#BEST file type

[kojakaj]

i <3 epubs soososoosos muchhhh

[chickpea0]

There's 2 categories of regression headcanons

You fully believe this character is or could be a regressor/cg/flip/something. There's bits in canon that you can point to and say that's why and there's reasons why they would specificially regress or be a caregiver! A headcanon or heartcanon.

For sillies. Feasibly, you could write ANY character to be part of the community! You don't actually think it would fit but you're either imagining it because you're fond of the character and there's just something about it or you're going through all the characters in your head an applying babification to them. I call these "regressorland headcanons" where you prioritise the regression over being true to canon.

Both are great Both are entertaining! But gosh it can be hard to get yourself to answer "do I actually think this would fit or am I just doing this for the sake of it/doing what i think could possibly apply"

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s7 episode 10 “sein und zeit” thoughts

we are back! last episode gave me plenty to chew on, and chew on it i did. but now we must begin again. 

i posed some questions last time on the whereabouts of some particular characters: mrs. mulder, CSM, skinner, krycek. well, based on this episode description, i fear we are going to learn about one of these in particular. 

i shan't say more for fear of an accurate prediction leading to spoilers. and you know i'm trying to keep all that stuff beneath the "read more" line

so i anticipate some. ah. how do you say. angst. 

i’m gonna try and steel myself for pain. which usually doesn’t work. maybe if i focus REALLY HARD!!!

(post-episode thoughts: woaugh.... wauh..... mulder. and scully. and skinner, too. and the divine and the haunted and ancient guilt and love. and fury. and other things that defy words and slip into white hot grief. one of those episodes. you know how it is.

also- did they magically find the backup x files i knew there had to be stored away somewhere? or what. because i'm lowkey losing it over that part)

let's dive in

we open with a young girl praying. her name is amber lynn, which we know because someone we can assume to be her mother is saying it’s time for bed. she kisses her parents goodnight. it's a sickly sweet scene.

(we later learn that this is the lapierre family. i shall include this information here because it is nice to know from the start who these people we see before the intro are)

amber lynn's mom leaves the door open. dad is watching a movie on TV. he remarks that it is a great film. i'm happy for him. and mom goes to bed. but she is distracted. she takes out a dress…. her wedding dress, maybe? and a marker? then we hear something slam. 

mom's name is billie, btw. dad goes up to see what the noise was. she’s writing a note. 

IT SEEMS TO BE A RANSOM NOTE?? dad goes to check on amber lynn... and the daughter is DEAD???? what the hell is going on. 

wait. no. she’s fine. he just imagined her dead, i guess. while billie is still penning a note. “no one shoots at santa claus” is its final line

what is going on…..

dad tucks amber lynn back into bed now that she seems to be alive. and then the door slams shut when he walks away. blood or some other liquid is pouring from under the door??? he tries to slam it open. and when he does, she’s gone!!!!

i’m so confused right now. is billie possessed?

i will refrain from making any sort of guesses and instead allow myself to be taken along for the ride.

intro time….. it was short. 

okay. we’re now at the FBI. at 3 am. so is skinner!!! mulder is lingering outside his office as he’s on the phone telling somebody about the kidnapping in california… was mulder not invited to this particular meetup??

skinner comes out to talk to mulder. asks why he’s here. mulder says he wants this case. skinner explains it is basic FBI stuff, not an x file, and he has plenty of agents on it already.

skinner says he can’t just give him the case… he has to follow protocol, give it to the appropriate departments. but mulder says that if they don’t ask exactly the right questions now, they might never get asked.

it is a showdown between skinner and mulder. he relents and declares that mulder has until noon. 

“the agents in my office…. they have a pool going” “they think she’s dead. don’t bet on it”

THEY’RE BETTING ON THE LITTLE GIRL BEING KILLED??? what the FUCK?!! are the other agents actually demented. holy FUCK.

i guess you get desensitized to that sort of thing when it is your line of work, but it is still hard to imagine stomaching that sort of behavior. betting on if a little girl is dead... damn.

mulder arrives in california in the morning. reporters hound him. he goes in the house without answering any questions.

a lawyer stops him, saying the parents have nothing to say. he’s a real estate lawyer? mulder tells this mr. bring fellow to get his clients a real lawyer. the lapierres let him in. 

i'm so confused as to why they have a real estate lawyer here. the only thing i can think is that maybe he's a family member offering to represent them for free. but why would they agree to that. he seemed so nervous and uncomfortable. i don't think he is involved with the murder- it seems to random. who tf is this guy?

(i'm still really pondering this as i edit these notes)

mulder’s getting to work, asking the parents about the note they found. dad says they found it in the kid’s bedroom. he’s asking what they were up to- he was watching TV, it was something he’s never heard of before- and she hesitates when he asks what she was doing. she decides on the fact that she was half asleep. which is suspicious.

mulder assures them that things will get confusing from here on out, but the FBI will do their damnedest to find the little girl. “agent mulder, do you think they will? find her?” “oh, i hope so. yeah. i really do”

ohhhh, so this is gonna be personal for him…. is this gonna be another character exploration like paper hearts? poor mulder. wanting to save everyone.

where is scully, though? 

he leaves. drives to a motel. wait! no! it’s scully who is pulling in! is she here to see him??

he’s laying in bed? just sitting there. “what are you doing?” “thinking”

he does not want a light on. what is going on with this dude... and skinner is mad. “skinner is royally pissed. at you.” “i’m sure he is” 

he was supposed to have a report at noon, but he doesn’t have one. so scully was sent to find him. that is quite a flight!

he’s certain the parents are not guilty. they lied about where they found the note. “why?” “that’s what i’ve been thinking about”

bro does not seem okay. he is certain she isn’t dead. but at this moment, his phone rings.

it’s his mom!!! she calls him about the news!!! scully is here to see this all go down, and it seems it is a rather uncomfortable exchange- i don't get the impression he talks to his mother on the phone often. she knows he’s out in california looking for amber lynn, and asks when he’s coming back. she says to call her when he gets back. and back at her place, she picks up the photo of samantha and mulder as kids. 

what is he thinking…. what is she thinking…..?

skinner is analyzing the note with a bunch of agents. mulder bursts in with scully. they found the paper the note was written on in the house, the pen, and billie’s handprints. mulder asks if it’s her handwriting. some other guy says there’s been an attempt to conceal the handwriting. “but not enough to make an indictment”, mulder adds. “do you have information you would like to share, agent mulder?” <- skinner is mad as fucccckk.

he says the parents weren’t far away when the whole thing went down, so their story doesn't make any sense. the other guy thinks the husband is merely lying for his wife. but mulder says it doesn’t explain what happened to her. and then darts off. scully follows him. she is always following him when he darts off.

he is looking through some files…. do they have more x files?? did they find a backup copy of all the originals?? or did they just make a bunch more for new case information??

(i'm still thinking about this. he just... went to the filing cabinet and pulled something out. are they all back now? are these just the new ones they have been dealing with in the past year or two since all the others got burned down by CSM? is this an incredibly important factor to consider- that they have at least SOME of the x files back- and it has never been addressed? did i miss a part where this was addressed? sometimes i miss stuff, but not usually stuff of THAT importance. what is going on. did chris carter tap out? someone pls let me know)

scully asks what he’s doing. and then calls him out when he tries to say he’s seen something similar before.

“you’re personalizing this case. you’re identifying with your sister” “my sister was taken by aliens. did i say anything about aliens, scully?”

he says this with half of a smile. which is remarkable. because he is lying through his teeth and in great pain.

scully is like dude, you told all of those hard-working agents that they’re wrong! and he says guess what? they are! and pulls out a ransom note from 1987. similar handwriting. same phrase in the final line. “no one shoots at santa claus”

but what does it MEAAAAAN?

scully was too stunned to speak. 

back in california…. someone with a santa in his car is FILMING CHILDREN??? playing in a park. oh god.

you know, sometimes i forget that people really do that sort of thing. i found myself struck by the feeling of not wanting to bring any sort of innocent person into such a world. it makes you wonder how our agents, who both have spoken about their desire to have families of their own, can reconcile the facts of the nasty and terrible world they live in with wanting to bring someone new into it.

well. it is a tone shift from the amazing maleeni, that is for sure. and also probably a great opportunity for someone to write angsty fic about their hesitations to have children knowing how horrific this earth is. tag me if you write it.

they go to talk to someone in a women’s prison named kathy lee. he asks to take a seat, and smiles when she makes a joke.

oh… her son was found taken from his bed while he slept. they found a note, written by her, and she plead innocent. and she was sentenced to 12 years even though the body was never found.

oh. that is so sad. but i don't buy that she did it.

she claims she had a vision of him dead. and when she got up to check on him, he was gone. but three years ago, she changed her story and said she killed him. scully asks why, and she says she was full of rage. 

mulder has a copy of the note…. and asks about the santa claus part. she says it means it’s because “no one would do anything for fear of not getting the gift”. he nods. not sure if i'm sold on that being the actual meaning. maybe that is what she has come to tell herself.

and then he shows her the note from 3 days ago. neither note makes a demand, and there was no evidence of a break in or murder in either. the body wasn’t where she said it would be. he wants her to explain, but she gets mad, and says she can’t. “you can’t explain it because you didn’t do anything”. he thinks she changed her story to get pity and possibly a parole.

but these people- the lapierres- need someone to corroborate their story. she says it isn’t her. they leave.

scully is telling him he is out of line and utterly irresponsible. she does this often, and she is usually right. “you’re doing exactly what i said, you’re personalizing this case” (he stops, turns to her) “no, i’m going to solve this case. i am going to solve it” “how?” “i’m going to find those kids”

ohhhh…. mulder…. my heart aches for you. god. i cannot even articular the significance of this moment. but he is so confident. so determined. like in paper hearts. if he can solve it, then other families don't have to live with the pain of uncertainty that keeps him awake each night.

god. it's like atonement.

she asks what he’ll do if the kids are dead. and tells him not to look for something he doesn’t want to find.

kathy lee is crying, but she sees a vision of her son. and then it’s gone. 

and she yells for the guard, saying she needs to talk to them.

mrs. mulder is calling again, leaving a message, as we see her looking through photographs. she’s burning a photo of her kids? “there are so many emotions in me, i wouldn’t know where to start. so much that i’ve left unsaid for reasons that i hope one day you’ll understand” what is going on…. she’s burning all of the photos. why would she do this? is she hiding evidence? of her children? why would she need to do that? it is... very ominous. i don't wish to voice my predictions as to what will happen next.

the parents- the lapierres- are with their lawyer, mr. bring the real estate guy. when mulder comes in and plays a tape of kathy lee for them. she says she knows what they’re going through. she says their little girl is okay, and she knows they’re afraid. she doesn’t remember thinking the words she wrote, or writing them- it was like they wrote themselves. but she knows for sure that her son is safe and protected and in a better place.

so... aliens?

the parents were released on a lack of evidence. and they gave a new statement to the police that baffled the authorities.

somewhere else, there are tons of screens playing various footage, including the kids playing in the leaves we saw santa claus guy filming earlier. oh fuck. there’s a scene of a mall santa claus with a kid on his lap. is he a mall santa? that is recording and killing children? shit. i will never look at a mall santa the same again. nor the mall easter bunny.

mulder is being interviewed for the news, saying investigation on the case will continue, but without the lapierres as the primary suspects. i can't help but wonder if being on the news like this will hurt his ability to do future undercover jobs. this santa fellow is watching. as is skinner. who is playing this in front of mulder. 

ohhhh, they're fighting. REALLY fighting.

and scully barges in, saying she needs to have a word with mulder. “it can wait”, says skinner. “no, it can’t” oh god. she looks sick.

“mulder, your mom’s dead”

ohhhhh, god. 

they go to mrs. mulder's home in connecticut. he looks haunted as they step in. scully is watching as the authorities gesture to an oven. he looks at some pills. scully sees all the doors taped shut. everything is silent.

she took her sleeping pills. and she called before, but he never called back. “why would she do this? just doesn’t make any sense”, he mumbles. scully says we never really know. oh, scully...

he says his mom wouldn’t do this, and where are the photos of him and his sister, there were photos here, they were all she had left of them. his words are frantic.

he thinks it’s all staged- she wanted to tell him something, but couldn’t do it over the phone, something about the girl, or about his sister- he would look for a puncture wound, and he gestures to his arm.

scully begs him to not make her do this- not when he is her friend, not when the body is of someone she knows- but he says if she doesn’t autopsy his mother, he’ll never know the truth. oh god. her expression. she sighs. god. scully.

mulder goes back to kathy lee. and allow me to note at this time that the score of this episode is really popping off. 

“you’ve seen things. i need to understand them” “my mother’s dead. you know why”

she says she doesn’t understand what he wants. 

he explains his sister was taken like her son was. “your mother knew, didn’t she?” “why do you ask that?” “she was trying to tell you” “tell me what?” “she’d seen them” “who?” “the walk-ins. old souls looking for new homes”

he is hanging onto her every word. i wonder if she is telling the truth… or if these are the ramblings of someone who has been wrongfully imprisoned and has come up with a worldview to justify how it happened.

she says his sister is among them. and she can see them. but sometimes it’s difficult to do so, because they live in the starlight. “they took her to protect her soul from the great harm it would have suffered in her life, just like they did my little boy” 

i guess that works alongside the cosmology we have already been introduced to: that mr. mulder chose to save samantha from the alien colonization and slavery by sending her to join the aliens. but the part about old souls and new homes seems pretty different from what we have heard so far. and with all of these episodes, you are never sure what to believe.

he asks where they take them- her boy and this girl and his sister. and she doesn’t know, but they’re okay.

oh god.

a bunch of children are pulling into santa’s north pole village. looking at reindeer. an old man approaches them. oh god. everything is so heavy here tonight. 

santa guy goes into a closet, where there are the countless screens from before. and puts on his costume.

mulder is replaying his mother's last call. listening close. seeds all over his desk. scully knocks on the door. “i’m glad you’re here”

he is convinced she was trying to tell him something- that the parents are having visions. psychically writing notes. she must have written a note like that herself, he declares. 

scully looks so frightened. he’s crying. he says it never happened. he’s been looking for his sister in the wrong place. that’s why they killed her. he talks about “his visions”. i want to know what he means.

but scully tells him that his mother killed herself. she was dying of an incurable, disfiguring disease. she knew this fact. there were doctor’s records. he stares at her. puts his heads in his hands. mumbles. 

he gets up and starts to throw his table. scully tries to stop him. but he’s sobbing. “she was trying to tell me something”

scully thinks she was trying to tell him to stop looking for samantha. to take away his pain. oh, that thought hurts, too. and she holds him on the floor. wraps her arms around his head and rocks him back and forth.

ohhhhh god.

the episode is still barreling ahead, but like. fuck. i need a breather. allow me to pause.

okay. back to the lapierres. they're turning off the lights. crawling into bed. billie stares into the distance. then gasps. she sees amber lynn!!!

we hear a knock on mulder’s door. however, i paused, and am looking at the decorations in his apartment. two pen drawings of what looks like apartments are hanging on his walls. a photograph of a sunset. i wonder what the stories are there. a table with four chairs- can you imagine him having four people over?- and a coat rack.

scully answers the door- she never left him. it’s skinner. i had a feeling it would be him. but. wow. still wow.

i guess it isn't that shocking. he's entangled into their lives at this point, no matter how angry he gets. a constant in his own way.

“how’s he doing?” “it’s been a hard night for him”, scully says, understating things tremendously.

but skinner has news: billie lapierre wants to talk, but she will only talk to mulder. scully starts to say it’s not a good idea, but before she can finish her sentence, mulder appears. skinner says he’s booked 2 flights. “well, then you better book three”

GOD. her disheveled shirt. i know he fell asleep sobbing into her arms. i need to howl like a wolf or something. FUCK.

and that skinner didn't want to assume that she would come too... but there is no way that would ever happen. ever.

skinner nods. 

i bet that was a tense plane ride.

billie lapierre is awoken by her husband. they tell mulder to come in. she’s taken aback by scully coming in, too, but he says it’s okay- she’s here to help.

billie says she saw her daughter. but she couldn’t hear what she was saying. maybe 74? that number doesn’t mean anything to them. scully walks away. waiting with skinner outside. 

mulder says they need to go home. the parents are delusional. the girl isn’t alive. “you can’t see a ghost and still hope to find her alive”

she asks about the note. “i don’t know what that means. i don’t know what is the truth and what isn't anymore. i’m way too close to this case to make any kind of sound judgement”

he usually only says stuff like this when he is plotting schemes. i don’t believe he has come to his senses…. but i suppose that having his last family member die could make that happen. maybe he really is entirely resigned. you couldn't blame him if he was.

getting a sneaking suspicion this will be a two part episode…

“in fact, i would like to ask for you to let me off this case, please, and i’d like to take some time off” (he turns to leave before they can say anything in response)

if he ever says "please" to skinner, you know he is NOT doing well.

skinner drives the rental. mulder is in the back looking out the window. scully looks out the window in the passenger seat. she sees highway 74. 74. and grabs the map. and draws a line to santa claus!!! whose village is on 74!!

she tells skinner to turn around and he listens right away. off to santa claus village.

the significance of scully being the one to make these connections is not lost on me.

they are looking very serious as they arrive to this children's theme park. mulder barges in to santa's workshop. then into the back room. they find all of the televisions.

holy fuck. it’s crazy tense. it just seems like normal security stuff that is currently playing on all of the screens. but the tapes go back to the 60’s. he puts one in. “think i know what we’re going to find here. it’s what my mother was afraid of. my sister”

they press play. it’s videos of children. a video of amber lynn, to be specific. two days before she disappeared. 

but santa returns and locks them in!!! skinner is after him!!! 

mulder kicks down the door…. skinner is still running after him… he fires his gun in the air to show he isn't messing around. and he finally stops. they arrest him. his name is ed truelove. scully reads him his rights. and mulder finds graves. a whole field of graves. 

to be continued. FUCK.

i get so mad when this happens, because i want to know. and i can never learn fast enough when i have to edit these posts. 

let’s see, what is on my mind…. 

god. pain. ouch. 

well, i don’t think they’ll ever actually find his sister. i hold that belief close to my chest. if they do find her, i think it’ll turn out to be someone else.

fuck. this one was heavy. it’s not enough to deal with child murder, must we also deal with mulder’s last living relative dying?

he seems to think there is still some sort of connection… i’m not sure if there is. maybe his mother just felt a lot of pain from seeing the news about that girl’s disappearance and wanted it to be over. but i do agree that she wanted to tell him something…. but what? and why would she burn the photos? maybe it was actually a plot to kill her and frame it as a suicide… and she knew someone was coming, so maybe that’s why she did what she did at that time. i don’t know!!! i don’t even really have a guess!!

and scully. GOD. scully. calling him out on personalizing the case. trying to rein him in. telling skinner her news cannot wait (it's always a big deal when she talks back to skinner). begging him to not make her do the autopsy, but she’s the only one he can trust. so she does. and she comes into him theorizing, planning, trying to find a bigger picture- and she has to say that there wasn’t one. his mother wasn’t framed. she was dying. she ended things on her own terms.

holding him as he sobbed. falling asleep. her rumpled shirt as she opened the door to skinner.

and then HER being the one to piece together the 74 connection and tell them to pull over... a miracle? a sign from the divine?

such a juicy skinner and mulder dynamic here, too. he’s so convinced he can solve this case. is it because he truly believes in his abilities? is he identifying with the case like scully accuses him of, even if he denies it with a smartass remark? is it that he thinks he has to save everyone to atone for being unable to save samantha? if the case wasn't personally important to him, he wouldn't have showed up at 3 am and shoved his way into being involved against all proper protocol. he likes to push with skinner, but never needlessly. and he wasn't able to write the report. he was in bed in the motel, staring at the ceiling, thinking.

and despite it not being allowed, mulder still gives him 8 hours to figure out what is going on. because he bends the rules for him whenever he can. even if he is furious later. he's been furious before. and he will be again. and the last thing mulder heard before learning his mother died was skinner tear into him for once again breaking the rules in his typical fashion. god. skinner probably felt awful after that. even if he deserved the scolding.

fuuuuuuck. SO much to analyze. i need to sleep on it to let it all sink in. but i also don’t want to wait to figure out wtf is going on. 

okay, i’ll let it sink in overnight. 

juni here, back after letting it sink in for a night of sleep.

i don't know why kathy lee and the lapierres are hallucinating their children. i don't think it is for alien reasons, though. maybe it is as simple as grief. but what doesn't make sense if that is the case is the whole visualizing the kids as dead and then the moms writing the notes thing. does santa guy have some way of possessing them and making them do as he pleases? even if that were the case, and he can make someone write a note or see things that aren't there through psychic powers, how did he manage to take amber lynn without breaking in? maybe if he can make people see things, like seeing their children as dead, he can also make them hallucinate them alive to give them hope? so he can feel less guilty?

so, who is this ed truelove fellow? he clearly is a creep of the highest order, but is he somehow stealing the children and killing them in his big graveyard? if that is the case, does it have anything to do with mrs. mulder's message? i guess he could be working on behalf of the aliens. or he could be a shapeshifting alien. we haven't dealt with any of those in a while.

why did mrs. mulder choose to end her life now, and even more, why did she burn all of the photos? even if she was really sick and she wanted to do things on her terms, it wouldn't make sense for her to burn the pictures. is she trying to obscure her connection to the alien project? trying to hide it from someone?

did she leave any sort of explanation behind as to all the things she admitted she couldn't say? maybe in the summer house? will we ever know what was going on with her and CSM? i still don't buy that he is mulder's father, but will we ever find out for certain if she isn't here to tell us?

damn. well. mulder angst lovers, we ate well tonight. but at what cost?

i do love mulder angst. it is so juicy. i feel we overdosed on scully angst in the past, so it is nice to see it more evenly distributed. we have had our fair share of mulder angst too, but for a while, it seemed like the writers were just really into torturing scully. i like to see them both explored and pushed to the limits and tested.

i'm curious to see what happens next. i guess if i had to make a prediction, i think kathy lee isn't right, and that the murders don't have to do with aliens picking up the kids and saving them from a terrible life. i feel like truelove is going to be the killer, somehow psychically controlling the parents and then taking the kids. i don't think this particular case has anything to do with samantha, but i do think that it brought up some terrible memories for mrs. mulder and perhaps happened to coincide with some sort of CSM plot that she had been hiding from him since we last saw her, which was when she was talking to CSM in mulder's hospital room before he vanished. and i still do not think that he is his father. she wanted to tell him something, but i don't think it was that she was also mentally controlled and forced to write a ransom note and then her daughter disappeared like he had proposed.

well. that sure is a whole lot, isn't it?

can this be considered mytharc? i guess most of the 2 part episodes are. it had less of that breakneck pace we usually get with mytharc stuff, so that was nice. and it had good angst. but i assume that very few of our questions will be answered with the next episode and then we will jump back into monster of the week stuff. which sometimes frustrates me, because we don't get to see the ramifications of the losses our agents incur. i think that just frustrates me about television and movies in general, tbh. they never have enough time to show someone in mourning.

well! that was a lot of typing. overall, i'm thinking about how much i love these agents, whether we journey with them through silly times or into the belly of a greek tragedy. and i'm still gagged at the whiplash between certain episodes. i look forward to seeing what happens next, and i hope that the consequences will be explored in canon rather than just in fanfic.

[magentagalaxies]

oh my god why are high-quality video files so massive it literally took me two entire days to download the wide-angle of my KITH rivoli interview and i only needed it to check the framing of this one three-second quote

[witchblade]

ifeel like i used to agree with this but at some point realized that a lot of my favorite movies/books/games are directly referencing or in direct response to very specific works or properties like extremely pointed and not internally consistent without knowledge of whats being referenced

[beesorcery]

i redesigned this shirt and now you can put it on your body

here it is, the final culmination of my fun cool graphic design project where i replace cities with 8balls!! If you want to follow along the process you can check out these posts: one, two, and three :D

if you are interested in wearing this as a shirt i made a teepublic! (edit for anyone who remembers this: the teepublic listing got dmca’d lol. however,) you can also download the files from google drive if you would like to print the design yourself

thanks for following along!! i have really had a lot of fun doing this (and just following 2our in general, the vibes were sweet) and i'm glad other people enjoyed it too :)

(better quality images under the cut <3)

[sneezingfetishftw-fics]

Insufferable (2/7)

Chapter 2 is up! The next part was taking a while to write, so please enjoy this quick lil interlude with Velvette (and a bit of plot at the end), I promise we’ll get back to poor sick Vox next chapter lol.

Previous chapter: 1

Next chapters: 3 4 5 6 7

Wavs: 1 3

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Velvette walked out the door, ready for action. Vox was always going on about how she could stand to learn some more professionalism, this was her chance! As she traversed the hallways, she realized there were a few other bits of bookkeeping to handle. She sent a text out to Val’s main assistant. “Filming for today is cancelled. Val currently unavailable, consider me as your point of contact for today (and probably also tomorrow.)” She pulled up Vox’s notes, grateful the man was so meticulous. Ok, plenty of talking points here, but what were all these markings? Oh. Those were the spots where Vox was planning to use his hypnotic eye, for the facts that were a harder sell (or maybe just straight up lies?) Velvette didn’t exactly have that option, she would have to rely on the skills she learned in social media to help her spin the story.

Velvette walked into the studio and all conversation stopped, everyone’s eyes on her. She reminded herself they weren’t just admiring her outfit. She had a job to do. “Vox is unavailable. I’ll be doing the interview in his place.” Several eyebrow raises, but then a sigh of relief as they realized they wouldn’t have to deal with Vox’s insufferable attitude. “Oh, and you can turn the temperature back to the default. It’s freezing in here!” Another collective sigh of relief. “How’s the equipment, everything working now?” The employee over by the AC nodded. “Good. I suppose you’re not so terrible at your job after all. Oh, and let’s turn the lights back up, it looks a bit gloomy in here.”

Another employee came up to Velvet. “We’re ready for the sound check, Ma’am.”

“Ma’am? I’m not a fossil! Try that again.”

Awkward throat clearing. “We’re ready for the sound check, Miss Velvette.”

Velvette suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. It was a little bit better of a title, she supposed. She sat down at the desk, watching with amusement as the employee lowered the mic. She took a sip from the water bottle at the desk. “Testing, testing, I’m Vox and I’m a stubborn, whiny little bastard who had to be forced to take a fucking break for once!” That’s what she wanted to say, but that wouldn’t exactly be a good way to show she could handle the responsibility. She settled for the more boring standard, and the setup was a breeze.

“I suppose we should start by addressing the elephant in the room,” the interviewer began.

“Yeah, you could stand to lose a few pounds,” Velvette thought, but she held her tongue.

“This interview was supposed to be with Vox, CEO of VoxTech.”

Velvette had thought for a while about how to answer this question. Would his illness come across as weakness, a sign that this was a good time for enemies to attack? Or would a cover-up be even more suspicious? She responded with the answer she’d prepared, with just the right level of adjacency to the truth. “Val is sick. Nothing major, but as someone who cares so much about his business partners, Vox thought it best to take it upon himself to make sure Val is well taken care of. He’ll be working from home the next few days but felt that the interview was best conducted in person, thus he sent me.” The CEO being sick was too much weakness to expose, but without a compelling reason Vox would look inconsiderate for skipping the interview. Taking care of Val had a level of believability and, Velvette was hoping, would humanize Vox a bit and enhance his likability. The interviewer seemed unimpressed. Fine, extra details then. “Vox knows that for such a big product like this there will be many questions. I’m here to handle the initial facts, and then after you’ve had a week to collect your thoughts, Vox will conduct another interview to answer those more in-depth, burning questions. We could, of course, get a different interviewer if you don’t appreciate his methods.” She flashed a toothy grin.

“No, no, that won’t be necessary,” the interviewer responded quickly. “I look forward to interviewing Vox next week.” He shuffled his papers awkwardly. “Right, then. Let’s get started.”

The interview itself passed without too much trouble. There were definitely a few moments where she had to pull something out of her arse, but the interviewer seemed to have bought it. Eventually, it was finally over. Ugh, these people were so boring.

When Velvette returned to their residence, the place was eerily quiet. No sound but the constant whirring of Vox’s fans, which could be heard even from the entryway. Velvette popped into the bedroom to see what was up. She found a mostly naked Vox (ew!), asleep and a (thankfully still clothed, also asleep) Val. A second glance at Vox revealed that he seemed to have some kind of screensaver, a little DVD icon bouncing from wall to wall of the screen. Was that normal? She couldn’t remember, she wasn’t exactly in the habit of watching him sleep. Never mind, better to let them both get some rest.

Velvette decided to continue her self-assigned responsibility of Vox’s affairs. She had just claimed the man was working from home, after all. Thankfully, his computer seemed to still be functioning. First step was checking his calendar. There was some big meeting scheduled for tomorrow. She seriously doubted Vox would be healthy enough by then. She did a quick scan of his sent messages to get a feel for the right tone, and then she sent out an update to all the participants. “Meeting rescheduled - it has come to my attention that some of you still aren’t prepared. I’m giving you until next week to figure it out. Don’t disappoint me.”

As she closed the email window and considered her next move, something caught her attention - a folder on the desktop labeled “Fuck Alastor”. Their rivalry wasn’t exactly a secret, but still she wondered just what was in there. She clicked it open and took a look. Inside were millions of photos, all of the same subject: Alastor. Captured by security cameras, perhaps? There’s no way the radio demon would willingly let Vox take so many photos of him. She stopped looking at the photos and went back to looking at the list of files in general. The most recent one was from this morning. And its file size was significantly smaller than the other files. Velvette took a look at the file details. Hidden extension? But it already had an extension - .vxc, for a raw photo from a VoxTech camera (presumably kept in original form for the sharpest image quality?). She unchecked the checkbox to reveal the actual extension: .exe. Oh. Velvette may not know computers as thoroughly as Vox, but she knew enough to know that was a bad sign. She sighed. This might be about to get a whole lot worse.

[inorganicorgan]

Uhhhhhhhhh mandbela catalgoue correee

I spent a hot minute blending the ghost frequency into the music lol

[photon-crest-art]

I don't have a witty caption for this tbh. Get Zooble'd or something I guess.

[oh-meow-swirls]

wish i found out about 3 releasing closer to launch so i could've gotten it physically. 😔 i mean digital copies are better for yo-kai watch specifically anyways but still would've been cool.

[exopelagic]

everyone was so harsh to alola it deserved so much better. like this region is so well designed and so pretty and the story is actually really fun? will never forgive everyone for what we did to her

[revenantghost]

Oh my god

I can easily download the videos off my favorite anime site

Fuck my storage I guess, I’m downloading the entirety of Tristamp

[anaid-queen]

@surrexi can i have a painful hallelujah

i think theres this idea in the general public that the "best" fanfic gets turned into real books like 50 shades of grey. but the truth is that the best fanfic can never be published as an actual book because its intricately woven into the canon material so its inseparable even if you change the names

[fox-bright]

Important! Your pet's RFID chip number might have been disconnected this week.

Is your pet chipped? They should be. Do you know who made the chip?

Pet RFID chips are so small that there's really only room on them for a serial number. When your lost pet is brought to a shelter or a vet's office, they can scan the chip, read that number, and then type it into a program that draws from a series of linked databases to find your name and phone number. That's how they find you, and tell you that Silly Lilly von Wigglesbottom has gone wandering, and she's safe and sound, and would you come get her, please?

Texas-based Save This Life, which provided chips to vets and shelters all across the US, has all at once and abruptly gone dark; their database is just gone. Their customers were not given warning and so did not know to change their registration to another company. A lot of animals have basically become anonymous now.

If you don't know what company you've been using, call your vet's office and ask what pet chip number they have on file. If the chip number starts with 991 or 900164, it's probably a Save This Life chip.

If it turns out yours is one of the affected cases, the chip itself will still be fine! There's no need to add another, or anything like that. You'll just need to transfer the number to another company, and your vet should be able to recommend the one that they like the best.

[champstorymedia]

Avoiding Delays: Key Considerations for a Smooth Insurance Claims Experience

Navigating the world of insurance claims can be daunting. Delays often arise when policyholders are unaware of certain requirements or best practices. Understanding how to avoid these pitfalls is crucial for experiencing a smooth claims process. In this article, we’ll delve into essential tips and considerations that can help you expedite your insurance claims, ensuring faster resolutions and…

[lytefoot]

Me: Can we not do this in Word? It's not the right software for this, we could do it more easily in other software.

Them: Sure, but everyone knows how to use Word, so we should use Word because it's easier.

Them: Proceed to absolutely not know how to use Word.