#Best Classified Script

[batsplat]

bringing this back just. y'know

could you say that marc is the best flag to flag pilot, at least in modern motogp?

idk if it's recency bias or what but I just rewatched misano 2015 and brno 2017 and like beyond his actual skill in the wet (which I think is pretty up there) honda and him usually nailed the strategy i think

misano 2014 was obv not great bc he came in too late but I think on the whole

oh yeah, it's not particularly close. and 'modern motogp' is in this case a completely unnecessary caveat! f2f was only introduced in 2005 as a more tv-friendly format and the first f2f race was phillip island 2006. until 2015, there's not like... any real patterns amongst the winners - and generally they're rare enough that you can't draw that many conclusions from who's winning them. marc's first f2f is technically phillip island 2013, which wasn't a weather-related bike switch but did of course feature the notable team fuck up that got him disqualified and could have cost him the title. then it's aragon 2014 where he fucks it and crashes because he didn't switch bikes when he should have, yes. but after that, the record's flawless: wins misano 2015, argentina 2016 (also a tyre-related bike swap), sachsenring 2016, brno 2017 - the full set until 2021. I do have another ask sitting in my drafts sent well before misano, which requires a longer response because it's about what makes a rider good or bad at f2f... so I'll go into more detail there. for now, yes there's a little bit of luck involved in some of these wins, a gamble or two that paid off because his race wasn't actually going all that great until he swapped bikes, but it's a record that kinda speaks for itself. it also probably speaks for itself that I spent much of the season pre-aragon attempting to singlehandedly manifest rain clouds. representative sample included here of my dispassionate analysis of the situation:

which made me initially quite irritable when the rain showed up at the race after aragon, but that's neither here nor there. anyway, I will go into this in a little more detail for that other ask, but I do think it's the f2f format specifically that suits marc. it's just those specific conditions where it's not wet wet but kinda slippery and gross where he really thrives - which of course you also see with stuff like his affinity for low grip conditions in general. plus, he developed a knack for picking the correct strategies in this genre of races. his record in proper wet races is significantly worse... if I had to make a list of the best wet weather riders this century, a few names would sneak ahead (dovi, casey and valentino being the obvious picks, and some of those riders were..... not so great at f2f). here's the comparison:

so yup - he's not a bad wet weather rider by any stretch of the imagination, but it's the type of mess thrown up by f2f where he really thrives. neat skill to have

[blueiscoool]

1,900-Year-Old Papyrus Records Roman Tax Fraud Trial

The Greek document details a court case in ancient Palestine involving tax fraud and provides insight into trial preparations in the Roman Empire

Back in 2014, a researcher from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem rediscovered an ancient papyrus while organizing a storeroom in the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Dead Sea Scrolls Unit. Once found in the Judean Desert, the document’s script had previously been classified as Nabataean—an ancient Aramaic language—but papyrus expert Hannah Cotton knew better.

“When I saw it marked ‘Nabataean,’ I exclaimed, ‘It’s Greek to me!’” the researcher says in a statement by the university.

Cotton and a team of experts spent the next decade deciphering the 133-line text, and their findings were recently published in the journal Tyche. Turns out, the document is the longest Greek papyrus ever found in the Judean Desert, and its newly translated content is particularly unique: a Roman lawyer’s detailed notes about the trial of two men accused of tax fraud.

“This is the best-documented Roman court case from Judaea, apart from the trial of Jesus,” says study coauthor Avner Ecker, a historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in the statement.

Per the study, the papyrus was likely written on the “eve of the Bar Kokhba Revolt,” a second-century Jewish uprising against Roman rule. The Roman Empire had colonized Judea—the southern part of ancient Palestine—some 200 years earlier. By 132 C.E., various Roman incursions upon Jewish life, including bans on religious practices, had taken their toll: The dwindling population of Jews in Palestine revolted. The rebellion, led by a man named Bar Kokhba, was crushed by the Romans in 135 C.E., and Jews were subsequently banned from Jerusalem.

The newly translated papyrus was written after Roman Emperor Hadrian’s visit to Judea around 130 C.E. and before the Bar Kokhba Revolt, per the study. It details Rome’s case against two individuals—Gadalias and Saulos—accused of forging documentation about selling and freeing slaves to bypass paying Roman taxes.

“Forgery and tax fraud carried severe penalties under Roman law, including hard labor or even capital punishment,” says study coauthor Anna Dolganov, a papyrus expert at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, in the statement.

The papyrus was written in “vibrant and direct” language by a strategizing prosecutor, advising another lawyer about pieces of evidence and anticipating objections, per the statement. The document also contains a “rapidly drafted transcript of the judicial hearing itself.”

As Dolganov says in the statement, “This papyrus is extraordinary because it provides direct insight into trial preparations in this part of the Roman Empire.”

Significant portions of the document are missing, making conclusions about the trial’s participants difficult to draw. Still, the researchers write that the prosecutors were likely “functionaries of the Roman fiscal administration” and suggest the defendants were Jews. The papyrus also makes mention of “an informer who denounced the defendants to Roman authorities.”

As Live Science’s Kristina Killgrove writes, the papyrus sheds light on the long-debated question of whether or not ancient Jewish people owned slaves. The document mentions that Saulos’ family owns multiple slaves, but whether those enslaved people were Jewish is unclear.

The trial’s location and the case’s outcome also remain mysterious. Per the study, proceedings may have been interrupted by the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Somehow, this papyrus ended up among a collection of documents stored in caves in the Judean Desert—the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were rediscovered in the mid-20th century.

As study coauthor Fritz Mitthof, a historian at the University of Vienna, says in the statement, the papyrus showcases the Romans’ governmental reach: They regulated private transactions even in remote regions of their empire.

By Sonja Anderson.

[literallys-illiteracy]

Oh boy time for me to do my thing and watch closely: New HTP episode released

When discussing the Regent of Great Yarmouth (referred to in the scene as "The master"), we see the background use the same silhouette as the figure credited as "The Monk" in the final scenes of the first episode.

I think that the theory of Kevin actually having telepathy, still screaming at D about the blender every so often (assuming he hasn't had time to meet Kevin since purchasing it) is very funny so I'm going with it. Kevin's dribble while going off script says "POWERFUL WIZARD LAZER".

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The symptoms that Spit displays line up heavily with those of the Delirium (note that there are many many different effects that the Delirium may take), with one of the most common reactions being catatonia (essentially becoming unresponsive in shock/fear), also implying that Spit has a willpower of 1.

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Crossing off the supposed kindred from being a "Vampire Wizard" (presumably not only relating to Tremere but we don't know how the family classifies them), Kitten proposes them to be a Sludge Lad (Nosferatu) or Humanimal (Gangrel), also making a joke about La Ghostra Nostra, which I believe is mean to be a pun on La Cosa Nostra (The Sicilian Mafia).

As the group is still going by the assumption that this IS a vampire, they are treating it as if Simon (Spit) has been dominated (See previous HTP post for Domination). That AND Matilda posits that he could simply be faking it I Wonder Why.

Also yeah I ship it.

Brok is genuinely pissed at the idea of Spit being the ghoul for basically no reason bar the fact that they are/were friends for a long time.

Now we get to the part where I get to talk at length about the Irish man.

to start off with, I haven't actually the best guess as to what Occam fully is (other than being a hedge mage). The amulet he is wearing has a sigil which is common in Celtic circles called the Triskelion, this also has ties to Hellenistic history (most specifically in Sicily, which being the second mention of Sicily sent me down a weird rabbit hole, allow me to elaborate:)

Basically, the triskelion is linked to Sicily, Hellenism (used as a common symbol during the period) and the god Hermes (Hermes helped Perseus fetch the head of Medusa). This isn't the important part but by God if I did this research it isn't going to waste. (also there is a theoretical link between the fact that the symbol is not too distant from the god Hermes and the Order of Hermes but I don't think that's important)

In Sicily, in WoD, there are pretty much only two things of note: In Syracuse (city within Sicily for those unaware) is the old centre of the Clan Lasombra, however it has not been in major use for roughly 600 years by this point (1400's-2000).

The second thing is that there is a Cairn there which... Werewolves I guess.

There was a third section which started talking about the Ars Goetia and how that could also relate back to Occam's sorcery but I cut it.

-

Back to the murder at hand(s) (claws?):

We can continue seeing Matilda be aggressive and defensive, we can also see her hands become visibly claw shaped when agitated:

Foreshadowing is-

Even while locked up, Matilda continues to direct attention towards both Spit and Git. Note how the episode consistently draws attention towards her, being the only non hunter who has more than a few lines (Non hunters being Spit, Git, Amanda, Matilda) and being the only one to directly point blame at any single person.

The time out box is back and with a full clear view of the symbol on the side.

The first thing I thought was mercury, due to the crescent shaped open top and the crossed centre line, however most depict mercury having a full circle and half stacked on top.

Then I realised that it was the symbol for the magic sphere of Matter. I then also found where/what the symbol properly was.

The only proper source I can find for this symbol is this researchgate proposal about unicode.

The fourth image lists the symbol as "amalgam", but oddly enough both figures 1 and 3 disagree with fig. 4 and with each other as to what the proper symbol for amalgam is.

Alchemy is weird like that sometimes, anyways I spent way too long on this moving on.

Referring to spit, the obvious odd behaviour he displayed throughout the last episode.

Funnily enough, this can be explained through the excuse Git gave before, his Ritalin (ADHD medication) wearing off. For those unaware, there is a side effect of prescriptions stimulants, specifically when they are wearing off, in which one becomes extremely tired, irritable, agitated, hungry, or anxious when their medication runs out of their system. This can be worse with children or those with comorbid mental health problems such as anxiety or depressive disorders; crashing or rebounding in extreme cases, like seen with Spit, can be a sign that the dosage of medication is wrong (too high), or simply that your body doesn't vibe with the stimulant, in which case you should consult your psychiatrist and change medications. Speaking from experience, it's never fun to crashland from being relatively normal into being a prick.

Uh considering that Git also has a nicotine dependency (seen through his desperation for getting his smokes back), I can't help but wonder what substance Brokham is using. Honestly looking at him? Anabolic Steriods.

Which is to say that... uh. Spit goes in the box.

Ok so I want to let HTP be its own thing for the most part but there is a 0% chance this isn't an intentional reference so i'll note it down:

these two paintings that mark the archive: the left is a reference to Ephrael Stern, a Sister of Battle known as the "Thrice Born" or "Daemonifuge". We can see this from the fact that she has the same blue lipstick and a cross-tattoo on the same areas as her TTS depiction.

For similar, design correlated reasons, it is safe to assume that the portrait on the right is inspired by Aurelia Malys of the Dark Eldar, whose TTS portrayal is below:

There's probably some sort of foreshadowing going on here related to Markus seeking entrance to the Archives, Magnus seeking the Black Library, and Ephrael being in the Library for most of TTS.

final note about the door, I cannot be bothered to try and find the meaning of the alchemical symbols on the door but they are there and unimportant if anyone wants to check it out.

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These two books have visible writing.

"Immortal Divorce Court (1)" and "Vamp Dictionary"

Please skip to the next red texted note if you don't want to read Latin lessons.

"Oculus Empyrean".

When I was first watching this episode, I misheard this as "Oculus Imperium" and got very confused because that would mean "Eye control(er)" (or more strictly it would be "Eye's control")

Oculus Empyrean (sort of) translates into "Eye of Heaven". The "Sort of" comes from the fact that Empyrean comes from medieval latin/early middle english, and also because of inflection.

Taking Oculus Empyrean at face value means "Eye Heaven" (unless my Latin is finally slipping as I go senile). This is because both Oculus and Empyrean are in the nominative case.

For non inflection-language speakers: The nominative case is used when a noun is the subject of an active verb, eg.

"The Ball was kicked into a tree" where "The Ball" is the nominative noun.

"Good Girl" for example would have nominative singular Puella (girl) and genitive singular version of Bonum, Boni, (Good) to create the phrase "Boni Puella".

However, that being said, unless listing nouns (the door, the wall, the shelf, and....-) or making a direct relation between two nouns (Jon is a farmer = Jon agricola est), I don't remember a case for multiple nominative inflections in a row; This is why it is more accurately translated to just Eye Heaven.

To actually write "The eye of heaven" in Latin, inflect both Eye and Heaven in the genitive case to indicate a relation between the two (as neither noun is the subject of a verb):

Oculi caeli

(I just swapped Empyrean for Caelum because they both mean heaven) (also, if you check this on google translate, due to Oculi being both the nominative plural, and the genitive singular of Oculus (as is the case for second declination nouns) it will probably translate as "eyes(plural) of heaven")

ok back to the actual episode because ????

The newburgh group is one of the members of the Coalition (Second Inquisition), which heavily backs the arcanum.

Ok so back on the eye real quick

This isn't an alchemical symbol, believe me, I've done multiple hours of research about alchemy today alone (if I had a nickel for every time I researched alchemy in depth for a media series I would have three nickels-)

the closest I could find in any of my sources was

Attramentum Vitriolum (Black vitriol), which lacks the central dot, and Auripigment (Arsenic Sulphide, literal translation is "gold coloured"), which lacks the central dot and is tilted to 45%

We can see here that the eye projects some sort of "red beam" from its... iris? I guess? which then connects into Markus'.

The red beam may relate back to the concept of the Empyrean. We've had our alchemy lessons, we've had latin lessons, time for a mythology lesson for an esotericism trifecta.

Beforehand, when I said that Empyreum means Heaven, I wasn't lying, just simplifying. The Empyrean, in ancient european myth, is the heavens beyond our terrestrial spheres; the empyrean referred to the spheres of existence permeated and constructed from, the element of Aether, the fifth element.

This may explain the symbol of the eye itself, having 5 nodes on a cross representing the 5 elements, but that's conjecture. The important part of this potential connection to the aether is the fact that, in the 5'th century, there was an alchemical theory of "Quintessence", being a similar conceptual "fifth element" of which the heavens were made of.

Quintessence in fact literally means 5th element. Quintessence is also present in World of Darkness lore:

in essence, in Mage the Ascension, Quintessence is basically the fabric of reality. The entire tapestry of reality, all things within, are made of quintessence.

I've already gone on too many tangents so i'm stopping myself from going deeper into Mage.

I can't be fucked looking for another one, also im 90% sure that i'd be barking up the wrong tree because I do not recognise those triangle ones.

Technically one could interpret the boxes with circles inside them as being the sign for urine.

***

Update because I'm dumb:

as people have pointed out, these symbols are Hunter marks, symbols used by and recognisable to Imbued (mildly supernatural hunters).

In my defence, I'm not a hunter, so I wouldn't know.

The three symbols seen are "imbued" (on the eye), Danger (the rectangle one) and "Puppet" (Triangle)

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as was very predicted by ms WILD who was always wearing gloves.

also from the sheer brutality, the delirium symptoms, the pinning of blame on others, the antisocial personality, claw marks all around the arcanum, and complete lack of surprise at the reveal of vampires existing.

Foreshadowing certainly WAS a literary device-

also would?

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in the ensuing fight, D is fairly easily overpowered, gains a large neck gash from claw marks, and cuts off matilda's left arm

Remold also shoots with his... cane gun? a phosphorus bullet. Phosphorus is known for like one main thing and it is that it burns like crazy, hence why "no vampire could survive that"

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I don't think that the reactions of each cast member are meant to actually reflect their willpower scores, except for Git and Spit who totally fit willpower 1.

That being said, time to organise each reaction into the different delirium reactions/willpower's:

Note how Grimal is strong enough to scratch into the tiling of the walls out of sheer fright.

That being said, every character in this scene, including D and Remould (which is why I'm saying that this probably doesn't fully reflect accurate stats) takes little to no action for this first section.

Also, immediately after we see the two elders, both clearly afraid, but still maintaining composure and fighting smart, think back to what D said back in the first audiolog:

"Trust your wits, not your fists"

probably somewhere around 9-10 range. 10 is defined as no reaction, and both are clearly afraid of the situation, but no matter your will, a werewolf running at you is scary.

Willpower 4, the berzerk reaction. As D put it "some may attack with extreme vigour"

In this scene here, we can hear the wound of the knife hissing after it has cut: either this is the knife "enchanted with death magicks" from the Guy Chapman audiolog, or the knife is made of silver. Either way this is called aggravated damage. Unless they changed something in W5 i've not played it.

Also this is probably just like a moth spirit or something, potentially this could be that one auspice that allows you to transport something from the umbra at will? unlikely though

willpower 4, berzerk.

Willpower.... 10? I don't think that this was an uncalculated action, I just think Markus is bad at math and doesn't know the strength of a werewolf.

I mean he had some of the shortest time between sight and thought out action, so at the very least a 7 (afraid but rational).

Also STAKE JACKET IS THE BEST IDEA.

We can assume that these are the spirits that Tilda (who from this point forward I will refer to as Tl;dr) has gifts from. Can't say which gifts, hard to say most things about spirits in general, so yeah.

in Audiolog one, we discussed: Vampires/Ghouls (which we have fought and met) Werewolves (just now fighting) (specifically Black Shuck) Witches/mages (Potentially seen?) Ghosts (wraiths); (Potentially seen?).

The mention of wizards was a specific tale of a witch, which remains unseen, and the "ghost" was that one with the well.

This marks the first named foreshadowed character appearing except for the fiddler/monk at the end of episode one.

Willpower 4: berzerk.

seems the spirit's name is Jambles? even more terrifying, the spirit might be french.

[lgbteca]

Even in a story as well constructed as Marta and Fina's, sometimes drama happens for the sake of drama. We can roll our eyes, but that's the way formulas are and as long as they work, they'll be used. For there to be a resolution, there must be a conflict.

@nerdishpursuits responds to my previous post with arguments that I agree with and give new light to my previous thoughts. Marta is noble, upright and loyal, but that doesn't mean that the way Fina reacted, despite being thermo-nuclear, was not completely wrong. Fina has memories of Vietnam.

When Marta went to see Jaime to tell him that she wasn't going with Fina to Barcelona, I believed that she was actually going to propose that the three of them leave. The strategist Marta would have thought of that, but the script left it up to Fina, which I accept. It proves my theory that Fina will always be the bigger person.

There was only one thing I didn't like about today's scenes with Marta, which were otherwise beautiful. Fina is assertive, impulsive and doesn't always choose the best timing for things, but to classify her reactions as childish seems a little out of place and unfair to the character. Fina had her reasons, the moment she's in also deserves understanding, it also frightens and frustrates her, of the two she is the one who has the most to loose. It's important that she apologizes and explains herself, but I don't think it's necessary for the script to repeat this diminishing of herself in the face of the circumstances. After all it’s also her life they are talking about.

[saltsongwc]

thistleclaw is very involved with both of their original stories … how is he related to them in this rewrite?

@mrcow101 (sorry for not answering separetly but together fits better)

No art here, don't know what to put sorry

Okay so, tw for mentions of grooming, I gotta mention Spottedleaf's Heart because a lot of the divergences from the au would directly take place in the timeline of the book, TLDR if you don't want to read my "This is why Spottedleaf's Heart fails as an expansion of her charcter in a satisfying way, this is the trope and why it's in use both in the book and in the au, this is what happens, this is what I would change, this is why 'Thistleclaw is a horrible person even without Spottedleaf's Heart', and this is the end" yap: Spottedpaw is not groomed by Thistleclaw in the mate sense, he does groom her into his idiology of "Thunderclan above the rest" much like he did Tigerpaw, there is no Dark Forest training, and Tigerfoot kills him because Thistleclaw tried to kill him as revenge.

Yap session below

If Thistleclaw did the same thing he did to Spottedleaf in canon to Spottedstem in this au, then I would've have her kill Thistleclaw, my script teacher would say "that's not positive and shouldn't be good" but justice is not given to the characters in warriors they gotta take it for themselves.

The thing is how warrior's treated Spottedleaf's story is that it pushed her into the trope of Taking the Veil, there are historical reasons related to this trope (often used as a way for women to escape from the oppressive world by one, maybe as oppressive but in sisterhood than alone), Warrior's does not escape from tropes, especially not this one (the whole medicine cats not having mate or kits is an enforcement of this).

Tangent: Tropes are not necesseraly negative, depends on how they're written

The way I see it, Tigerfoot in this case also falls into this trope, the subvertion is that he, male, decides to take refuge into what the universe of Warriors classifies as a very feminine leaning job, the healer and the priest, both in fantasy to be read as very 'un-masculine', in his build and in his appearance he looks warrior like, and yet he chose otherwise for the same reasons Spotted did in Spottedleaf's Heart, it's ironic.

However the Spottedleaf in arc 1 and in Bluestar's Prophecy did not choose to become a healer just to escape from the world, rather to embrace another side to it, medicine cats in warrior's work best when they are treated not as a separation and an exclusion from the clan but as a crucial part of it that must work in tandemn. At the same time, I love putting medicine cats as "messangers of the eldritch being that is probably Starclan", so the separation makes sense. And I'm basing this au on the latter so yeah-

WITH WHY SPOTTEDLEAF'S HEART IS NOT GOOD OUT OF THE WAY-

Thistleclaw in this is au was Tigerpaw's mentor much like in canon, and planned to become leader to bring Thunderclan into war with the other clans, he wanted Thunderclan to control the forest, all under his rule, he was charismatic to many, and tried to push this ideology of violence to his clan mates, which during the time when they lived in (of constant battles and famine for short periods of time), was very appealing.

He was very liked among apprentices because he was the "Cool mentor" that let us eat what we caught whenever he was in charge of training, Tigerpaw was very proud of being his apprentice up until one of these "chest out, Thunderclan rocks" outings caused him to miss Leopardfoot's passing, he wasn't the same after that, and instead of being the stable supportive figure one should think a child should have he pushed Tigerpaw further into anger, taking his anger out on others, Tiny (ask about what pushed Tigerpaw into being a medcat here).

When his apprentice began giving him the cold shoulder, and it became unlikely Tiger would return to his duties, he turn his focus in other places, Spottedpaw was just beginning her training, and despite trying to beg Sunstar to give him another apprentice, as Tiger had not technically resigned by that point the leader was reluctant. It didn't stop Thistleclaw from butting into lessons as he was still, technically, a mentor. Spottedpaw was thinking of becoming a medicine cat apprentice (by her intial desires as a kit) before Tigerpaw took it from her.

Thistleclaw enters the picture, both very pissed at losing his shot of being leader, and now apprenticeless, that he decides that if he can't force his way of thinking into the clan, he should take a shot at the next generation, Spottedpaw.

So Thistleclaw is the dark mentor, the one that pushes out your worst qualities and makes you believe that they are your best, the one that has always been objectlively wrong in his way of thinking and is not a victim of poor wife syndrome, he is evil because he in canon wanted everyone but Thunderclan dead, and anyone who doesn't agree with it dead. He does not view other clans the same as Thunderclan, rather lesser.

This is bad. There is no other interpretation and there is no other excuse, he is bad both by his intetions and who he trained others to be.

One day, while escorting Tigerfoot, he planned to murder the medicine cat and make it look like an accident, he monologued about his plan, about the revenge, about in the cusp of victory how he would force the clans to his will.

So he did the clan a favour.

[simblorbo-bracket]

Round 2 - Simblr's Saddest, Wettest Meow Meow - Mainline

No. 27 (@literallyjusthereformods) VS. Andre St. Fleur (@armoricaroyalty)

(polls are presented left -> right unless stated otherwise)

Who's sadder? Who's wetter? Read on for more information, and vote with your heart!

What is a ‘Meow Meow’?

(taken from tumblr user @/torturelabyrinth) “The thing about a true poor little meow meow is they have to be 1) downtrodden 2) morally questionable at best 3) deeply and pathetically miserable”

No. 27

Alias: "Livard"

No. 27 was the 27th 'living' instance of the Crane Foundation's modern Quintessence Program. When the breach occurred, 27 took immediate opportunity to leave, using her sharp limbs to grievously wound operatives and other personnel who attempted to obstruct her path of escape. Eleven confirmed aggravated fatalities. An unknown number of fatalities occurring at trample areas and exit pileups. She proceeded to use the slaughter-path of the other breachers as a clear line out of the facility’s underground portion, ascending rapidly to the upper floors where she is believed to have fled the building.

As of right now, 27 is an immune carrier of a new strain of the same pathogen currently causing a cataclysmic outbreak. While typical variants can only infect and alter biological matter, this mutation was observed with the new ability to infect machines during controlled testing.

No. 27 was last spotted wearing the stolen cardigan of Dr. Livard, with a secondary article of clothing tied beneath at the waist. The owner of the second article has not yet been identified.

27 has been reported self-identifying as ‘Livard,’ and has not discarded the nametag attached to the stolen cardigan, despite having no reason to keep it.

27 was created as an experimental binding of biological tissues and cybernetics. Unlike precursors, who were constructed with biological matter on a 75% or higher percent mechanical endoskeleton, 27 was an experimental integration of traditionally classified ‘biological’ and traditionally classified ‘mechanical’ elements on a fundamental level. The use of nanites in her tissues, along with algorithmic adaptations, created a unique combined system challenging the preconceived definitions of the categories.

However, the arise of the new pathogen strain saw 27 strictly confined. 27 was shown to be incredibly observant of those observing her, and an incredibly accurate mimic of their behaviors. She, notably, engaged in a game of rock, paper, scissors with an anonymous researcher after they and their coworker demonstrated the game through the window.

Sentient or not, 27 still falls outside of the Mimic Law, and is legally property of the Crane Foundation. With artificial sentience having already been academically accepted years ago, whether 27’s curiosity is dictated by script or by consciousness is not our concern.

As for the present times, it was assumed 27 would perish shortly after leaving the facility, without the specific needs of her body being met in a controlled environment. Our assumptions were wrong. 27 has been spotted feeding on mechanical devices as if they were prey animals. We can only assume this habit will accelerate the spread of the new pathogen strain, and while we would like to reclaim 27 for study, it might become necessary to terminate her entirely to prevent escalation of the already dire world situation.

Originality Status: 100% Original Property of the Crane Foundation

Additional Notes:

(Attached below is a fabricated 3D model based on the last contained recording of 27. It is merely for visual context. If you are an operative searching for 27, or, in some inexplicable instance, creating a poll (Tom), please use the topmost image as it is the most up-to-date.)

Andre St. Fleur

What makes him a Sad, Wet Meow Meow? Born to royalty but completely temperamentally unsuited for it, Andre is pathetic and sad and weak-willed and a big, giant loser. He's the king of a small and unimportant country, and he simply cannot parent effectively or stop cheating on his wife. Finally forced to decide between his mistress and his wife of nearly 30 years, he became so paralyzed with indecision that he developed a terminal illness instead, saving him from ever having to make up his mind about anything.

Just some additional pictures of Andre moping, crying, and letting his loved ones down </3

I think my boy has the potential to go far, but even if he gets knocked out in the first round...what could be sadder, wetter, or more pathetic than getting immediately eliminated from the "most pathetic" tournament?

[tf2vnthingy]

Devlog 1 - Names, References and Revisions

Today's agenda: The name of the game!

What should I name the game? Give me all of your wackiest suggestions and I'll make a poll to see which does best! Just anything that you'd like to see in a TF2 vn. (If anyone could possibly, maybe, want to volunteer in helping/proofreading the current drafts, that'd be awesome!!)

Story

As I write this, I am currently within the 3rd draft/revision of the beginning of the game. I'm a bit conflicted on how to start it. I'm jumping between this being a one week experience for the MC to show how short Ms Pauling's vacation is OR the idea that this is the last week of the internship and you're on your way to say goodbye.

The middlest parts are the easiest to write as they're rather independent from each other. The endings are already fully conceptualized but that's classified, no matter how much I wanna info dump about it!!

Designs/Art

My friend is currently helping out with the project! He's going to be in charge of the backgrounds and other assets in exchange for me helping with his commissions lol! For now, I've been drawing sketches of poses and figuring out which poses work best through reference gathering.

These would work for Sniper and Spy, maybe.

Coding

This part is the trickiest since I don't have my laptop with me for another week or so. But, for now, I'm learning through basic python tutorials and implementing a lot of the script in Twinery.org to keep track of the branching paths. I do intend on using Ren'py for development.

This is mostly a bunch of dialogue because I refuse to write actual lengthy descriptions for a DRAFT...... (shush, I barely even started)

[vindicated-truth]

(Originally written here)

There are three things that stood out to me here about Oh Jihwa's background:

Jihwa as a licensed psychotherapist

While it wasn't explained how or why she got that certification, it certainly makes a whole lot of sense for her character.

For one thing, it explains exceptionally well why she's the only one among the crazy ensemble of their little Manyang family who has a remarkably sane head on her shoulders. She's the most logical, most level-headed, and most objective of them all, less prone to being blinded by emotion while embracing the empathy it entails instead of shunning it.

(The latter is what sets her apart—and in some ways better—than Joowon.)

In everything else, she's also remarkably the most similar to Joowon: strictly law-abiding, refusing to let human attachment get in the way of enforcing justice, wants the best for everyone precisely through calling them out on their bullshit, instead of enabling it.

It makes the most sense, actually, that Dongsik is drawn to both Joowon and Jihwa in similar ways, with the only difference in Dongsik's slightly sexist—albeit completely understandable and not without merit, considering how the victims were all women—overprotectiveness of Jihwa as a woman.

It also makes sense for Jihwa to be the most fitting to be Dongsik's best friend, as she is actually the best suited to deal with Dongsik's multiple psychological issues because of her qualification in psychotherapy. She's the most capable of handling Dongsik the right way, and it clearly shows with the way she deals with him constantly without babying him, enabling him, or patronizing him.

In a way, she mirrors Joowon in this. Which leads me to my next point and theory:

Jihwa as potentially Dongsik's love interest in the initial conception of the script

When Joowon asked Dongsik, "Are you jealous?" when Dongsik demanded Jihwa to refrain from meeting her ex-husband again, I can now see where the showrunners might have headed with this, given what we've now seen as an initial conception of the background of Dongsik's and Jihwa's relationship in the script:

Lee Dongsik. The moment he was brought into her father’s Taekwondo studio by his father, Lee Hanoh, she sensed that they were alike. Sure enough, whenever something happened his kicks flew first, just like her. He was also strong against the strong and kind to the weak, just like she was. The neighbourhood elders used to tell her over and over that she should get married to Dongsik. At first she hated hearing it, but after a while she got used to it. Maybe even liked it a little.

There was potential there, had everything not went through hell because of Kang Jinmook, for Dongsik and Jihwa to have been romantically involved, at least for a trial run, had they caved in to familial and societal pressure.

And I now realize why:

Jihwa can be seen a female counterpart of Joowon much in the same way that Jaeyi can be seen as a female counterpart of Dongsik.

Because Jaeyi has incredible similarity to Dongsik too: headstrong and passionate, fiercely protective of the people they love, unheeding of societal norms and more likely to follow their own personal convictions, stubborn and upfront about their own personal beliefs, fearless in blatantly breaking the law as long as it brings forth the justice they believe in.

(In D&D terms, both Joowon and Jihwa can be classified as Lawful Good, while both Dongsik and Jaeyi can be classified as Chaotic Good.)

Had the showrunners decided to take the more conventional route of Korean dramas, I can actually see how they could get away with the parallelism of Jihwa and Jaeyi as mirrors of Joowon and Dongsik in turn, and naturally heading down the path of what could have been a more heteronormative and age-appropriate potential romantic involvement between Joowon and Jaeyi, and Dongsik and Jihwa.

I'm honestly not against the thought. It could have worked had it been done well, considering the natural talent of both Kim Sujin and Shim Nayeon in fleshing out characters and their relationships to each other. And considering their similarities, Jaeyi and Jihwa can serve as a proper balance too to both Joowon and Dongsik, in ways that are similar to how Joowon and Dongsik are to each other.

Except—it would have been a massive disservice to both Jihwa and Jaeyi by once again limiting and devolving their characters into being written in as nothing more than romantic interests of the male leads, instead of the superior and incredible female characters they already are in themselves.

The showrunners made the best decision in not shoehorning in the romance—even as the natural potential was there—because it's in precisely letting these women be freely who they are in themselves is exactly what made each of their characters shine best.

(And the irony is: both Jihwa's and Jaeyi's strength as female characters lies in what they cannot be for both Dongsik and Joowon in turn, in a way that both Dongsik and Joowon desperately need:

Jihwa and Jaeyi are both much too sane to ever give in to either man's brand of lunacy, which is the kind that only Dongsik and Joowon can give to each other: that raw, unhindered, unfiltered, all-encompassing devotion.

Ironically, both women have a much stronger sense of self-worth to ever blindly lay their soul on the line for a man.

As they should.)

And finally, this is the most remarkable thing that stood out to me about Jihwa's character background:

Jihwa's estranged friendship with Jeongje

Despite how it's the three of them who have the longest history together, it has always struck me how Jihwa strangely feels like the outsider to their trio.

It felt, to me, like she was left out a lot in the bond that Dongsik and Jeongje uniquely share.

At first I had thought it was because Jeongje was the one leaving her out, whether deliberately or unwittingly, with the way canonically in both Jeongje's character background and the actual show, Jeongje keeps referring to Dongsik as "his only friend", as if Jihwa isn't right there along with them.

Which is why it fascinates me now to find out that it was Jihwa herself who was deliberately avoiding being too close to Jeongje, finding excuses to not be around him more than necessary since they were young.

And again, it circles back to Jihwa's incredibly sensible background as a licensed psychotherapist: perhaps she always had the inclination, due to her nature as being logical and level-headed, and had always been attuned to the fact, even before she was professionally trained for it, that there was something about Jeongje she was right to be wary of.

And again, it also circles back to how this makes her remarkably similar to Joowon in this too:

Just like Joowon, she had always wondered if Jeongje's attachment to Dongsik isn't necessarily healthy for Dongsik.

(And Dongsik himself had always felt it too, that it was Jeongje who was clinging to him more than necessary, more than what is normal, the way he had pointed it out to Do Haewon herself.)

[crazybiscuit]

Siren Song

Pairing: PM!Osamu Dazai x PM!Reader Summary: Dazai was used to seducing women and throwing them away when he no longer needed him. He never expected he'd be the one on the receiving end... Warnings: MDNI, smut, angst, unrequited love, toxic relationship, reader has siren abilities, mentions of murder and mafia business Word Count:  2442 Credits: @saradika-graphics thank you for the divider! A/N: Sorry guys, I was too drunk to finish writing this last night since I played a drinking game with my friends while watching Twilight. I am not a lightweight and we drank champagne, so I hope this gives an idea of how bad the movie was (it's still a guilty pleasure though). Also, I’m AroAce so my intention isn't to depict aromatic people as manipulative pricks. This is just depicting a toxic relationship between two people, in which one of the members happens to be in the community. Anyways, enjoy!

Relationships between coworkers were never a good idea. Especially when the parties involved members of the Port Mafia, which wasn't renowned for its HR department. However, Dazai supposed this didn’t really classify as a proper relationship anyways. It was purely physical, but that was still enough to cause trouble.

And he had to remind himself of that fact every time he would find himself pinning you down in your bed, trying his best to ignore the emotions building up in his chest with each sweet gasp of his name falling from your lips.

Dazai wasn’t a stranger to casual sex, if anything, he considered himself an expert at using people’s feelings for him to have a fun night. What he wasn’t used to was someone flipping the script on him and that was exactly the situation he found himself in when he first met you.

At first, he’d simply pursued you to piss off Chuuya (who like most other members developed a small crush on you due to your ability) and as a challenge for himself to see if he could seduce a siren. He should’ve quit the game he started the moment he managed to steal a kiss from you. No… Actually, he shouldn’t have even started because the moment he got a taste of you, he couldn’t stop.

Your ability didn’t work on him, so he had no clue what made him eagerly push you against his desk as he tugged your hair or pressed you in the small corner of the supply closet, hands wrapped around your throat to keep you quiet. Maybe it had something to do with your face or body. He’d often seen your true face each time he touched you, nullifying the illusion spell that you’d cast, and he wouldn’t deny you were pretty. But he found many women easy on the eyes and never felt the urge to pathetically whimper out their names as he clung onto them desperately for release.

Dazai had finally come to the conclusion that his love for you likely was a cruel joke from the universe. Anything he would never want to lose was always lost. It was something he had learned early on in life and as he grew older, it began to hold more truth than he’d like. His feelings were stubborn, however, and he couldn’t help but find himself alone with you too often.

Tonight, you had finished a mission on Mori’s personal orders and you got home in the early hours of the morning, long before the sunrise. You weren’t disturbed or surprised when you noticed your door open ajar. You didn’t even reach for your pistol as you entered, instead, kicking your heels off and addressing the man you knew was here, “Back again?”

Dazai’s dark eyes remained on the revealing dress adorning your figure, mildly irritated with himself for feeling jealous of the man you murdered last night. He knew Mori had only assigned you to this case to spite the executive and he hated to admit the punishment was working, “How was the mission?”

“Fine,” you stated dryly as you removed the gun tied around your thigh, along with the empty vial of poison, not caring of the man’s stare, “A little too easy if you ask me.”

Dazai looked away for a split second, staring into his glass of whiskey before finishing it swiftly, “Hurry up and shower. I’ll be waiting in bed.”

You rolled your eyes but made no attempt to disobey him as you walked to your bathroom. You didn’t bother to shut the door, fully aware of the wandering eyes on you as you slowly undressed and turned on the hot water.

By the time you entered your bedroom in your bathrobe, you found the brunette sitting on your bed, flipping through one of your catalogs, “You should consider buying me a new nightgown or lingerie one of these days.”

Your comment was obviously meant to be playful but even with the laugh falling from his lips, you can tell it doesn’t reach his eyes, “I don’t really like the idea of clothes I bought ending up on the floor of a stranger.”

You paused as you dried your hair, lowering the towel slightly. You weren’t stupid, you had obviously noticed the subtle differences in his behavior since your first meeting. You had noticed his strange insistence on assigning you to missions that had nothing to do with him when he first realized his feelings. This flipped when he couldn’t help himself by visiting your apartment at least once a week and he began recruiting you for his own missions, which caught the attention of quite a few members.

Not only that, but his behavior and expressions had also shifted enough for you to notice he had developed feelings inappropriate for your arrangement, “If I didn’t know better, I’d assume you were jealous, Dazai.”

“Trust me, I’m not,” you both knew the truth but pretended to be oblivious. It was easier that way…

You dropped the towel on your chair and made your way towards your bed and you felt the urge to remind him of your relationship, “That’s good… I wouldn’t want to give you the wrong idea.”

The comment stung a little but the man effortlessly shrugged it off as he grabbed your wrist and pulled you down next to him. You could already tell what he wanted and you closed your eyes before he even pulled you close enough to kiss. This caused him to groan in mild frustration, seeing how unaffected you were with these encounters but he quickly pushed the feeling away as he began to push the emerald-colored silk off your shoulders.

“You shouldn’t be taking direct orders from Mori, you’re my subordinate.”

You stared at him stunned for a second and bursted out into laughter, “Do you realize how crazy you sound? You aren't the boss… At least not yet.”

“I don’t care,” he mumbled against your collarbone as your nightgown finally fell down to your waist, exposing your bare body. 

You dismissed the comment, tilting your head back slightly for the brunette. His hands were wrapped around your waist and your own ran through his dark curls, “What do you want tonight?”

“Shouldn’t you know that already, mind reader.”

You let out an annoyed sigh as he ruined the mood. You weren’t even going to indulge him with an answer since you both knew your mind manipulation ability didn’t work on him, “Quit being snarky and let’s get to the point.”

His jaw clenched, a small frown making its way to his face but he stayed put, his hair tickling your neck as he began trailing kisses up your throat. Your fingers found their way to the ends of his eye bandage and you carefully untied it as he began marking your skin. Another sign that he was more comfortable with you than he’d like to admit. The gauze fell down when he pulled away for a few seconds.

“How was the mission? You didn’t give much details,” you sighed, his lips on your pulse. You could tell this conversation wasn’t sparked out of mere curiosity.

“The usual. I was sent to clean up after…,” you hesitated slightly. You assumed Mori hadn’t given him details of your assignment and you weren’t about to throw Akutagawa under the bus, “A member failed to kill a witness during a raid: a politician. Luckily, they’re always easy to manipulate.”

“I bet they are,” you gasped as he suddenly pressed you into the mattress, clearly not wanting to hear anymore. He expertly unbuttoned his suit jacket and tossed it on your floor, leaning down to taste your lips. You were quick to reciprocate the gesture as your fingers loosened his tie, pulling him deeper into the kiss.

He eventually pulled away, both of you breathing heavily, and the rest of his clothes soon found themselves on the hardwood floor, alongside your nightgown. His bandages also found their way off his body, a rare occurrence even when it came to sex (or any interaction for that matter).

You sat up, pushing him back a little as you reached into your drawer. He knew the protocol, despite being on birth control, you asked him to wear a condom for safety. He didn’t mind obviously, he was used to this. What really stung was seeing the various different brands and sizes, reminding him that he was just like all of your other playthings. He wasn’t special and he interpreted it as a lack of trust on your part. Obviously, he was known for sleeping around but if you cared enough, you would’ve known that he stopped that a few months into knowing you.

He didn’t vocalize his complaints, laying back down on the bed as you got on your knees in front of him. He could hear the sound of the package opening and shivered as you rolled the cold rubber onto his cock. You didn’t waste your time, your hands slowly stroking his cock as your lips gently pressed kisses against his thigh, causing him to let out a sigh, eyes closed as he relaxed further into the mattress. 

His hand found its way into your hair as you finally wrapped your lips around his tip and he groaned softly, grabbing onto your roots. He stayed fairly quiet as you bobbed your head up and down at a leisurely pace. The man could tell you were teasing him and frowned in annoyance, thrusting his hip. You let out a small gagging sound as he pressed your head further down onto him but adjusted to his length quickly, being accustomed to his impatient behavior.

He took control, fucking your mouth like a toy as you sucked his dick, face scrunched up as he focused on the sensation of your warm mouth wrapped around him. It didn’t take long for him to feel himself approaching his release and you moaned onto his member, knowing he would cum soon as his thighs trembled faintly. He hissed, pushing your head as far down as he could, hitting the back of your throat as came.

You pulled away, licking the flavored lube off your fingers as you stood up to grab a towel. The lanky man stayed on his back for a while, ignoring the dreadful sensation in his gut, ashamed of how quickly he’d give into pleasure just to be near you. He sighed, removing the condom and tossing it in the bin as he waited for you, finally sitting up and leaning against the bedframe. 

Once you were back, you cleaned him off and opened your bedside drawer once more but you hesitated for a few seconds as you stare at the boxes. Dazai frowned slightly, wondering what was wrong but before he could ask, you straddled his lap much to his shock, “Wha–”

You kissed him, tongue pushing past his lips, smiling in satisfaction. It wasn’t often someone could surprise the Demon Prodigy. You briefly pulled away, looking at his stunned expression, “I figured there’s no point wasting another one.”

“You taste like bubblegum,” he remarked, unable to think of anything else to say in the moment as you aligned his tip with your cunt. If he was stupid enough, he’d assume this meant more than it actually did. You let out a small snort at his comment as you slowly sank onto him with a gasp.

 “Yeah, it’s a new brand. Like it?” you mumbled, holding back a moan at the sensation of him stretching you out.

“Don’t use them with anyone else,” he ordered without thinking, head resting against the wooden frame as you took him inside of you bare. He knew this was most likely going to be a one time thing, so he was hoping the condoms would solidify his need to prove his importance to you even if he knew it wasn’t true.

You ignored him, eyes closing as you took him balls deep, a soft moan escaping your lips at the sensation. His hands wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer to his chest, causing you to grind against him, “Fuck…”

He took a deep breath, trying to control his heart. You’d always been more vocal than him in bed but he had a feeling you mostly did it for your partners. It was the same thing he did when he hooked up with someone for information, acting in the specific way he knew they’d like.  He couldn’t deny that he found it attractive but it was yet another reminder.

His nails dug into your waist as he tried pushing aside his feelings and he began helping your set a pace to ride him. You wrapped your arms around him, head tipped back as you whimper out his name. He grasped this opportunity and kissed the top of your chest before biting into it, hoping to mark you even more. He’d always noticed the sweet taste of your skin and the pleasant smell. If it weren’t for his ability, he would’ve assumed it had something to do with your siren spell.

Your moans and whines only grew louder as Dazai picked up his pace, relishing the sensation of fucking you without protection. Honestly, his delusions were telling him that if he filled you deep enough, you would get pregnant and you’d finally be his. He clung to the stupid thought, thrusting up into your cunt, small groans muffled against your skin as he screwed his eyes shut in concentration.

You reached down for your clit as you watched him through half-lidded, sensing that your night would end soon. The brunette’s eyes snapped open in annoyance as he slapped your hand away, “The hell do you think you’re doing?”

You shivered at the cold tone of his voice, clenching around him from the sterness and you gasped out in shock as his finger tip replaced yours. It took only a few more seconds for you to slump against him, body shaking as you cried out his name. He bit his lip hard in response, feeling the tight grip of your cunt on his cock, causing him to draw blood as he pushed himself as deep as he could before cumming, filling you with his warm seed.

You both stayed entangled for a minute, catching your breath as you recovered. Unsurprisingly, you were the first to pull away, standing up and grabbing the emerald robe on the ground to cover yourself.

“Feel free to shower before you leave, Dazai,” your voice was nonchalant as you stepped out of the room to fix yourself dinner, “I’ll take mine later.”

[cupidfilmed]

YOUTUBER DR INTRODUCTION

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❝ she’s got a book for every situation. gets into parties without invitations. how could u ever turn her down? ❞ - HS

HALO LANEE FRANCIS … born in paris france, is the eldest daughter of her parents Lucille and Adrien Francis, her only sibling being her much younger sister, Annie. currently, she resides in los angeles, california, around the block from her childhood bestfriends

THE STURNIOLOS … born and raised in boston, massachusetts, met halo on the first day of seventh grade after her moving to america. Nick was the first to introduce himself to her, almost immediately making jokes about baguettes. she met Matt the same day, confusing him for his identical brother she had already met, failing his attempt at flirting with her. she met Chris earlier on in the week while hanging out with nick at their house. oh my there’s three of them.. she thought. but what she didn’t think was that these three people would eventually become some of the most important people in her life.

YOUTUBE … has been a huge part of halo’s life since she started her channel at fifteen. she started off posting silly little school vlogs or day in the life’s, which blew up her channel almost immediately, addicting people with her natural humor and relatability. she had over one million subscribers in less than a year, leading her fame to grow even more, eventually becoming the youngest person on the cover of vouge. she is now known for long, comforting, funny vlogs on her everyday life. she posts twice a week, going back and forth from her main channel and her famous podcast, girl at home.

MATT & HALO … were best friends. they knew everything about eachother. of course they had a crush on eachother. in eighth grade, halo decided to tell nick about her huge crush on his brother. he was not surprised. it seemed as though everyone knew except them, she still made him swear not to tell anyone. in the same week, matt also informed nick on his huge crush on halo, and nick convinced matt to tell her, obviously without telling him that halo felt the same. matt had spent weeks planning out how he was gonna tell her, if he was going to ask to be her boyfriend, and every possible scenario that could follow. halo was oblivious. eventually, all of his plans crumbled down to a spur of the moment kiss, followed by a confession. and ever since then, matt and halo have been joined at the hip. friends to lovers, middle school sweethearts, and most of all best friends. as of twenty twenty three, their love has lasted an ongoing of 6 years.

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FUTURE FAME : this dr is set in march of 2023, and maybe i have gotten a little out of hand with scripting things for the future.. but anyway. for the barbie movie, i scripted that i made the song ‘what was i made for’. ive been known in my dr for loving singing and doing covers of other songs, sometimes i would post an original song on my tiktok but never release it. i did choir and theater all throughout middle school and highschool so singing has always been apart of my life, but i never did anything about it.

until greta gerwig, the director of barbie, approached me about doing a song for barbie. i, of course, said yes and then made and released my first song, ‘what was i made for’. during this time, and since 2021, i had been filming for wicked, which is how greta found me (through the director of wicked). from doing theater throughout school, some would classify me as a ‘theater kid’.. so ‘Wicked’ has been my favorite musical my whole life and i’ve always, even though i didn’t have many intentions of acting, dreamt of playing the role of glinda.

when the auditions came in 2021, i did everything i could to prepare my voice. i ended up getting the role for the 2025 movie, Wicked, as Glinda. i was ecstatic. over the time of filming, i became really close with my co-star, cynthia erivo. since we had an age gap, she was like a second mother to me.

but fast forward to may of 2024, slowly wrapping up wicked. i had unexpectedly released the hit single, ‘espresso’. my song immediately topped the charts and my fame in singing only grew. about a month later, i had release my third single, feather, also topping charts. i knew that i wanted to keep my priorities on youtube so i decided that instead of releasing albums and being in many movies, i would release a handful of songs throughout a year and maybe be in one movie. i was only planning on releasing the two singles and a christmas song at the end of the year, but the netflix show, bridgerton, approached me for a song in their show.

(for background) i scripted that in the book, two main characters had a famously very very romantic ball room scene, just them, dancing together in the big empty room, to a slow passionate song. the directors of bridgerton wanted to make this scene into the show just as good as it was written, so they came to me to write them a good slow and romantic song. in september, i wrote and released the song ‘wildest dreams’. it quickly became a hit for the vulnerable yet yearning like lyrics.

quick skip to november, wicked comes out and immediately breaks records. my fame grows exponentially. i follow out with my original plan of releasing the christmas song, ‘buy me presents’ in late november. but, a christmas song i wrote when i was like 12 got leaked and went widespread, ‘is it new years yet?’. so, mostly due to peer pressure LOL, i release the song early december.

that’s basically it for my singer-actress side hustle LOL. you’re welcome for the extremely and unnecessary description. assuming nobody is reading this far, i’m gonna stop yapping :)

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other posts about this dr

inspired by @laylasverse

[lockandkeyblade]

it sounds like something vanitas would say

Prompt me!

As you wish. c:

Something He Would Say Xehaqus | VanVen | many years Post-KH3 | love letters | implied sexual content

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

The attic is hot.

There's nowhere else in Departure that can even be classified as hot, but for the fourth time in five minutes, Ventus reaches back to rub the back of his neck and grimaces as his hand comes away damp. He's only been up here for...twenty minutes, and he's got a whole day left to go- a day of sorting through chests of useless paperwork and books their Master (or the Masters before him) no longer wanted on the library shelves, peeking under dusty sheets at furniture and trying to decide if it's still good, or starting to rot.

This is not a day long endeavour. This is going to take him months, all because Vanitas convinced him to sneak off in the middle of the night so they could go stargazing on another World.

They-- might've done a little more than stargazing. For a few days. But that's not his fault!

"Vanitas doesn't have to clean the attic." He mumbles it to himself, voice stifled by the handkerchief he's tied over it; an attempt at avoiding all the dust making his nose and eyes run.

It's not helping. He's already sneezed, ten times. Maybe in another hour Aqua would take sympathy on him and let him breathe, for a while.

Sighing to himself, Ven spins in place, trying to find something neat to look at. At least the attic is good for that; he'd spent plenty of days up here when he was younger, clambering over piles of discarded furniture to get to buried treasures, unopened chests and a few neat little knickknacks he'd smuggled back to his room. The attic is a lot cooler when he's up here because he wants to be, although...

Is that section new? He doesn't remember seeing it before. But it's so obvious; facing the front of the building, with a big, stained glass window shining dusty light over everything. It almost looks neat, in comparison to the rest of this mess. Everything wrapped and bundled, enough space to walk between the stacks and closed off containers.

It might be new. And if it isn't, Ventus still decides it's the best place to start. Leaping over a few obstacles, he peers around eagerly, ready to stick his nose into the first box that looks like it hasn't been opened in years.

Liiiiike... that one! A little smaller than the others, tucked away neatly under a few heavy books. He drops to the floor, cross-legged, and sets it in his lap, smoothing lines into the dust as he goes. A smiley face, because of course. How else is he going to know if he's already opened something.

It rattles when he shakes it, but it doesn't sound like glass or metal, so off the lid goes! And so too does the majority of his excitement, when all he sees is a pile of scrolls, bound neatly shut by silver ribbons.

"Aw..." Lame. This isn't treasure at all; probably just some correspondence between dusty old guys from a few hundred years ago. He's seen that before. Pouting, Ven picks one up at random, tugging at the ribbon until it falls away. The parchment unfurls just enough to make out the first few lines, in a curly script he's never seen before.

My dearest Eraqus, it says, and- oh.

Oh.

Glancing around himself, Ven... wonders, if this part of the attic looks a little less dusty than the others. Maybe it is. Maybe it's... just a few decade's worth of dust, instead of centuries.

Maybe there's a reason he'd never found this place before.

Chewing his lip, he thinks about stuffing the letter back in, closing the box. Moving somewhere else. Maybe he can just tell Aqua, that he found it. Some of the Master's stuff.

...Maybe it wouldn't hurt to read some of it. What he's seen so far doesn't appear to be official, but you never know.

It might be important.

My dearest Eraqus, I imagine, as you eagerly unfold this letter to add to our ever growing pile of correspondence, that you expect some ornate soliloquy. An expansive journey throughout my longings to have you by my side, returned to me as you rightly should be. It is my utmost pleasure to remind you that our parting, sorrowful as it may be, rests entirely upon your shoulders. Has the Master not reminded you not to fall asleep during his lectures, multiple times? Your beauty is only on par with your ineptitude.

Holy shit.

Is this a love letter?!

Was Master Eraqus a bad student?!?! Whatever reservations Ven may have had before, they're gone. Dust to join the rest of the dust, hunching forwards as he unravels more of the parchment eagerly, smile curling at his lips.

Master Eraqus, sleeping through classes? He can't imagine. Didn't Terra get in trouble for that, once? Just once, because mistakes made around the Master were the sorts of things never made again.

Kind of nice, to think about. Once upon a time, their Master had been a goofy teenager, just like them. Imagine that.

How do I miss you? As one misses flies when summer leaves. I would call it relaxing, almost, the ease in which I have attended to my evening studies, without the incessant buzzing you seem determined to bring into my life.

"Wow, harsh." Maybe this isn't a love letter.

A determination you appear to have transferred into a relentless deluge of poorly written dialogue in a bid to make me one of two things. I'll have you know that being rostered to comb the empty cities around Scala ad Caelum is not only the kind of grunt work I would rather perish than attend to, the expansive variety of birds you have come across in your intrepid wanderings fails to capture the imagination. To make me pine for you? Another foolish notion. I have ever pined for you.

That's-

"Some really mixed signals." A whisper. Ventus can't draw his eyes away, trailing from one sentence to the next, swept up in-- apparent vitriol, something that caves in what feels like an instant.

The start of the letter feels playful, now. Like bullying; a few sharp words to make him incensed, to have him blustering and snapping back, sulking to himself when all that gains him is a laugh at his own expense.

Until an arm snaps around his waist, and pulls him closer.

There is a vacant space in my bed, these nights, one I am unable to fill. Though there has been no lack of trying, on my part, I admit that the single, half-baked method capable of providing some relief is to close my eyes and picture you there, as you always are.

A hum in his ear, even as he puffs. A smile against his skin, warm enough to steal a smile of his own, even though- he's still mad. Still angry.

He can't just decide he wants to be handsy now; not when Ven was practically offering that five minutes ago.

You have yet to see yourself the way I have, though I have described you often enough. When your eyes are dark enough to be mistaken as black, your hair strewn about you like a halo. It pleases me, greatly, to be the only one with access to you in such moments, the only one capable of drawing upon such visuals.

It always ends the way Vanitas decides it does. When he's done catching his breath, body aching deliciously, he always opens his eyes to the sight of him, staring back. Propped on his elbow, kneeling above him as his Darkness takes the time to... burn the image of him into his mind, slow but certain.

"Take a picture," Ven rasps out, too breathless to make it sound like a joke. "It'll last longer."

And Vanitas' lips curl, heady and satisfied.

"Why should I share you with a camera? You're--"

For the Master, for our fellow students, you will ever be the composed layabout. It is for me and me alone that you are dishevelled, me and me alone you are untamed. A Light most holy, one that is

"mine."

and mine alone. One more week. Then, I can prove this to you.

Xehanort

The box is closed.

Later, it's buried.

[ravinaaa]

📖 ~ BLISSFUL BOOKS | Sunshine radiating from your eyes, a bright smile placed on your lips, a blissful moment indeed. What is a moment in your chosen life where you are at peace and pure happiness?

🎧 ~ HEALING HEADPHONES | Dancing under the moonlight, stars gazing down, music plays through the air. You sway with the melody, latching onto the lyrics. The hands of your s/o hug you from behind, together you look out into the night sky. What song is playing? What's your favorite lyric?

🖍 ~ HANDY HIGHLIGHTERS | Hands slipping inside of your pocket, relief floods your system as you are on the verge of a life changing occasion. Is there an item/rule you scripted in that saved you from complete embarrassment? From demise?

<3

hello my love, thank you sm for the ask. this was so much fun!! <3 I'll be answering for my streamer dr (I don't talk about this dr enough)

📖 BLISSFUL BOOK. . . February 14th, 2020, my best friend invited me to his apartment for dinner. calm, serene, casual like it always had been. It was cold in são paulo that night, he lent me his jacket on our way up the stairs. he seemed uncharacteristically nervous, fidgeting with his hands, and I had to remind him to take deep breaths every once in a while. we had sushi and white wine on the carpet of his living room, playing mpb on his TV, and talked and talked. he pulled the velvet box from his pocket and looked at it for a few seconds before looking up at me. Not a proposal just yet, "a promise" he said.

🎧 HEALING HEADPHONES. . .medo bobo - rubel. "tanto amor guardado tanto tempo..." & coming home - leon bridges. "baby, baby, baby...I'm coming home to your tender sweet loving, you're my one and only one..."

🖍 HANDY HIGHLIGHTERS. . . as someone who struggles very deeply with social anxiety, I couldn't imagine going to award shows (like I do in this dr) and live events without jewelry to fidget with. I've scripted a necklace and one of my mom's rings (which I also have in this reality) that relieves stress and anxiety quickly! they're always cool on my skin (that usually helps so much) and I never misplace them. I don't know if this classifies as a "rule" exactly, but I've never gone (and never will go) to these events alone, always with my s/o or a close friend.

[vidreview]

VIDEO ESSAY ROUNDUP #6 [PART 1]

[originally posted august 1st 2024]

at last, it's time for another roundup! things were fairly dry for a minute there. i tend to go through peaks and valleys vis-a-vis video essay consumption, where i'll watch a bunch of them for a few months and then not be able to watch any for a few months after that. this has been especially true as i've been getting back into the habit of making my own scripted essays. did you know i did one about the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials a few months ago? i share this so you can judge for yourself if i know what i'm talking about enough to be worth taking recommendations from. i am a fallible beast, and our tastes are likely not the same! also i'm proud of that video and i'd like you to watch it.

but we're here to talk about other people's work, and let me tell you, the last month and a half has yielded a real bounty. let's jump in.

"Investigating a forgotten Edward Snowden Quote" by Allie Meowy.

edward snowden was a bit of a mystery to me beyond the headlines. all i knew was that he leaked highly classified documents detailing secret mass-surveillance, and that he liked hentai games.

this is one of the funniest, strangest essays i've encountered in years. what happens when the wikipedia page for games based on movies doesn't include Elf: The Movie: The Game for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, and also you happen to discover that Edward Snowden is on the record as liking "some" hentai games? i'm not even sure what this essay ultimately adds up to, but i had such a blast watching it that i honestly don't even care. a wild ride that's well worth your time.

"a pocket full of stones" by Glouder Glens.

i've been thinking about an interview with People's Joker director Vera Drew where she talked about how many young queer artists have relegated themselves to the anti-recognition of youtube. if her film was proof that there's room in the film fest circuit for artfully essayish digital cinema, then we have no choice but to campaign for the incredible works of Sylvia Schweikert, AKA Glouder Glens, to reach a similar level of recognition. if you've yet to encounter its work, Sylvia's half-essay half-werewolf-erotica about it/its pronouns is a classic, but everything on her channel is a gem (not to mention its excellent short films). lately, Sylvia's been experimenting with the form in a big way. her last essay, "Self Discovery Stories," is artfully vertical, a true phone video that digs deep and hits hard. "a pocket full of stones" takes a huge step sideways, rendered in 4:3 at a scalding 360p and edited with a post-adobe-flash Lynch-esque animation style that rockets you back in time to the earliest days of internet video in the best way. what i wouldn't give to see this one on the big screen, i'm telling you. this kind of work simply doesn't have a place on youtube as far as youtube's concerned, so it's up to us as champions of the medium to share widely what the algorithm will not. definitely heed the content warnings though.

"The Miraculous Horror of Stop Motion" by Henry Kathman.

here's a cozy, enthusiastic dive into the often unforeseen externalities of stop-motion animation, that doesn't outstay its welcome or get too sanctimonious. i appreciate Kathman's use of alternate backdrops to give each section its own mood. through three unique and interesting examples of stop motion, he explores how the medium itself is an artform that can't be streamlined through technology the way so many other forms of animation have been-- even just to recreate the feel of stop motion digitally, you still pretty much have to hand animate it with an equivalent amount of brute labor. it's a satisfying analysis, which is unsurprising from the ever-consistent and thoughtful Kathman. and the soundtrack by Molly Noise is, as always, fantastic.

"The Religious Gamification of Indika" by Pim's Crypt.

i watched an essay a couple weeks ago about Indika which heavily criticized it for being boring and overly talkative, that really just convinced me that i wanted to see someone look at the game on its own terms. Pim here does a great job doing exactly that, wasting zero seconds of the universe's limited window of coherence on lip service to the harsh critical consensus in favor of simply examining what Indika says on its own terms. they explore how the complexities of faith are successfully gameified in Indika, making a compelling case for its quality. i've highlighted Pim in a previous roundup, and i'm happy to see them back with another solid work.

"So What's Up With Those PS2 Castlevanias?" by Trans Witch Reviews.

this one's pretty much what it says on the tin. when it comes to analyzing game franchises long-running enough to have titles across multiple console generations, i'm always drawn to essays that dig into the red-headed step-children no one ever really talks about. like the PS2 Castlevania games. i didn't even know they existed until now! granted that's probably because i never owned a Sony console before the ps4, but whatever. like a lot of games with 2D roots, Castlevania seemed to struggle finding its feet in the third dimension, and the historical consensus seems to have largely landed on "the 2D ones were best." i think this Trans Witch makes a very compelling case that at the very least Castlevania: Curse of Darkness is an underrated classic-- enough so, anyway, to make me want to give it a shot. i appreciate how she highlights the music of the series by focusing on the work of specific composers, though i think she lingers on those samples for a bit too long. regardless, this is a well put together essay made with readily apparent enthusiasm, and sometimes that's all you need.

"Why The Ring Didn't Use Color Grading" by WatchingtheAerial.

an astonishingly thorough deep-dive into the very specific in-camera techniques used to give Gore Verbinski's American remake of The Ring its signature blue look. like a lot of people i always assumed this was accomplished with digital color grading, though unlike many detractors i adore The Ring's visual identity and think it's at least as worthwhile a film as its Japanese counterpoint. this is the kind of video essay i adore-- a technician with extensive domain knowledge utilizing resources laypeople wouldn't know about to answer a seemingly simple question at exhaustive and surprising depth. the real kicker here though is that the creator also wants to recreate this technique for themself, all the way up to tracking down the kind of film stock The Ring was shot on and using it in a 35mm stills camera. i immediately went from this video to watch everything else on his (?) channel, and i wasn't disappointed. here's someone who cares a lot about the labor of shaping and lensing light, and the emotional properties these processes bring to a film. "Collateral & the Death of Neon" is SUCH a satisfying watch if you care even a little bit about the visual identity of city streets across history. great stuff all around

[meaningofaeons]

i only found your account a few days (i think? agsudhdb) ago and so i just wanted to say congrats on 500!! your work made me giggle a lot akshdjdb

as for my request, i'd like to go to the cat café with dan heng to see a black scottish fold with an order of cider :>> (hoping i did this right haha)

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈ only in the limelight

⊹ character(s) - dan heng ⊹ word count - 593 ⊹ notes - gn!reader, actor au, angst/no comfort, unrequited love, "costar" at the end is up to interpretation who you want it to be

⊹ katze's 500 follower writing cat-baret

OMG hi thank you so much for the kind words!!! (=^･ｪ･^=))ﾉ彡☆ welcome to my blog! I'm glad you've enjoyed your time so far, and I hope you like your "cat cafe date" with dan heng!!

At best, your relationship with Dan Heng could be classified as "business".

Actors often get shoved into scandals whether they like it or not, and considering your young careers, one wrench could dismantle your entire future.

As a result of this, from the moment you two set foot on set "Honkai Star Rail" as costars, you agreed to keep an amicable distance outside of all job-related functions.

Dan Heng was okay with this.

He is okay with this.

It's okay, and it's normal, and it's honestly what's best.

For both of you. For your careers, and for yourselves.

Right?

But there are some nights where he realizes just how boldly the line is drawn—at least, from your end—and he starts to wonder if there was some other way to get around it.

It starts as a request he didn't think over.

"Should we grab a drink after this shoot? I'm exhausted."

Some part of him yearned for something... a little more casual than just business.

Not that he quite realized that himself.

However, you were firm in your refusal, citing the agreement that the aloof man himself had also agreed to.

He couldn't say much to that.

Another time, it was about coffee. Getting a cup before work together if you and him happened to meet up.

This time, the staunch denial surprised him a bit.

Your reminder of the verbal terms you'd both set for each other started to become a bitter thing for him to hear.

He was starting to regret it.

And he didn't like what that implied.

"Dan Heng, your script for the next act."

You were curt in handing it off to him, but his stomach still felt fluttery when your fingertips brushed.

Even your colder tone of voice was like a melody to him, but the thought of such a cheesy romanticization of your normal, everyday action brought him a bittersweet twist in his chest.

The raven-haired man nodded in return, his poker face a perfectly practiced trade that allowed him to deny any butterflies with ease.

Truthfully, he didn't know if it was to deny them to anyone who might ask, or to deny them to himself.

"Right. Thanks, Y/N."

"All right, everyone! Good work today!" The director's voice rang out, the words allowing everyone to relax. "Get some rest, and let's pick up fresh tomorrow!"

You were quick to walk away, giving your fellow costars friendly good-byes.

Though Dan Heng received the same wave and farewell you gave to anyone else, he still treasured that you looked his way, even if only for a moment.

Maybe one day he could convince you to come along for just one coffee stop. Maybe then, you'd talk, be more willing to open up to him outside of professionalism.

But the very next day, on the set for your character's backstory shoot, he was met only with what felt like a knife to the heart.

Dan Heng wasn't a people person by any means. Reading others wasn't his forte, and it never would be.

But when it came to you...

He could just see the way your eyes sparkled as you held your other costar, acting out a tragic romance with a fleck of truth behind your every word.

He even heard you giggle as they leaned in between a shot, asking if you'd like to get dinner after work was through for the day.

Dan Heng turned away before he could catch your response.

He was quite sure hearing it would break him.