don’t hit a woman,” I think to myself as I step into the safety of my car and drive away.” All stuff like that.

The day after that…

Marvel: “I just ended the problem as soon as I could, guys! I don’t beat women!” Superman: “We know! We know, but did you have to it so… so ferociously?”

Marvel: “Ferociously?”

Flash: “Dude, you looked like you’ve been waiting to do that.”

Marvel: “I haven’t! It was just effective, and I was on a time crunch.”

Flash: “Time crunch?”

Marvel: “Yeah, I had to see this person I know go be in a play.”

Batman: “Hn. You could’ve just said you wanted to see your child’s play. I’ll admit I’ve done something similar when Robin was in a play of his own.”

Superman: “Yeah. If the play thing is true, that’s a valid reason for any father to do that.”

Marvel: *a little confused as to why they assumed Darla was his kid* “Uh, yeah. I didn’t want to miss it.”

Flash: “Who was it for by the way? Junior or Mary?”

Marvel: “Neither.”

*silence*

Marvel: “You guys don’t know her. She isn’t a hero.”

Flash: “Dude… you have another kid? Why do you never tell us these things about yourself??”

Then, there’s another clip of Junior and Marvel. Beast Boy recorded the audio for shiggles and hid behind a wall but was surprisingly met with:

Marvel: “Okay, you know what, Junior? I don’t care that you’re disabled. Put your hands up.”

Junior: “Dude, I am not fighting you. You’re stronger than me.”

Marvel: “So? You’re only a little bit weaker. If you paid Mary like five dollars, I’m sure she’d fight with you. Now anyways put your hands up.”

Junior: “She’s not even here! And, hey- hey- Stop that!”

A lot of crashes and bangs could be heard for about 30 seconds. The video then ended.

Then, there’s another clip of him and Mary sibling arguing, but of course, most people think that Cap’s her and Juniors dad. So, when they say certain things, people tend to view it more extremely.

Marvel and Mary: *arguing*

Marvel: *says something completely outlandish that you should absolutely not say to a child*

Mary: *barely blinks and says something right back*

Marvel: “Oh so help me Gods, if we weren’t related, I would scrape your face across the pavement.”

Mary: “Oh yeah? Well if we weren’t related, I would skin you with a butter knife!”

The two proceeded to continue arguing before they somehow make up mid insult and go get ice cream like nothing happened.

Bonus:

Black Adam and Marvel: *floating up in the sky*

Black Adam: “You know, you’ve never said anything remotely similar to that to me.”

Marvel: “What’re you talking about?”

Black Adam: “I would scrape your face across the pavement.”

Marvel: *nearly has a heart attack when he says that*

Black Adam: “You said that to the girl. You’ve shown more disdain for that girl than you have for I.”

Marvel: “Uhhhh…” *panicking cause he doesn’t know about the video*

Black Adam: “Do you… not take me seriously?”

Marvel: “No, no, no, of course I do!”

In this AU, Marvel doesn’t really throw much shade at his villains aside from the occasional comment and that’s it.

[ashisgreedy]

Theodore Nott x F!Reader

“Camera Shy”

Tags: SMUT 18+ MDNI | Established Relationship | Just p0rn| Dominate/Sadistic!Theo | Biting | Fingering | Recording the act | Rough Sex (reader is flexible ig lol) | Multi Os | Creampie | All Chars over 18+ |

WC: 2,372

You hear three knocks on your bedroom door. His 5-minute warning he’d sent via text had been accurate down to the minute. Your heart raced to see him after the hour-long sexting spree you two just had while he was at an obligatory dinner.

You open the door and see his expressionless eyes pierce into yours. He steps inside with his usual swagger and wraps his arm around your waist. He slams the door behind him as his lips crash into yours. The scent of cigarettes and ash envelopes you. You wrap your arms around him but the sudden force at which you are shoved into the wall stops all action.

Theo pulls away from the kiss, ghosting his mouth down your jawline. “I missed you.” His words are a whisper on your skin. “I can’t believe you had the guts to send a video like that, full audio, knowing damn well I was in public.” He licked your skin, nibbling down the column of your neck. “I need you, now.”

You gathered that much, what with how eager he was the second he walked into the door. “Then have me.” You answer him.

Teeth sink into your neck while hands trail down over your torso. His hand cups your ass, letting out a low groan.

Eager hands palm your torso, rough and possessive. Your blouse is unbuttoned halfway before it's yanked over your head. He captures your bottom lip between his teeth before shoving his tongue into the heated kiss.

“You have such a beautiful body," He murmurs, running his fingers along the edge of your bra. One strap falls down your shoulder, zealous hands cupping your breasts. He squeezes and rubs, teasingly avoiding your hardening nipples. "And it's all mine to enjoy, isn't it?”

With one hand, he skillfully unclasps your bra. The garment goes slack and the straps slide down your arms. It falls to the floor and Theo lets out a gruff sound at the sight.

Your breath hitches as his fingers tease your nipples. “Yes…” you whisper. “I’m all yours.”

He pinches the soft peaks, watching your face twist in pleasure. His hips pressing firmly against yours keep you flush against the wall. You press back, adding friction to his hardening cock.

“You’re mine.” He says in a way like he's daring you to argue. His face is so close that his nose presses into yours. “You’re all mine.” He tries to maintain eye contact with you no matter what direction you look. One hand slowly moves down between your thighs.

“Yours…” You say, letting out a whimper when his hand rubs your core over your pajama shorts.

“Spread them, spread them, come on.” He demands.

You open your legs wider for him, losing some height as you do. “Like this?”

He slips his warm hand down the front of your shorts and panties, gliding his fingers down your slick slit. “Perfect.” He presses his forehead into yours. “You’re soaked.” His voice was laced with cockiness. “Were you this wet when you were playing with yourself on video?” He teased. You shook your head ‘no’ and he circled his fingers over your clit. “I want to see what is mine.”

It was easy for him to push your shorts and panties down. The cloth pooled at your ankles. “What do you want me to do?” You ask, catching his intense stare.

“Get on the bed.” He finally backs away to give you a chance to move. His eyes are still locked onto you, like a predator ready to pounce.

A couple steps and you're sitting on the plush mattress. The cool air from the fan makes you feel a bit shy being the only naked person in the room.

Theo gives you a seductive smile, nodding in approval. “Lay back, present yourself to me.” He demands.

You avert your eyes and do as he asks, opening your legs for him to see. “Like thi-”

“Wider.” He cuts you off. “Don’t be shy now that I’m in the room with you.”

A flush of heat washes over you as you actively open your legs wider for him. Your heart raced as he walked closer, eyes glued on your intimate display.

“Better.” He said. “Now touch yourself like you were in that video.”

You swallow thickly and reach down between your legs. You were wetter than you realized. “I want you to touch me…” You say, gliding your finger along your slit.

Theo takes out his phone and points it at your cunt. “Oh, I will.”

“What are you doing?” You ask, moving to close your legs when you hear the telltale sound of the phone recording start.

He grabbed one of your knees and pushed until you were open for him again. “I want to make my own video.” He rubbed your thigh slowly. “Now do as I said, darling.”

He moved the camera to show your face and your blush deepened. He recorded himself rubbing and flicking your nipple until you flinched. You were panting, breathing faster with every moment that passed.

“More…” You said. When his hand moved to your opposing breast, he pinched the sensitive nub. You moaned at the sensation sending pleasureable shockwaves through your body.

“Fuck, amore mio.” He whispered. The camera lens followed his finger on its journey down your stomach between your spread legs. You’d played with yourself like he asked, but nothing compared to the sensation of his touch.

His phone grew closer as he parted your folds, capturing how slick you were on film. His digit traced your asshole and you inhaled sharply as butterflies rushed into your stomach.

“Theo.” You groaned, tired of being teased.

He dragged his gaze back up to your face. “What?” He said, using his hand to cup your cunt. “Tell me what you want. Beg for me so this video is worth rewatching.”

You licked your lips “Don’t show this video to anyone…”

A curious smile grew on his face. “You think I’d do that?” He leaned in. “I can’t even stand another guy glancing your way, there's no way in hell I’d show anyone this video.”

You nodded in understanding and slowly began to grind your hips against his palm. “Please…” You bit your lip and looked away from the camera when he brought it to your face. “Please… um.. finger me.”

Theo looked down with a concentrated look and managed two fingers into your entrance. He immediately curled them against your gspot and roughly finger fucked you.

“Fuck!” You cried out, your legs closing involuntarily.

“Open your fucking legs.” He demanded, camera on your pussy while he fingered the hell out of you.

The lack of build-up made you see stars. You tried your best to spread your legs again but the intensity of the sensation made you writhe instead. “I can’t! I.. oh gods!” Your moans filled the room and Theo’s ministrations only got more intense.

You could hear your ever-growing wetness the faster he went. The veins in his forearm stood out as he used more of his strength to bring you to a sudden orgasm.

“AH!” You screamed, the sensation rocketing through your body. You arched while waves of electric pleasure pulsed through every nerve you had. You were acutely aware of how loud you were being but you literally saw stars and couldn’t be bothered to care.

He removed his fingers just as roughly and set the phone down on the bed. “That was beautiful, Amore.” His belt clunk to the ground.

You gasped, sucking in air while your heart pounded in your chest. “What the fuck.” You managed to say. He only stood naked before you for a second before he slid onto the bed, scooping your legs under his arms.

The position had your legs resting on his shoulders while his cock prodded your entrance. He grabbed his phone again, not worried about the angle this time “Beg for it, beg for my cock.” He demanded.

“I'm still catching my breath. I-”

“Beg, you need my cock, you need to feel full. Beg for it.” He growled, his face rubbing against yours.

“Theo!” Your legs shook at the new angle. “Fuck… fuck! Give me your cock. Please! Please I want it.”

“Hm.” He growled. His teeth nipped at your cheek and ear.

“Please!” You began again, feeling his cock slide along your slit. “Please. Theo, fuck me. Please fuck me. I need it.”

He didn’t oblige and instead sucked at the skin on your neck creating a hickey mark. His fit body moved in a subtle thrusting rhythm.

You whimpered. “Fuc- PLEASE! I want to feel full, I want… I want to feel your cum dripping out of me.”

He groaned against your neck and let up on the patch he was sucking with a pop. “You want my cum, baby?” He asked, still rutting against your pussy.

“Yes! And I want you to record it dripping out of me. Please, please, Theo.”

He was happy with this and used one hand to guide his cock to your entrance. “Shit…” He slowly pressed inside you. “How are you still so fucking tight?” He moaned when he sank all the way inside. “You were made to be fucked by me.” He kissed you roughly before continuing. “You were made for me. I know you crave a rough fuck. Tell me. Say it.”

“Yes, yes.” You nod, feeling a swirl of overstimulation from the hard orgasm you’d just had. “I like it rough.” You agreed. “Please fuck me, please.”

Theo sat up, letting your legs drop, and set his phone to the side. He moved back down closer to your face and started thrusting harshly. You wrapped your legs around him, aiding him to fuck you even harder. His biceps flexed as he held himself up above you.

With each thrust, you felt yourself slide more and more up the bed. It was too much, yet it felt like pure bliss. Your eyes shut while his cock hit just the right spot inside to make you scream. His moans, mixed with yours, began to grow in volume.

“Will you come for me again, amore? Hm? Do you have it in you?” He asked. His knees dug harder into the bed as he held your shoulders so you’d stop sliding away.

He was out of breath, just as you were. Sweat beaded on his forehead and his brown waves began to stick to his skin. His thrusts were getting sloppy while his skin heated up.

You needed a bit of encouragement to come like he asked, so you reached down and rubbed your clit as best as you could with the heavy thrusting your boyfriend was doing.

Your toes tingled and your vision blurred. Theo breathed like he was running a marathon while your head pressed back into the mattress. You pinched your eyes shut as another body-shaking orgasm rushed through you.

“Yes, baby, yes. Come on my cock. Fucking hell.” He encouraged.

As your body pulsed with pleasure, he lifted himself up at a new angle. He gave a few more pumps before he was moaning your name, gasping at the intensity of the climax. He grabbed your breasts while his cock pulsed inside you.

A few seconds passed before he collapsed back down on you. His arms wrapped around you protectively while he caught his breath. You hugged him tight, lips kissing every part of him that was close enough to you.

Several minutes passed and his softening cock was still inside you. He finally pulled back enough to kiss your lips. His kisses were a series of short pecks while he smiled down at you. “So pretty.” He kissed you once more before looking around the bed. He spotted his phone and he checked the screen, it was still recording from what you saw.

He took a deep breath and pushed his hair off his face. “Okay, amore mio. One last thing. Stay still.” He asked, his voice much more calm than it had been all night.

He kissed the back of your hand before backing away. The camera moved down to where you were connected. Carefully, Theo pulled out. You hissed at the feeling but breathed a sigh of relief when he was finally out.

He helped ease your legs back open with one hand. “Relax, babe.” He said, pressing his hand on your lower stomach.

You did as he said, and relaxed. You could feel the warmth begin to pool between your legs within a second. Theo bit his lip and moved the camera closer. His cum oozed out of your spent hole and dripped down onto the bed. He used his finger and gently coaxed more out. “So good.” He praised. “That's what you wanted, right, darling?”

You nodded slowly. “Yes…” Your legs trembled.

Finally, you heard the tone of the video being stopped. You relaxed and watched as Theo dropped the phone onto the nightstand. He then scooped you back up into his arms, a small satisfied smile on his face. His kisses were endless as his hand rubbed your back.

It wasn’t long before your shower suggestion was taken into consideration and you two shared a nice warm soak in the bath together afterward. It helped ease any sore muscles that may arise by morning and gave you two more time to cuddle one another close.

“What are you going to do with that video.” You finally asked as the bubbles in the bath began to dissipate.

Theo opened his eyes and looked at you with amusement. “I’m going to watch it every day for the rest of my life.”

“Shut up,” You laughed, splashing him with the sudsy water.

He laughed, wiping the water off his face. “It’s true! And maybe, we can make more in the future.” He winked playfully and kissed your cheek.

.

.

.

Thanks for reading! I don’t know much about Theo yet but I was… in need.

[finnscozycove]

It’s hereeee!!!

First off. BIG THANKS to @infrequent-creator for helping me out with the script. They are so kind and nice and you should definitely check them out. Unless you are a minor. Stay away children stay away.

Next- If anyone saw my crash out yesterday no you didn’t 👀. but if the audio sounds weird that’s why i was freaking out and i kinda couldn’t handle re recording it again I was starting to feel really light headed so sorry if the audio sounds weird. I had already re recording it like 4 times i couldn’t do it again 😭😭

ALSO PLEASE COMMENT IF YOU LIKE MY CONTENT I LOVE FEEDBACK

THE SCRIPT WILL BE BELOW THE AUDIO.

SCRIPT:

Alastor: Luciferrrr!!!! Happy valentines dayyyy!

Lucifer: isnt that like 2 weeks from now ?

Alastor:… was it? Im not good with this stuff. i’ve never had a partner before you.

Lucifer: Yeah okay… *still thinks he's cute for trying*looks at stuff in his hands* Also, what are you carrying? What is all that stuff?

*Alastor hands lucifer a basket full of candy and what looks like feathers and a mini teddy bear*

Alastor: A gift , for you my dear. Happy Valentine's Day, Angel.

Lucifer: Oh! Candy, and a teddy bear! Look at its little horns, thank you darling. I love them.

Alastor: look at what they're resting on..

*lucifer looks deeper in gift bag*

Lucifer: oh! you used all these feathers as like plush to hold them! how creative!

Alastor: almost correct, your highness , the feathers are part of the gift. I noticed you've been leaving them around the hotel, and seeing them so much gave me an idea

Luci: An idea? What idea would that be?

Alastor: I thought your pretty feathers would be useful… Why don't you , go undress & lie down! arms above your head

Lucifer: I know the drill Bambi ~

*Luci lies in position and suddenly ropes would appear tieing his arms above his head*

Lucifer: Ooo~ alastor, how Kinky~

Alastor: oh hush, Im not here to doing anything that involves your deviant desires lucifer.

Lucifer: deviant desires? I have no idea what you're talking about *teasing/sexy tone*

Alastor chuckles: sure you don't darling. Now quit squirming and let me bind these delicate wrists of yours with this rope.

Lucifer, sighs in delight: mmm, it's soft. How considerate of you Bambi.

Alastor: anything for you, Angel.

Luci: so what's on the agenda today?

Alastor: I was thinking a little ... sensory play~

Lucifer *shudders in excitement*

Lucifer: sounds amazing~

Alastor: please lift your head so I can secure this~ *alastor lifts a blindfold into view*

Lucifer: a blindfold eh? Thats new... *he's still excited as Alastor slides it over his eyes*

Alastor: Well I have to keep some tricks up my sleeve~ get ready~

Lucifer : oh I'm so ready, BambiIIIEHEHEHE!

*he was started by the tickling sensation on his sides*

Lucifer: Wait wahahait alastohohor! *alastor's fingers started tickling up and down Lucifer's sides* Dohohonont ! I wasn't expectihihing thihiIHIS! *the king squeaks as his ribs start being plucked at like guitar strings*

Lucifer: A-Ahaha! Alastohohohor! Nohohononono! *Lucifer started squirming more and tugged at his wrists. would writhing against the ropes quickly realizing he cant get free*

Lucifer: W-what?! How did you get your- your hands on angelic- a-angelic rope!!! *he managed to get out through wild giggles*

Alastor: Turns out our ally Miss Carmine, she sells all kinds of angelic things not just weapons~

Lucifer was still squirming uncontrollably at the tickly touches that had now started in his armpits , causing his giggles to morph to laughter

Lucifer: Th-Thihis is so cruhuhuel!! *he whined through the laughter*

Alastor: Bold of you to assume that a few measles fingers is all I have in store for you, my sensitive angel~

*ruffling sounds as Alastor reaches into the bag of feathers to grab a large white feather*

*Lucifer totally unaware of what was about to befall him as he wiggled in the binds*

Lucifer: w-what else could there beEEEHEHEHE! AHAHA ALASTOHOHOR NOHOHO! I-It tickles so BAHAHAHAD! *the fallen Angel squealed as he felt his own prized feather going around & dipping into his belly button, driving him up the wall*

Alastor: I always liked tickling this little spot, who could ever believe such a small spot could be a big weakness for our king of pride. Not very proud now, are you your majesty?

*Alastor was being a little meaner than usual since he wanted Lucifer to feel extra vulnerable in this moment. He couldn't help himself.*

Lucifer: SHUHUHUT UHUHUP!! D-don't teahehese MEHEHHEHEHE! *his back arched and his toes clenched as he tried to fight the maddening feeling. The feather now slowing climbing the king's sternum up to his neck and ears. Flicking and teasing the tender vulnerable spots. Alastor's free hand reaching to gently hold his lover's head in place*

Lucifer: NOHOHOHOHO! ALASTOOHOHOR! Thihihis isn't fahahahhair!

Alastor: fair? Who said I was fair darling, I said I was tickling you till I was satisfied & im not stopping any sooner than that. So you're just going to have to deal with it my love. *the radio demon reaches to grab another feather. Abandoning the king's ears, Alastor turns on the bed to face Lucifer's bare feet. One clawed hand grabbing the king's ankle as he held the feathers in an upside down V shape. The feathers began sawing between Lucifer's adorable little hoof toes. The black nails clenching on contact as he let out a yelp of ticklish surprise, soon replaced by high pitch belly laughter.

Lucifer : D-DARLIHIHIHING PLEHEHHEEASE N-NOHOHOT THEHEERE!

Yes my dear, there, these cute little hoovsies were just dying for my attention, I couldn't deprive them any longer~

Lucifer; tryinf not to die: N-NOHOHOHO MOHOHORE!! *wheezing and cackling* MERCY MEHEHERCYYY!

*Alastor waited about another 15 seconds before stopping, but removed the feathers from his wiggling hooves*

*lucifer is panting & wheezing as his chest heaves*

Lucifer: you're... s-so .... mean... *the king whined in tiredness*

Alastor chuckled, lifting the blind fold to kiss his love on the cheek. Staring into his livers eyes.

Alastor: You look beautiful like this, my love. Flushed face, wet eyes, tickle drunk smile stuck on your face. I adore you like this. *A hand holds Luficer's cheek. Once.. *kiss sound* twice... *kiss kiss sound*, a couple more kiss sounds, making Lucifer giggle softly*

Lucifer: s-shut uhup, you just like to bully me.

Alastor: perhaps, but for now, we rest. Let me release you.. *fiddling with the blessed ties. Once freed, Lucifer wraps his arms around his partner*

Lucifer: it wasn't.. so bad you know. I had a long day so that actually helped me feel a little better.

Alastor: you think I couldn't tell ? Why do you think I did all this?

Lucifer, chuckles: you're ridiculous

Alastor: love you too, my dear Luci.

[freakyformer]

This is 18+ writing so be cautious…

HACK COUGH

A bittersweet memory part 2: I keep thinking about it

After D-16’s and Orions little rendezvous in the supply room, they vowed to never talk about it. It was clear they were under the influence of the drugged energon that made them act this way but…why did darkwing hide it? Why did he take more than 5 cubes and disappear into the halls? Such questions made D’s head rumble with possible answers but tries not to put too much thought into it.

Orion was acting more…optimistic as usual like he wanted to do more dares or crazy stunts. Orion infact, loved the little incident he has with D and would often tease him on one day he might top him instead. He could be mining and the events of that night made his valve clench on to nothing while his spike was slowly pressurized.

D-16 was in his thoughts but the memories of the supply room wouldn’t leave his mind. His memory banks reminded him of the night like a record player, over and over again. Whenever D tried to talk to Orion, all he could see was Orions lewd face from when they fragged that night.

Soon it was night again and everyone was in their recharge stations. All but Orion. See, he recharged in the middle of the day so he can have energy for the night and more stamina. D-16 was peacefully recharging then Orion came infront of his recharge pod and step inside, surprising fitting both of them.

Orion stared at D-16’s sleeping stare and placed his hand on his faceplate. He softy nuzzled it with one of his digits as his spike began to pressurize again. He opened his pelvis panel letting his spike bob free, slightly poking D in the process. Now D was half awake due to the sudden shift of his recharge pod and the lazy hand on his faceplate but Orion didn’t notice.

It wasn’t until he heard heavy labored breathing which made him crack open his optic a little. There, he saw Orions hand palming his pressured spike right in front of him, poking him ever slightly within each stroke. D’s own spike started to pressurize at the sight of it as Orion optics were lidded and his other hand still at D’s faceplate, no intentions of removing it.

“Your…ughn…so beautiful when you sleep D..” Orion muttered, nuzzling his digit against the warm faceplate. “You may…ah!.. just kill me for this but…ngh…I couldn’t care less…” Orion muttered again, raising his optics to look at D’s face, still unaware that D-16 is now fully awake and hearing everything he’s saying. “That…hah…day in the supply room…” Orion started. The mention of the supply room made D tense up a little, why was Orion bringing it up? “I never felt such emotions. The way you…Ngh!…thrusted your spike into me…whispering sweet nothings in my audio receptors…hah…I couldn’t forget that…even if I tried.” Orion said a bit louder as he was now palming himself faster.

The confrontation made D’s spike harden and throb upon hearing it. D’s optics opened, full of want and desire as his faceplate heated up. “You mean that…Orion pax?” D-16 said as he whispered in Orions audio receptors. Orions optics widened, he didn’t expect D to hear all of what was said but that thought soon Dimished as D’s own spike bobbed out, tip glistening with lubricant.

D took Orions hand and led him to some random secluded spot where they wouldn’t be seen. There, D-16’s lips crashed onto Orions with their glossas immediately tangling onto one another full of longing. Orion pulled away to bite and suck at D’s neck cables which made him groan softly, opening his valve components and little trickles of lubricant sliding down his servos. The smells drowsing them more into desire as Orions slowly moved his hand all around D-16, biting harder on his neck cables within every moan or groan enticing his audio receptors.

Orions hand hovered around D’s valve, touching around it but not directly as D’s hips bucked into Orions hand. Orion noticed and started smirking as he pulled away from the neck cables to look into D-16’s optics.

“Please…” D-16 pleaded.

“Please what D?” Orion asked, rubbing the exterior outside of the valve.

“I need you Orion pax…I need you so bad…” D-16 said as he locked his optics with Orions.

Orion chuckles at D’s pleas and used a digit to rub his valve but not direct sticking it inside, atleast not yet. He continued to rub the valve with a singular digit and soon pushed it inside, earning a moan from D. He slowly began to thrust the digit inside, feeling all the nodes and interior design of the valve with D’s low labored breathing. Orion added another digit and started moving them faster inside his valve, both of their spikes pressured as they both went in for a deep sloppy kiss with their glossas messily moving around their dermas.

Orion couldn’t handle it anymore, he removed his digits out of D’s valve and lined his spike up toward the opening. He pushed the tip inside, feeling the warm stickiness inside as he continued to push in. D-16 gave a high pitched moan as the spike went in and he felt his valve being stretched deliciously. Orion held D’s leg up and began thrusting the spike inside him as he moved his other hand to D’s neck, slightly squeezing it as he started to moved harder. His hips slamming into D’s as both mechs moaned all pitches. Clanging of their hips being slammed could be heard within the secret area with Orion putting a couple digits in D’s mouth to quiet him up then began to thrust into him faster. D-16 was taken aback by this sudden pace but he got accustomed to it and the clanging noises was louder and faster as the two mechs was close to overloading.

Orion shut his eyes tightly as he gave in a few hard thrusts and overloaded inside D, his warm sticky lubricant filling the inside of the valve. The warmness sent D to over load as well as he gripped Orion’s arms with a loud moan emerging from his vocal cords. The area was filled with heavy breaths of the mechs who just fragged as they stared into each other’s optics. Orions spike slightly softened as he pulled out the valve and his lubricant dripping out of D. The sight was beautiful as the spikes went back inside their pelvis panel.

“Told you I can top you” Orion said with a smirk.

“Shut up.” D-16 replied.

THANKS FOR READING😻

Authors note: SO! Part 3 will be on the way and this took like a day and half so I apologize for the hold up! This just came through after eating my mind up and i just had to write it down with a few improvisements. A note is very appreciated!

[ladyaldhelm]

Making Gifs Part 1 - Capturing Video

I am making this for @errruvande but I thought maybe others could use this guide to. This is my own personal workflow on how I make my gifs. Everyone has their own way of doing it, and there is no right or wrong way, but I have found this works best for me, with my limited tools and since I do not have photoshop.

Please note I am not an expert lol! There are people out there making far better gifs than me, and many other gifmaking resouces on Tumblr that are probably better than mine.

Keep reading below >>>

So there are two ways that I have found that work for capturing video. If you have the discs like I do, using a program like Videobyte BD-DVD Ripper works really well to grab video clips from Blu-Rays and DVD's. I recommend only using Blu-Rays if you have them. since DVD's are much lower quality.

However I have noticed the videos I captured with this program tend to be dark and have some compression artifacts, even when rip to an MKV with high quality settings. So I use a different method which I feel produces higher quality video captures.

I use Windows Screen Recorder (I have Win11 but this will work for all versions of Windows) with the quality settings set to High. In order to do this, go to Settings > Gaming > Captures and set the following:

Make sure the Video Quality is set to High, set your Screenshots folder, turn off Audio (you don't need it), and keep the frame rate to 30 fps.

For Windows 11 press WIN + ALT + R to activate the screen recorder. There is usually a bit of a delay so make sure you start a few seconds before the scene you want to capture. And try to keep the length of the capture below about 90 seconds; the shorter the better.

______________________________________________________________

Capturing Sequential Caps

So, for those of you with Photoshop, you can import your video directly into the program and make your gif from there. But I found that Photopea really does not like videos, and will stall and crash if I load a video directly. So I have to capture sequential screencaps to make my gifs.

I use VLC Media Player. There are a few others out there that take sequential caps, but I have not been able to get them to work myself.

Download and install the latest version. Then go to your settings to set up the Sequential Caps function. They have a great guide on their website here but I will reiterate it in this post.

Go To Tools > Preferences and then at the bottom of the screen select the All radio button to show all settings.

Select Video from the left menu. Scroll down about halfway until you see the Snapshot section. Choose the folder where you want the caps to go.

3. Then, under Video on the left, expand the Filters list.

4. Check the "Scene Video Filter" from the list.

5. Then scroll down on the left menu under Filters and click on Scene Filter. This will open up the settings for that particular filter.

6. Set the Image Format to PNG.

7. Then for the Recording Ratio, change to "1". The Recording Ratio is the frame interval. So for example, if it was set to "300" (with a 30fps video), then it would take one cap every 10 seconds. Setting it to "1" will make it take a cap once per frame.

8. None of the other settings need to be changed.

9. One more important setting, otherwise this will not work! Close the menu, and go back to Tools > Settings and leave it on Simple. Go to the Video section and MAKE SURE the output is set to "Automatic". This is important because if it is not on Automatic the Scene Filter won't work!

Then just open your video with VLC. VLC will automatically take the screencaps while the video is playing. If you pause the video, it will stop taking caps.

NOTE: For smoother gifs, change your playback speed to be slower. Go to the top menu > Playback > Speed > Slower (fine). The more you click this the slower the video will playback, and that means more caps will be taken over that time frame. I usually set it to 0.75x, but if you want even smoother gifs for really short clips, you can set it even slower than that.

Your screenshot folder will look like this:

Then we are done with this part and onto Photopea! Which I will go into detail in another post: PART 2

[fuckyeahmcrobot5eva]

Yay I love The Sandfleas (Aquabats blasphemy I know) so here's my little appreciation post for them! (It also doubles as some notes for myself for later)

Though their designs seem pretty loose and change fairly often there are some established characters to The Sandfleas. Not all of them have names to go with their designs but the few that do have been labelled above. Both within their art and vs me going through image file names from their old site from the 2000s on the internet archive and adding the names in myself.

The Sandfleas used to have a preview website on Parker Jacobs's website which is sadly now missing, HOWEVER, from what I've found on the internet archive I managed to grab some screenshots.

Lots of mock-up merch that I don't believe ever got to see the light of day. Though it would be funny to see them trying to pawn off Ironcrosses lmao

Most of the funny buttons at the bottom of the site sadly took me to a login screen and I have no idea if it actually functioned at any point or not. Even trying to cheat my way around it didn't work either. How sad!

Who knows what wonderful things could have been behind "Instant Virus" and "Fang's sister"? Mysteries!!! XD

Now Here's some good snips from their 2000s site what made me laugh. True Aquabat haters through and through.

As seen above mentioned in their "shop", The Sandfleas do have CDs! Well, at least one. Apparently from what I've read around at one of The Aquabat's shows apparently The Sandfleas showed up instead and performed and gave out their CDs? - No real proof of this but it's a silly enough thing I read and I think thats funny enough to mention and half believe at least.

The image they had of their album cover on their site was really saturated and crusty but this scan I found over a reupload seems a lot more pleasant on the eyes. Link here to check it out!

In this album four of our favorite Aquabats return as their own enemies to make music.

Mel Sandflea - Parker Jacobs ((Professor Monty Corndog))

Fang Sandflea - Christian Jacobs ((MC Bat Commander))

Breathe Sandflea - Chad Larson ((Crash Mclarson))

Spodie Sandflea - Corey Pollock ((Chainsaw the Prince of Karate))

additionally

Bubba Sandflea - Tyler Jacobs ((The Pigbat))

He is credited to Backup vocals but does not appear in any of the recorded songs. Weird.

Anyway, enjoy some fun little snippets I took

These audio clips come from their CD album Four Songs Four Jerks, specifically from the song "You're Super Duper Dumb and Your Mom is Ugly Too-" Good sound bites of Christian Jacobs if you ask me lol ((Currently offering my kidney and first born to whoever can help me get my dirty hands on their CD))

There also might be other songs other than from that album but I can't really find much online about it. Though Parker Jacobs did post this "Unearthed Sandfleas rarity" to his youtube channel back in 2016. It's also where I got the image and names for some additional Sandfleas. "Lost Tapes" on the album cover definetly seems fitting.

So yeah that's it. There is no real point to this post besides me just wanting to write about these niche little characters that are a part of the big picture of The Aquabats. Feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong, this is just some info I've gathered over a few days and who knows how wrong I can really be. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[strawberryshortcake1495]

Mabel and Wendy are taking a hike through the forest when a voice recorder comes flying out of the sky and hits Mabel on the head. “Oww!” She whines. Wendy picks it up. “A voice recorder! Hold on, I can connect this to my cassette player back at my house. Come on, Mabel!” Wendy gives the 13-year old girl a reassuring pat on the head before grabbing her arm and running off. Once they reach Wendy’s home, Mabel greets the Corduroy brothers and they make their way into Wendy’s room. The redhead grabs a beige cassette tape and puts the voice recorder inside it. “I hope it’s not cursed or anything…” Mabel says, walking over to the cassette and leaning her head and crossed arms on the table as the audio begins to play.

“Oh, Grunkle Stan…Grunkle Ford…Oh god, I’m praying you hear this…I-I know you’re probably confused and worried but it’s okay! I’m gone now. That rumbling you heard? I reactivated the portal and I-I jumped through it. I can’t hurt you now. I managed to hijack this weird ship that was flying by and I’m currently d-driving it right now. Please just…listen to me. This whole mess started this morning. I saw the little cliff in Gravity Falls and I thought it would make a cool hangout spot for me and Dipper. God, why did I think- I…I just wanted to spend some time with my brother before our 13th birthday. But then- then- it happened so fast. I fell into this weird trap door, Dipper went after me, and then there were these weird robot aliens and…and…I thought I could- (whirring sounds) *sobs* I tried to fight them off but they grabbed Dipper and… *voice breaks* Dipper…Dipper’s dead. He t-trusted me…Please! Don’t make me remember that! And Soos? I know you’re there too. That letter I sent you at 3AM? I-I was wrong. I won’t be looking forward to shenanigans and awkward teenage years. Only suffering… *hic* pain. *gasps* (more whirring sounds) If you never see me again, just… *voice cracks* please listen! I was so stupid and arrogant to think I could beat those stupid aliens! *crying* I tried to save him but he was already gone…I can’t…can’t hurt you too. I-I’m a monster. I shouldn’t be alive- (loud whirring and crashing sounds)”

Mabel stood there, hands covering her agape mouth as the crackling audio slowly stuttered to a stop. “Dear god…” Wendy let out a shaky breath. “What was that?” Mabel didn’t notice her breathing had become louder and heavier when Wendy wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and held her tight. As Mabel’s mind scrambled for answers, it lingered to the old book Bill made. The one that Grunkle Ford was hiding for a good reason. While reading that book, she learned that she and Dipper…they only survived in this universe. Thinking about all the other Mabels and Dippers that weren’t so lucky suddenly made her nauseous. She pushed herself out of Wendy’s arms, into the bathroom, and puked out the contents of her lunch and breakfast.

[valeriefauxnom]

16 Seconds (Or: Please Help)

Don't worry, nothing dire here, but can someone who knows the JP audio of Dragalia Lost better than I possibly place the mysterious person in the castle story 'Costume Contest'?

The relevant section, for the source of my fruitless search:

I honestly have no earthly idea who it could be. The main cast doesn't seem to quite fit, since Luca and Ranzal both are very distinctive in JP and it doesn't quite sound like either of them to me, and I think I tried looking through JP!Euden's brief voice line files, the sort of generic utterances they used to fill up most the non-important stories, I wasn't hearing anything in here in there.

But, then, who is it?

At first I tried glancing at the cast of characters to see who this younger-sounding boy is... but the problem is that this person's tone and personality (in all of their three lines) seems at odds with the likes of Lowen, Elias, Wu Kong, or even Marty. I thiiiink I've also checked their story bites and found no trace of the sounds being made here.

Ricardt I've admittedly not checked since he appears in the very same story, dressed as Berserker, so I figure he's out of the running. (Scratch that I did check and sure enough, it's not him either).

Is it just a random NPC? I really wouldn't think so, since this isn't in their usual range. Just in case, I think I checked darn near all of their lines as best as I could and wasn't finding any matching lines here.

Then, I thought I might have had a breakthrough in this on-off quest for the true identity of this stupid 16 second existence of this figure:

Beren.

He's young in appearance and voice. He's pretty flat, as is the mystery person. He first started officially existing on 4/20/20 (ch.13 release), well before this castle story came out. He appears in at least one other castle story to my knowledge (Forte), and has these sort of sound bites. It also would line up in a joke sort of way: Beren would later go on to try to sneak in to the last Halloween's play event only to bump into Euden acting as staff.

Those eyebrows signal he is ready for murder

What's to say he hadn't tried to crash another Halloween thing involved with the Halidom? The figure explicitly says he 'can't say' who he is... perhaps because he is an enemy of the Halidom????

With this beautiful evidence in a row, I went hunting... only to run afoul of the shared doc's occasionally questionable sorting. It was only through the slim grace of the portrait viewer recording his ID at 100038 that I even had a chance to track down his sound bites.

Was this to be it?

Was my torment finally over?

...No.

Because I listened to Beren's soundbites several times over, and he does not make the sort of noises the mystery figure does.

So, by all ready appearance to me, Beren is not the mysterious Halloween figure.

I am officially at my wit's end.

To that, I turn to the community.

Do you somehow recognize this as your unique little JP blorbo? Do you have any clue who else it might be in this 16 second clip???

Please help. Let me solve the mystery of who the heck this person that only exists for 16 seconds is.

[foxes-that-run]

Taylor Swift: 'My Confidence Is Easy To Shake'

By NPR Staff November 2, 2012 (x)

Taylor Swift's fourth studio album, Red, sold 1.2 million copies in its first week — the highest first-week sales total in a decade.

I think what I've learned recently is that it's not ... heartbreak that inspires my songs. It's not love that inspires my songs. It's individual people that come into my life. I've had relationships with people that were really substantial and meant a lot to me, but I couldn't write a song about that person for some reason. Then again, you'll meet someone that comes into your life for two weeks and you write an entire record about them.

The idea was based on this experience I had with someone who was kind of this unreliable guy. You never know when he's going to leave, you never know when he's going to come back, but he always does come back. And she's wondering whether to let him in, and he just wants her to give him another chance, but she doesn't know if he's going to break her heart again. It's a really fragile emotion you're dealing with when you want to love someone, but you don't know if it's smart to.

Once touted as a teen idol and a genre sensation, Taylor Swift is neither of those things today: At 22, she has become one of the biggest commercial forces in all of pop music. Her latest album, Red, sold 1.2 million copies in its first week — the highest such sales total in a decade. She spoke with NPR's Guy Raz about success, setbacks and why, in a career that began at 14, so many of her songs have dealt in love and heartbreak. Hear the radio version at the audio link on this page, and read more of their conversation below.

GUY RAZ: You quote the poet Pablo Neruda right on the first page of the liner notes. The line is, "Love is so short, forgetting is so long." And it seems like that line sort of sets the theme for this record.

TAYLOR SWIFT: It really does. When I read that line, I absolutely connected to it. I felt like my favorite writers have almost musical hooks in their work, whether it's poetry or a hook at the end of a chapter that makes you want to read the next one. And I think that my favorite writers definitely have something musical about what they do, in saying something so relatable and universal and so simple.

You write the vast majority of your songs, and a lot of your themes are about love or love lost and heartbreak. I sometimes wonder whether you date a lot of jerks.

[Laughs.] I've written all my songs on every single one of my records, and that's what's been fun about looking back. My first album is the diary of when I was 14, 15, 16. My second album, Fearless, was from 16 to 18, and so on, and so on. So you have my life being recorded in journal entries from these two-year periods of my life since I was 16. I like to write about love and love lost because I feel like there are so many different subcategories of emotions that you can possibly delve into. I've never missed two people the same way — it's always different for me. I've never fallen in love with someone and had the same exact kind of feeling come over me. So I think that there are all these different mixtures of emotions that go into individual feelings that you feel for individual people. And, yeah, most of the time it doesn't work out.

That's the thing with love: It's going to be wrong until it's right. So you experience these different shades of wrong, and you miss the good things about those people, and you regret not seeing the red flags for the bad things about those people, but it's all a learning process. And being 22, you're kind of in a crash course with love and life and lessons and learning the hard way, and thankfully, I've been able to write about those emotions as they've affected me.

Is there a line that you won't cross when it comes to writing about how you feel?

I don't think that I've ever experienced that line before.

So it's really you speaking in your lyrics?

Yeah. I've always written songs the same way. You learn different tricks — you learn craft, you learn structure, all that — as you go. Since I was 12, I would get an idea, and that idea is either a fragment of melody and lyric mixed in, [or] maybe it's a hook. Maybe it's the first line of a song. Maybe it's a background vocal part or something, but it's like the first piece of a puzzle. And my job in writing the song and completing it is filling in all the rest of the pieces and figuring out where they go. The reason why I keep doing it is because it's like a message in a bottle. You can put this message in a bottle, throw it out into the ocean, and maybe someday, the person that you wrote that song about is going to hear it and understand exactly how you felt. I think that's what keeps drawing me to songwriting: the spontaneity of how you can get an idea at 4 in the morning or while walking through the airport, and also the fact that it's conveying a message to someone that's more real than what you had the courage to say in person.

In the liner notes, some of the letters in the lyrics are capitalized, and your fans know what that's about. These are clues for them to kind of piece things together. Do you see your lyrics as a way for you to directly communicate with your fans?

The first thing that I think about when I'm writing my lyrics is directly communicating with the person the song is about. I think what I've learned recently is that it's not ... heartbreak that inspires my songs. It's not love that inspires my songs. It's individual people that come into my life. I've had relationships with people that were really substantial and meant a lot to me, but I couldn't write a song about that person for some reason. Then again, you'll meet someone that comes into your life for two weeks and you write an entire record about them. When I first started writing songs, I was always scared that my songs were too personal — like, if I put someone's name in a song, people won't relate to it as much. But what I saw happening was, if I let my fans into my life and my feelings and what I'm going through — my vulnerabilities, my fears, my insecurities — it turns out they have all those things, too, and it kind of connects us.

A lot of people know you were a talented singer as a kid, but you actually experienced setbacks for many years before you made it, right?

I started out with community theater, like local theater. I loved being on stage. I loved telling a story through words and music. I actually ended up going to auditions in New York for Broadway stuff. I didn't make it there. What I ended up coming back to is, I always was just so obsessed with the storytelling in country music. Shania Twain, Faith Hill, The Dixie Chicks — I was so taken in by their songs. So I started singing their songs at karaoke contests and singing every single weekend at something, trying out singing the national anthem here or there. When I was 12, I started playing guitar and writing my own songs, and that's when it became something I could never stop thinking about. It went into overdrive. I was always singing at some coffeehouse or some singer-songwriter night or this festival or that festival. It just became everything to me when I was about 12, and that's when I started really pressuring my parents to move to Nashville.

What motivated you? Were you just convinced you were going to make it?

No, actually. I was never convinced I was going to make it. And I look back — my mom and I reminisce about this all the time because we had no idea what we were doing. My parents bought books on what the music industry was like. They had no idea what the music industry entailed and what was involved with it. [Something that was] said to me early on was, "Teenagers don't listen to country music. That's not the audience. The audience is a 35-year-old housewife. ... How are you going to relate to those women when you're 16 years old? You should come back when you're in your 20s." And I kept thinking, "But I love country music, and I'm a teenager! There have to be more kids out there like me."

How do you deal with setbacks now? A few years ago, you were criticized by a few critics for a performance at the Grammy Awards. Did that shake your confidence?

Absolutely. My confidence is easy to shake. I am very well aware of all of my flaws. I am aware of all the insecurities that I have. I have a lot of voices in my head constantly telling me I can't do it. I've dealt with that my whole life. And getting up there on stage thousands of times, you're going to have off nights. And when you have an off night in front of that many people, and it's pointed out in such a public way, yeah, that gets to you. I feel like, as a songwriter, I can't develop thick skin. I cannot put up protective walls, because it's my job to feel things.

The kind of magical way that criticism has helped me is that that's another thing that I put into my music. I ended up writing a song called "Mean" about that experience, and about this one particular guy who would not get off my case about it. To stand up at the Grammys two years later, to sing that song and get a standing ovation for it, and to win two Grammys for that particular song, I think was the most gratifying experience I've ever had in my life.

There's one song on the new album called "The Last Time," which you sing with Gary Lightbody of the band Snow Patrol, that's particularly heartbreaking. Where does that come from? You have this bright, upbeat personality and this charisma that's been written about so much, and yet there's a lot of pain in what you write about.

The idea was based on this experience I had with someone who was kind of this unreliable guy. You never know when he's going to leave, you never know when he's going to come back, but he always does come back. My visual for this song is, there's a guy on his knees sitting on the ground outside of a door. And on the other side of the door is his girlfriend, who he keeps on leaving — and he keeps coming back to her, but then he leaves again. He's saying, "This is the last time I'm going to do this to you." And she's saying, "This is the last time I'm asking you this: Don't do this again." And she's wondering whether to let him in, and he just wants her to give him another chance, but she doesn't know if he's going to break her heart again. It's a really fragile emotion you're dealing with when you want to love someone, but you don't know if it's smart to.

This is an election weekend, and I know that the day you turned 18, you registered to vote. You've also said that you want to wait to take public positions on issues; that you want to feel comfortable enough to defend them. Are you there yet?

No, I'm not. I think at 22, I'm still gathering information about who I am as a person. I look at a lot of people's interviews on their lives, [and] I talk to a lot of people who are older than me — I have a great respect for gray hair. A lot of people tell me that when they were 22, they thought they had it all figured out, but they didn't. Just when I start to think that I know how I feel about something, I learn something else that changes my mind. I just feel like I don't have enough wisdom about myself as a person yet to go out there and say to 20 million followers on Twitter, and these people on Facebook, and whoever else is reading whatever interview I do, "Vote for this person." I know who I'm going to vote for, but I don't think that it's important for me to say it, because it will influence people one way or another. And I just want to make sure that every public decision I make is an educated one.

For most people, the time to make mistakes is when you're 22. Do you feel like, because of your public persona, you can't?

I do think about it. There's not really one day that goes by that my life isn't documented somewhere. I live in a world where I know for a fact that my grandkids will get to Google what I wore today. It's a strange dilemma because it puts an amount of pressure on your every move that other 22-year-olds don't necessarily have to think about. In the grand scheme of things, I'm living a life. ... I know I'm going to make mistakes. I'm just going to try to handle those mistakes as a good person. The perception of you is going to change daily when you do what I do, but I just want to end up knowing in my heart that I did that right thing and tried my best, and if you mess up, hopefully it teaches you something.

[planet-of-the-machines]

[Transcribed from speech]

Hey there outpost 3! I've got a few questions for the Disassembly drones.

-/Robo-Jesus someone get her off of me!!!/-

So, N and V, regarding the sword blade wings; are they typically uniform size?

-/steel feathers in my face! Stop attacking me!/-

*Eagle screech*

Cuz our new Disassembly drone here has a set of wings that are pretty big, like some vast predatory bird! And I caught sight of some of her feathers splitting open-

-/NONONO NOT THE FACE!/-

-one sec, HEY! SHUT UP AND STOP AGITATING MY PATIENTS!

-/What are you-? No that's not yours/-

*crashing sounds*

*Sigh* as I was saying, her blade feathers split open, revealing small thrusters, so is that something standard issue, or is she some special variation of disassembly?

-/-son of a Subroutine! Give that back you Mettalic Magpie!!/-

*Caws of victory *

Oh, right, also do either of you know a Serial Designation F? Cuz that's the name on the band on her leg.

-/ OH COME ON SHE STOLE MY TABLET! I HAVE BLUEPRINTS ON THAT!/-

GOOD! I won't have to patch you up for a while then! Anyway, thanks for any light you can shed on this.

Cheif Medical officer of Outpost 15

Minerva

P.S. Brainstorm is fine. F was just flailing her wings in his face trying to steal his tablet.

P.P.S. don't worry about data leaks either. I traded some shiny scrap metal to get it back. She was trying to make a nest in the repair bay she's confined to.

Biscuits, J's going to kill me for saying this.

There are several... um, models of us Disassemblers, kinda like how there were hundreds of different dog breeds before the Flash. Or I guess a better comparison would be humanity and its various races and ethnicities. Me and my team are of the Alpha 2 model, Alpha meaning basically the "default" Murder Drone. The 2 is that we're the second, uh, generation of that default, as the Alpha 1 was phased out by the company in 2051.

Th-that's not to say we all look the same, heheh. If we get enough recorded kills, JCJenson lets us modify ourselves... so long as Mr. Sentinel approves of them. I've only gotten 29 confirmed Worker Drone kills since we were deployed, not quite enough for even the cheapest mod. J's gotten around 70, which she used to get her feet — usually the girls only get the "stilts," as maintenance calls them. And V's killed over 100, but—

-N

I haven't modded myself because I don't need any. Best of the team.

-V

Oh.

Okay then.

That brings us to the other models. IDK who's in charge of designing us, but they seem to have really liked animals, cause they've put quite a few features into them.

The Beta model, which F seems to be of, take after birds of prey. Larger wingspans, thrusters for extra speed in the air, and and three-pronged feet for grabbing on to railings, ledges, or... uh, people. I think G may be a derivative of the Beta 2, judging by her feet, but then there's her massive tail, and she's too small.

The Gamma model take after wolves, lions, and tigers. They have claws integrated into the fingers, more sensitive audio receptors — they can even run on all fours. Kinda wish I was one... although I probably would've killed— ANYWAYS!!!

The Delta Model is basically the Alpha, but amphibious — mostly taking after sharks. They can be told apart by the fins on their arms, legs, and back. That, and they have no wings.

The Epsilon model take after chameleons. ... I don't think I need to explain what they do. Mainly they're used for scouting or stealth ops.

Finally, there's the Zeta model... also know as the Shifter model. In all honesty, they're closer to Heavy Drones than they are to Disassembly Drones, except they... uh...

-N

They're like this loser's emo friend. Turn into a car or truck or jet fighter of some kind for higher mobility. Don't ask why corporate thought to turn them into vehicles instead of animals, even J has no clue about it.

Shifters are like stormtroopers (no, not those stormtroopers). The company uses them whenever brute force is necessary to get a job done. There aren't that many Zetas around, though one of them, Sentinel Major, somehow got high enough on the corporate ladder to become J's boss.

As for your other question... *sigh* N, J, and I were trained alongside another trio when we were first built and turned online. S, K, and D, if my new memory core's not lying. We really didn't get along, as our teacher pitted us against each other— still pit our teams against each other, and every other team built before and after us. It's all a competition, one where you otherwise never see your opponents. So no, we've never heard of Serial Designation F until your message, miss.

-V

You mean you've never even met any other teams in person? Robo-Jesus Christ...

-Boulder

There goes that potential interrogation down the garbage chute.

-Chase

Dude. Really?

Hot Rod

Let me get this straight. When you called me a shifter during prom, you were saying some of you guys have my powers!?

-Uzi

Yep. They're usually around the size of a Heavy Drone, though, so I imagine they'd call you an imp.

-V

BITE ME!!! >:(

-Uzi

Oh chill out. If there's anything special about you besides your... personality(?), they don't have two vehicles they can turn into, only one. Besides, you're fast enough to run circles around them and they'll just overheat to death trying to hit you.

-V

Hold on. You said they're used as stormtroopers. Why would Jenson need someone for that kind of role?

-Orion

I don't know the details, but apparently the company's not just fighting the WDF. J said a few things about rival companies... and something about the Red Army... but said V and I didn't need to know the specifics. And because we weren't really allowed to ask questions...

-N

[karanseraph]

Alien robots can have accents

This might be spoilers for The Life and Times of Skywarp fic, but just going through my process in public, because sometimes this helps me think and organize my thoughts.

Alien robots can have accents, because other planets have regions and culture and also because if we encounter them, they can assimilate our language(s) differently.

Also, Transformers media has pretty much always had this as a thing, because, with one notable exception I can think of, humans recorded their voices.

What a character's accent sounds like can differ, like if one piece of media was recorded in Canada, for example, and another recorded in Japan, let's say, then even if a character has a regional accent in both, that character doesn't necessarily have the same type of regional accent.

some non-audio media also calls out quirky speech patterns and accents in the written dialogue.

OK, that's all understood stuff we all know.

Now, I'm trying to think what accents and mannerisms Thrust and Ramjet have when we meet them through Skywarp's POV in a fic.

So, I the writer (and I've noted this bias in the various notes attached to the fic) am writing in English, because that's my language. And mostly it's North American/US/Eastern/Mid-Atlantic because that's my region. But, here and there there may be deviations or variations. The characters aren't actually speaking English on Cybertron, I'm just writing the story in my language.

The POV character is Skywarp, who, like many people, does not perceive his own accent unless someone else calls it out. So, descriptions of the other Cybertronian characters having any dialect or accent difference get filtered through the character's perception.

Skywarp, the character, in this fic, is based in Vos which is in the south and east of Cybertron. He doesn't always know what region a dialect is associated with when he first hears it. He just notices it's different or more difficult to parse.

So like, when I'm writing, I would not say "Nyonienne" is French." It's not. It's really not. It's an alien dialect/accent of whatever Cybertronian languages is spoken in that era. But, I might write that when Skywarp met Eriel and she gave her designation the way she pronounced certain airy phonemes was different enough that he wasn't sure how to spell her name. It might have been Oryal or Ariel or Auriel.

Skywarp knows Mirage, Tracks, Red Alert, Thundercracker, Flatline, and Daytrader are all from and/or based in Iacon, but he also knows they don't all sound the same and supposes this is because Iacon has 'street' and 'spire' differences as well as being a big region with suburbs.

OK, so back to Ramjet and Thrust. Skywarp has never met them in person. He knows of them. He knows they are based out of Unitrex which is generally in the north and has a cliffy Rust Sea coast and is known as City of the Stars. When there was a big Seeker meeting, Ramjet sent Red Wing and Laserbeak as emissaries, but Laserbeak is an older bot with his own fawning skeksis-like mannerisms and Red Wing was a new recruit to their team, possibly assimilating language elsewhere.

I think this version of Ramjet is like if a locally-famous rock star from a metal band (they might be The Heralds or just Heralds?) that sings songs about chaos, destruction, and sometimes romance received some regional knighthood-like honor due to his emotive spark-felt singing and took it way too seriously and acts like he's some kind of Seeker-Rock-Paladin, but it's hard to tell because whenever he's not singing his manner is over-the-top facetious and sarcastic to the point of deadpan lying about everything. But the bots on his team legitimately think he's great and consider him their leader, because he totally signed up for that! Also, he crashes through things a lot.

The Sir Rock Star thing seems British coded, even if organics are more likely to seem him as their mechanical steed than a shining white knight. Does another region have this intersection of musician and public treasure, like if one is an idol singer or such? Ramjet could also be that.

But Thrust is...loud and boasts about how great their team is, but acts mainly as Ramjet's conspiratorial spiritual advisor going on and on about the stars and alignments and the symbolic meaning of colors in other bots' decos and what elemental energies he promises he can sense in others.

Some Thrusts are vaguely Western-like? But is Thrust also Brit-coded but like old British occultist flavor? And he goes about saying every bot is a star and do what thou wilt and talking about magic?

But they aren't really British at all. They're alien robots throwing brutal warehouse raves in Unitrex as a cover to spy on the Titan-building project nearby.

[may-bee-its-just-me]

✨Trauma dump sesh;

but make it classy because effort was put into the wordage and I cant count how many takes i did for the recording

"I’ve a naturally hyper personality; I dance while I work, sing while I clean and I try to brighten everyone’s day. I get asked why I am the way I am. “Oh it must be the coffee, that’s why she’s so quirky again after her lunch break”. Truth is, I push myself to my limits daily and crash by the afternoon. Any spare physical energy is immediately used up; taken advantage of. I’m a one woman circus act walking the line of energetic and productive, over a hundred ft. drop into despair, with nothing but the safety net that is God’s grace to protect me. I go through swings like nobody’s business, taking the highs as they come; Until I swing too high and fall out the back of my seat. In rough waters, I take every moment above water breathing heaps of fresh air up until the millisecond the next wave engulfs me; Breathing salt water with it. I’m Icarus, taking my temporary wings for a joyride; Flying too close to the sun. Sometimes this worries people. They ask if I’m okay, seeing me hunched over the kitchen table praying for another ounce of strength. They want to help but, seeing as how it’s daily, I tell them “same ol’” and let them move on with their day. And, when they ask me why I haven't seen a doctor after a year, I haven’t much to say. I can’t explain it, I don’t have the energy and they won’t understand.  People look at me like I’m crazy. My knee jerk reaction is to deny. I’m not crazy, I’m just struggling, I’m trying really hard, I’m. Not. Crazy. But the truth is, who wouldn’t be? No one understands how hard it is to live every single day in pain, until they experience it themselves. To have every motion of your hand matter. To have every action, reaction, tone of voice matter. To be ever conscious of every maneuver your body makes -  trying to limit mistakes and dropping things but still go fast enough to keep up with your job. To be hyper-aware of every micro-adjustment to your posture; In hopes that one of them makes the pain lessen and allow your mind to focus on something else for a moment. And, when needing to lift heavier objects, be careful not to lift too long or to speed-walk with them too fast, lest you cause your arms to flare up again. And, when the flare up inevitably happens, how much of the muscle spasm in your shaking hands do you allow others to see in hopes of being cut a break, but not enough that it makes your work sloppy? What do you do when your mind is fuzzy, and the room is spinning - Your heart is beating harder and you’re losing your balance - Your ear keeps ringing intermittently, and your chest feels heavy - You think you’re going to pass out, but your body isn't ready - and you don’t want to, but your heart rate still unsteady - you’re catching yourself from falling, and you’re just trying to get through the work day - So you’re stuck in limbo, between conscious and fainted - Until eventually it tapers off and you begin to question; Am I somehow faking it? Did it ever even happen in the first place? You make mention of everything hurting, all the time, just for older family and coworkers to joke about “becoming an adult - Not understanding just how deep that cuts, or what they’re really joking about. . I’m exhausted. I’m broken. I’m weak. I’m frustrated. I’m burnt out. I’m beat. I want to rest, but even after a long day of hard work and minimal issues - The pain creeps up when I lay my head down for sleep. I don’t want to be a miserable person, I don’t want to be consumed by my struggle. I want to keep hold of faith for healing, stay hopeful for better days. I want to spread joy. So I break my body to keep up in the day, deal with the consequences by night, and repeat in the morning. I’ve a hyper personality, tied down by my body. A personified contradiction, walking a tightrope, swinging forward and back, halfway underwater, too close to the sun."

~ Bee, 11/20/2024 [Wannabee poet and rich person]

[chaosdetector]

First Steps of Many

(Redacted Audio) Asher x Black Reader Imagine ~ 1.75k words

!!Disclaimers!!: This is not beta read, there is angst, some foul language, occasional violent imagery, brief & light hints of sexual attraction btwn 2 adults, and bc it hasn’t been peer-reviewed (also bc I couldn’t decide if I wanted to write it like a [Name] fic, or use the listener’s nickname throughout), this fic could expose you to unhealthy amounts of CRINGE!!!

If any of this isn’t your cup of tea, feel free to scroll away and find something that does (I won’t take it personally ;D)

If none of that turns you away, then here’s a seat and a snack! I hope you enjoy the potential pt. 1 of this series! <333

This is a narration of the beginning of the end. Baabe would hold down the fort as per usual, taking orders from five people before getting to her favorite customer. They would both like to talk more about daily troubles, Asher sucking his teeth to keep his angst about his bitter family in a vacuum, and Baabe pivoting themselves from anything too personal by stringing out their consonants on a stuttered inhale.

The welcoming bell of the family owned joint interrupts itself to ring thrice for a happy horde of hungry habeshas, and Asher quickly two-steps from the counter and to his table. Baabe welcomes them all warmly, but raises a couple eyebrows with their hastened pace in servicing them all. Asher sees Baabes’ struggle to serve and record all of their orders as something he indirectly caused, flinching when he sees you nearly drop someone’s chai and three plates of food.

He walks up to you when you make it behind the counter, with about eight tickets still on the line, and four more plates to bring to their tables, he told you how he thought it would be best for him to come back later, and apologized for rushing you with his promise of staying to sit down and talk in the way he knows you’ve wanted to.

You stare at him with your eyes squinted, as if stressing your eyes would help you hear him better. You get the bright idea to glance down at his lips just as he utters the fact of him leaving, then practically lunge over the counter to clap his hands between your own. Loud crashing and clattering of tea and coffee sets against plates and cutlery quieted the entire kitchen, and ignited another kind of clamoring and clattering.

“I can handle this. I know it looks like a lot, but I deal with worse at my day job.”

The shouting from the kitchen approaches and intensifies after coming into contact with someone else’s spilled masterpiece.  Baabe looks back for a moment, then flicks their face, beaten soft with yearning (and the incoming blow to her paycheck for one and a half tea sets), towards Asher. His blonde hair brushing against your face as you lean in close to his ear. Your minty breath closes the gap between you both as you say–

—“Wait for me. “Please.” He turns his head and nods, something that could’ve read as him nuzzling into your neck—something he’s stayed awake thinking about doing since he met you.

Something about your intoxicating scent, your hickory toned skin—something about all of you never fails to make him swoon. What happens next is almost automatic; you see in the midst of his adoration of you he reclaims his clarity, next he makes the decision he wanted to from the start (sit and wait for you to sit with him over a delicious meal that someone else will bring out for the both of you), then he wrestles with the characatures of his pack members his mind made to taunt him, wins against them all because, “Fuck ‘em. What are they going to do about it? Bitch and moan? I can take that. Fight me? They can fuck themselves over and try.”

The idea of David and Milo pop up in his mind. He looks up to see two teas he hadn’t ordered sat in front of him, and your apron slung across the chair parallel to him.

“I’d get my ass handed to me every day if it meant being here.”

“Well,” You chuckle.  “…let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, yes?”

His eyebrows shoot up, breaking his morbid composure.  He lets out a laugh, awkward in it’s intensity and tone.

“Well, anything for the world’s best siga fir fir.” He looks to your eyes, then glances down to the tea you generously paid for. He thanks you for his drink and for starting the meal in the same nod he dips down to drink his tea in.

“And of course, I couldn’t miss out on the best waiter in the world.” You snort mid sip, coughing down the remainder of your hot tea to make room for your laughter. You had to settle yourself down from your laughing fit.

Why were you laughing anyways? He didn’t even say anything funny? Maybe it was his face when he said it? The way he’d scrunch his nose before being cheeky was always so endearing, or maybe it was the way this mountain of a man was so gently clasping onto his cup?

“[Asher says something]” That’s it! It was his eyes! It had to be! The way his smile would crease his gaze into crescent moons, and the happy shape of his face was only exaggerated by his thick short boxed beard…and maybe it had a little to do with his choice of dress. Bomber jackets are understandable, but a leopard fur print interior and trim?

Baabe hadn’t noticed the abhorrent pattern until now, but maybe it was because Asher was wearing it? He somehow pulled off even the most criminal looks, so they wouldn’t be surprised.

Baabe stared for a second longer. Had his arms always been that big?

“Do you like my shirt?” “Nah, just your arms.”

Baabes’ eyes flew open, making them appear only a fraction as erratic as they felt. A wave of heat swallowed their neck and face.

‘OH MY GOD WHY DID I SAY THAT?’

“Oh my GOD, I can’t believe you just said that!” Asher guffawed, then laughed from deep down in his gut. Baabe was about to shrink into themselves for good until—.

“You know, it takes a lot of work to look this good!” Asher begins to put on a show. Flexing his arms in poses you could only remember that one hunky guy from the SpongeBob Movie doing. He cracks another laugh out of you. “I’m glad these big guns impress you!”

You take a moment to weigh the risk of what you’re about to say.

“You always impress me Asher.”

Asher froze, something he could’ve concealed better if it weren’t for your sweetened tone. Part of that moment he spent frozen was dedicated to scanning you up and down for any hints of sarcasm or humor, the next was spent reeling himself away from your genuine look of adoration. Because, dear GODS, if he looks at you any longer than how much he already has, he’s bound to do something stupid–and not “poor-man’s-imitation-of-Arnold-Hasslehoff” stupid, he’s talkin’ “Pick-you-up-in-his-arms-and-run-away-with-you-tonight” kind of stupid.

“Ehem, so uh, what did you want to tell me? Or, uh, what did you want to talk about?”

Baaabe rubs their ring finger, gently wringing just above where the knuckle connects to the start of their finger. “I actually wanted to talk about us. Asher, you and I have known each other for a while, and I really like you, but not enough to keep things between us how they are now.”

Asher’s hands went cold. He felt his grip on his teacup tighten.

“I like you too much, Asher. Every moment we spend together is more precious to me than the last, and–I–I’d just like, so, so much, to spend more time with you.” Baaabe looked up from their hands, their nervous glare softening the moment they met Asher’s own stunned expression.

“Do you feel the same?”

A beat passed between the two.

Then another.

A jittery laugh comes from Baabe.

“I may have sprung this on you, it’s alright if–.” “I’D LOVE TO!” “I mean, I agree! I’d love to go out with you [Name].”

Baabe blinks. “Really?” They release a sigh, the kind that is so heavy with emotion you’d have to manually push the last half of it out your chest and up your throat. Asher releases a heavy sigh of his own, then focuses all of his erratic heart to say–.

“Yeah! Yeah, really.”

They giggle in stupid glee for a long while, then Baabe (the glutton for punishment they are) springs another question that gets their heart racing.

“So, when are you free? I know you’re always busy with your security business so…”

“Yeah, no, don’t even worry about that! The guys can handle a couple jobs without me. And if they can’t–” Asher blew a raspberry. “–they’ll figure it out!“  The lovers let out a couple more laughs, riding on highs that, honest to God, they don’t know why are wracking through them this heavily.

The entire restaurant seemed to pause, and in that silence, the energy between them began to burn. A beautiful, private moment between both of them and the thirty other people in the restaurant.

You glazed over the audience with a scornful glare, briefly enough to catch nearly everyone’s eyes before they could be sneakily removed to an uninteresting wall, or an unnaturally compelling wood tile.

Asher coughed, which wound up drawing your mind to more important things.

“Are you free the Friday after next?” He asked, his hushed voice pointed enough for you to make the connections between the consonants and his intended message. “Yeah, yeah I can be free then.”

[doorplays]

Door Reviews: The Roottrees are Dead (2025)

Evil Trout is a man I know specifically from one game I played in my youth: Forumwarz. It was released in 2008, and was very much a product of its time. A browser game about being an internet stereotype, it had a decent playerbase for a while. I eventually fell off of it as I became busy with college, but I have fond memories of hanging out with a bunch of other nerds online, making jokes, discovering IRC, doing guild things, and roleplaying on the internet.

Now, he has returned after what, 17 years? He has adapted someone’s entry into a game jam. Jeremy Johnston made The Roottrees are Dead for the 2023 Global Game Jam. I haven’t played this version because of its reliance on AI art, which I do not like on principle. So I’m glad Evil Trout helped make an adaptation with actual art. The two of them together also included a bonus mystery with this game, Roottreemania, which is essentially a sequel of the original mystery. Various quality-of-life improvements were also made.

As far as adaptations go, this one is pretty good. I heard a lot of murmurings on the internet saying that this game scratched that detective game itch. So with me being a fan of such games, I HAD to get it. And now, I’m here to review it!

What’s it about? An airplane crash is reported over the news. In it were the Roottrees, a famous family known for their old candy company. And they just died. A mysterious person now comes to you, requesting that you map the entire family tree of the Roottrees, from their great great grandparents to their current generation. Why this person asks this of you, you do not know, but you DO know that they’ve come to the right person for the job.

STYLE (Gameplay, Graphics, Music)

As a person who is great at mapping genealogies, your job is to identify each and every member of the Roottree family. You have to find a picture of a family member, find their name, and find their profession, slotting these into their right place in the family tree. You find the information you need with your trusty turn of the millenium PC equipped with a cutting edge 56K modem. You search sites, trawl through periodicals, scan online libraries, print evidence, burn CDs of relevant audio, and whatever else you need to complete your job. When you see familiar faces on the evidence, you can click them to add them to your records and slot them into potential entries.

Once you get three (3) Roottrees right, the game automatically locks them in. This act validates your assumptions and reduces the effort you have to make on future guesses. Jeremy Johnston himself cites Return of the Obra Dinn and Her Story as influences, and it shows.

This gameplay makes for a nice experience. It felt like I was clicking through Wikipedia links, finding all the connections, getting lost in the sauce. It’s a uniquely internet experience, hyperfixating into certain topics and clicking every relevant link, and this game manages to replicate it.

The aesthetic of the game feels very Y2K. You have the 56K modem, the burning of CDs, and a lot of the action of the game happens in your computer. There’s also the aesthetic shown by older evidence, a peek into the 70’s and earlier eras. You get to see how each generation differs from the last. It gives character and color to the game.

The music is um… a lot of copyright-free jazz? Which is fine. There are also a few songs that embody some eras, and some are actually relevant to the game as hints. There are also some voiced lines in the game, which surprised me, as I didn’t feel it necessary. I like that they still made the effort for it.

The art is distinctive enough that each person can be identified. I had a bit of trouble with it, but that’s par for the course for detective games like this. I definitely appreciate the devs moving away from AI art.

Of note is also the hint system. You can consult your own rubber ducky for hints that start out light and progress to more obvious hints until fully saying the answer that will help guide you further in your quest to fill the tree. The hint system itself is a reference to rubber duck debugging, and it’s a nice little thing to set up.

The gameplay of this game is the draw, as the devs included a lot of things to make the detectiving be more comfortable to do, like the capacity to highlight some lines, a sort of notebook you can take your own notes in, a History tab within browsers that lets you go back to past sites you visited… it’s a lot of quality of life stuff. And they make it a much tighter experience that had me not wanting to put the game down. High marks for the style!

SUBSTANCE (Story, Characters, Impact)

This game’s story is so fun for an inveterate gossip like me!!!

It’s like you are thrown behind the scenes into a will reading, and now you have to support your patron in finding all the possible people getting a slice of the pie. And now you’re digging your heels finding out all you can about this old money ass family, and you just find out SO MUCH HOT GOSS GUYS, SO MUCH. The stories won’t be out of place in a Filipino teledrama, and that’s why it’s so fun!! I did not expect this kinda story to be in a detective game!!

You get to know more about the lives of each Roottree, and you see that they have different mindsets to things, different ways of coping with the times. It’s nice seeing all these small stories weaving together in this tapestry of a family tree, disparate yet connected together by blood.

The humor in this game is so fun for me. There’s a fair amount of stories parodying some real life people and some real life experiences. I wanna say it’s rather tongue-in-cheek? I found myself laughing a lot.

I liked the story a lot, and I liked how the gameplay let me discover the story bit by bit. It tickles me a lot how this feels like such fresh ground to explore. The case isn’t really a whodunit and more of diving into a mess of a family, and I think more detective games should be fun like that without resorting to be cutesy cozy games. Those games are still fun, I just think there’s a lot more to explore in this genre. Maybe I haven’t explored detective games much, but this game’s topic feels fresh to me. I loved experiencing this game!

VERDICT

This game is FUN. A refinement of the Obra Dinn formula and the Her Story experience, The Roottrees are Dead does a lot of experimentation with how detective games implement their gameplay. The discovery of evidence, the way you ascertain the answers, all of it feels fresh enough to me that I ended up enjoying my time with it. It’s a modern hit for the genre!

DOOR JUDGMENT: A fun Detective Game that pushes the genre forward. Recommended!