#Blu-practical-problems

[tales-from-the-blu-team]

Fritz sighed, entering with a plate of food. Another missed meal.

Of course. He was busy and couldn't hear him. Fritz could understand falling into the groove of working for hours without knowing how much time had passed. He was pleased to know Dell was taking care of his hearing.

He put the plate on Dells desk and waved a hand in front of him hoping to catch his attention.

" Your dinner. We can't have you passing out." Fritz commented, a sense of whimsy in his otherwise professional voice.

He didn't know if Dell could hear him but bed side manners were an important part of professionalism.

( tales-from-the-blu-team) Fritz Humboldt, better known as the Medic was a very stressed man. But it wasn't stress he wasn't Used to.

One of the workaholics on the team, it was his duty to ensure everyone was healthy.

This included the other infamous workaholic- their engineer.

Knocking on the door of the tinkerers workshop, he called out to him from the other side.

" Herr Conagher, are you in there?"

The sounds of the circular saw cutting metal coming from the workshop seem to confirm that the man is indeed, inside. Dell Conagher is very much engrossed in the process of building yet another sentry [Now with more gun than ever before]. While he fails to hear Mister Humboldt's call trough the muffling headset, the door to the workshop is open, which means it's fine to come in.

[sentrysapper]

learning how to sfm. decided to make my first posters engiespy.

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

Oo interesting do they out them in a little bunker so they all came 'Live' in a sense? Because that completely puts my What if in a whole interesting (and hopefully many comical shenanigans)

Yeah, I suppose you could say that! Both RED and BLU alike have about 5 or 6 massive underground bunkers/factories scattered across the globe entirely dedicated to creating these clones. Obviously, they're secret. I'm very unoriginal, so I just made the clone test tube babies, because I don't really know any other way clones could be made?? These big underground facilities are scientist safe havens! Just imagine: biology teacher by day, and evil clone scientist by night where you can practically do whatever experiments you want. You're living the dream of every mad scientist out there!

[blusandbirds]

nobody asked for them but my personal best picture rankings minus the substance and dune 2 bc im not a body horror gal and i missed dune in theaters and i think its a movie that deserves a theater experience

nickel boys - fucking watch this movie!!! the first person pov takes a minute to get used to but you get sucked right in i promise. floored me in a way i couldnt see coming. in a good world aunjanue ellis taylor is best supporting actress.

conclave - ive always loved men in rooms type movies and this one is exceedingly well done.

the brutalist - yeah its long as fuck but i think it's worth the time. one of my favorite opening scenes on this list.

anora - i had such a fun time watching this in the theater but also experienced a quiet like never before when the credits began to roll.

im still here - fernanda fucking torres!! not just a movie about a bad thing happening but also about how the world somehow doesnt stop afterward.

wicked - bring back the era of musical movies! crazy how good cynthia and ariana are. i just wish it was more visually striking.

a complete unknown - lots of songs which is appreciated. pretty standard biopic fare though.

emilia perez - i went into this so open minded and the opening number actually had me a little hopeful but no its real bad. was baffled by everything besides maybe the lighting and camerawork?

[sincerelyneo]

golden hour | l.mk

“i’ve got a really big problem…”

💿now playing: golden hour by mark

❯ summary: Mark’s got a really big problem; you. The pretty neighbour that shares a bedroom wall with him. You’re a night owl and you’re so loud and are you…listening to his music whilst masturbating…? Fuck now he’s hard. Guess he’s got two really big problems.

❯ pairings: mark x fem!reader

❯ genre: neighbours, smut

❯ words: 2.3k

❯ tags: 18+ minors dni!, masturbation, mark’s a loser for the plot, very explicit details of sexual fantasies, reader uses she/her pronouns and female gendered terms, literally just mark being horny whilst reader gets off to his song.

Mark needs to move out. He doesn’t know how much longer he can take the old run-down building his apartment is located in having no working elevator. If you’d have told him two years ago when he signed his dream music contract with a real record label that he’d be climbing six flights of stairs after a long week of work he’d have called you a liar. But that’s what happens when people aren’t listening to your music. 

Maybe he's overreacting; the building isn’t that terrible. It has its perks—like the pretty view. And it’s usually quiet—well, it was until his lively new neighbor moved in. Mark might have thought of you as a perk when he first saw you, considering you’re exactly his type, so fucking beautiful. But you’re also so fucking loud.

You always seem to have something going on—plans, hobbies, parties, meetings, friends. Mark knows because the walls between you and him are thin, and you’re never quiet, never still. At first, he thought it was kind of cute, but the more he thinks about it, the more he realises he’s been so distracted by how attracted he is to you, he’s been letting your noisy lifestyle slide.

It’s not like he wants to knock on your door and ask you to keep it down; he’s too worried you’d think he’s some kind of loser. Even at twenty-five, he still craves female validation like he’s a high schooler—so he’s been putting up with the sleepless nights. Another reason why he needs to move asap. 

The lack of sleep, combined with the endless stairs, has left Mark drained this past month. He can practically hear his sofa calling his name, can taste the cold bottles of beer that sit in his fridge as he reaches the top step. He may be a tad out of breath and a little sweaty but he’s got the weekend off and that’s all he can think about. But unlike you, Mark’s life is boring. The most exciting thing about his weekend is the idea of not having to climb his complex’s stairs until Monday. 

Meh. He could dwell on the mundane schedule of his life for hours but he gets distracted. Distracted by his pretty little nightmare neighbour. 

You're all dressed up in a tight gold dress that clings to every inch of your body. Your hair falls down your back as you lock your door, tucking the keys into the tiny clutch hanging from your shoulder.

That’s when you notice him too.

“Oh, hey,” you greet him softly, offering a bright and friendly smile. 

Mark returns it, his chest swelling. There's no denying you’re a beautiful girl. And although he’s overheard your phone calls about parties through the thin walls, and the hum of your hair dryer as you get ready for nights out, he’s never actually seen you in anything other than jeans and a t-shirt. He’s never been given the opportunity to see you so dolled up, to notice the little love handles he can all of a sudden imagine himself gripping. He clears his throat and smiles wider.

“Hi Y/N…you look nice!” He compliments kindly, fingers fiddling with his own keys. 

Nice? 

The word replays in his mind. He’s spent endless nights thinking about how beautiful you are and now he’s finally got to feed his craving of seeing you in tight clothes but the only word he can muster up is nice? Oh he hates himself. 

But then he sees you blush at the comment, and he loves the way you purse your lips, trying to hide a shy smile. A part of him is annoyed that you’re blushing over something so simple—he thinks every man should be showering you with compliments, and you should expect more than nice. Still, there’s something about the way you squirm from his words that has his cock throbbing.

He wonders if it’s because you’re attracted to him too. It’s not completely out of the question. You know who he is, of course you do. You see each other in passing a lot but you’ve also spoken on the day you moved in. Mark remembers it like it was yesterday. 

He could hear you panting and cursing in the hall, hauling boxes up and down the stairs before he came out to help. You didn’t recognise him at first, not until he was in your apartment setting boxes down.

That’s when you turned to him with wide eyes and a breathy, “oh wow, aren’t you the dude that sang ‘Golden Hour’?”

Mark started blinking at you like a deer in the headlights. He’d never encountered a fan in person before, he had a small community online, but his music hadn’t exactly been taking off like he planned. So you can imagine his surprise when his new (extremely attractive) neighbour knew one of his songs. 

“Thank you,” your soft voice breaks him from his memory, and moves his focus. “Just a night out with the girls, been a long week,” you sigh. 

He wants to hear all about your long week, wants to be the one to make it better—maybe convince you to skip the girls’ night and spend it with him instead. But he doesn’t. He doesn't even let the thought linger for more than a moment before he’s nervously tapping his key against his thumb.

“Well have fun, and be safe,” he settles on tenderly. 

You nod with a small smile, giving a gentle wave before turning to leave. He watches you until you’ve rounded the corner, only then unlocking his door and kicking off his shoes with a sigh.

Mark grabs a bottle of beer from the kitchen, kicking the fridge door closed behind him. His entire apartment is dark and it reminds him of the loneliness he’s been feeling for the last six months. Mark never really thought about love and relationships before he met you. Sure, he likes to fool around as much as the next person, but he’s always been fine with being on his own. But you remind him of the lonely. 

He’s never longed for love and friendships but a secret part of him craves a woman by his side… craves the woman next door.

He wonders what it’d be like for you to be cuddled into his side as you watch a movie. Wonders if you’d laugh at certain parts and crane your neck up to pepper tender kisses to his soft lips. Mark squeezes his eyes shut and shakes his head, tries to rid the thoughts of you from his mind.

But it’s proven a little more difficult when he moves from the couch to take a shower and the water is running down his tense and naked body. He struggles to not think about you on your knees, touching his thick cock and kissing up his thighs.

He has to swallow back the lump in his throat and blinks away the urge to touch himself to the thought of you. He refuses to be that kind of guy. He’s not that kind of guy. So he gets out the shower and does the only thing he likes doing — music. 

Mark tries out new melodies on his guitar, humming broken lyrics and soft tunes he’ll be sure to show his producer on Monday. After a while he catches sight of the clock on the wall and it’s already a little past midnight. After locking his doors he’s crawling into bed and ready to sleep; but then he hears something. 

A soft giggle muffled from the wall behind his head. 

Mark’s fully aware the two of you share the same wall for your beds, rooms mirroring each other, but he’s never heard this kind of sweet giggle fall from your lips so late at night. He tries not to let the sound affect him, but there’s only one reason why a girl like you could be giggling at this hour after a night out. 

You’ve brought someone home? But Mark can’t hear a man’s voice, not even the slightest grunt or groan of male muttering. He can only hear soft giggling slipping from his favourite pair of lips.

And then he hears a robotic voice announcing that the Bluetooth is successfully connected and he knows he’s about to hear your fuck playlist. The thought sends a thrill through his body and he knows he’s unlikely going to get any sleep tonight.

He’s about to get up, to move to the sofa in the living room, to not be disrespectful and a perv by listening to you getting off, but he hears a familiar hammering of drums and a guitar muffled through the paper-thin walls and his eyes are bulging.

“Give me my A course, ice is so big like a glacier” 

You’re giggling again and he can hear your body fall against the sheets of the bed – the bed that’s very clearly pushed up against the same wall his is. It creaks under your weight, and Mark feels the wall tremble slightly as your bed frame knocks against his wall.

He’s tried so hard not to be that guy, but his hand finds its way in his boxers before he can fully comprehend what he’s doing. He’s rock fucking hard, red and veiny and he takes off his boxers, leaving him sprawled on his back, completely bare.

He hears your soft whimpers, can hear you hum in appreciation even over the buzzing of your vibrator and the thumping of his song. He doesn’t know what’s turning him on more; the fact that he can hear you getting off and moaning out, or that you’re listening to him while trying to cum. 

Either way, his hand is wrapped tight around his thick length, thumbing over his oozing tip. He thinks of how you must be, how you’d look completely whilst naked and sprawled out on the bed for him. Mark imagines himself on top of you, kissing your perky tits he loves to think about and wrapping his lips around your swollen nipples. His mind feels like it can taste you on his tongue, can feel your dainty fingers tugging at his hair as he laps you.

“Oh, shit,” you gasp loud enough for him to hear.  

It makes him imagine your eyes rolling back when he finally fucks himself inside your tight little cunt, he visions the look of ecstasy on your face when your jaw would become completely slack and your body quivers for him. He knows you’d feel him deep in your stomach. He knows he’d be so big for you. 

“Fuck,” he slips out in a desperate pant.

He’s completely breathless, tugging at his dick, spitting down on it to get it all wet for you. He knows you’re so much wetter on the other side of the damn wall, and that he’d rather be sinking into your wet pussy but his spit would have to do. 

He throws his head back in his pillow, eyes shut tight, allowing his mind to work over time. 

“Fuck, Mark… I need it.”

Everything feels surreal, like he’s in his own personal heaven with a touch of hell. You’re crying out for more, for him, begging for it deeper, harder, and he finds himself fucking into his fist just as desperately. Like his soft palm is your silky pussy.

Mark can’t focus on anything other than your sweet fucking cries that sound otherwordly against his song. It makes him think about how much he’d love to record your moans, use them in his next song. But then he’d never be able to release it — because they’re his to hear. 

It’s when the bridge starts that you really let yourself go, filthy fucking moans, the speed of the vibrator increasing, and God he wishes he could watch you right now. See you trembling and begging as the instrumental plays out loud and hard. 

He can’t handle it.

Gruff moans are slipping past his lips and he does nothing to try and conceal them. The muscles in his arm are burning but he fucks his cock harder, imaging what it’d be like to feel his balls slap against your ass as he pounds into you.

He can feel the coil tightening in his stomach, the way his cock starts to twitch. His imagination grows wild and filthy, every single fantasy he’s tried locking away to not be that guy now flooding his mind because you’re that girl. 

That girl that’s using his music to cum. That girl that wants to hear his voice as she gets off. That girl who’s doing it with no shame, no guilt. That girl that’s using him. 

The thought takes Mark’s mind to sinful places. “Take it,” he can hear himself seeth through gritted teeth. He imagines you begging for his cum, taking it like the good fucking girl you are.

“Ugh, fuuckk I’m cumming!” Mark cries out gruffly through strangled moans and he hears your screams follow.

Your bed is creaking louder than before and he knows your thighs have got to be trembling as you cum around your vibrator. Mark’s hand and thighs are covered in thick ribbons of white arousal and when his eyes flutter open, through his blotched vision, he imagines seeing you kneeling between his thighs and licking it up.

He’s completely fucked as he hears his song mellow out and you aren’t moaning anymore. Instead, he can hear  breathless little pants. He stays where he is for a second, eager to see what else he can hear. But there’s nothing — only complete and utter silence.

Mark doesn’t sleep the entire night. He can’t. He’s kept awake with the guilt of listening to his pretty neighbour. Or is it with the thrill of knowing it was his voice that got you off that's making him so restless? 

[mail-me-a-snail]

INTRUDER ALERT - BLU ENGINEER - IN BASE

and he's having some kind of weird yuri with red soldier can we get this guy out of here. cant stand their gayasses theyre making out in the intelligence room and being weird about it

bonus and variant under the cut

bonus:

"SO I SOLVE PRACTICAL PROBLEMS,"

[lilhypernova]

[2:01PM] Sniper.

“There she is..My lil beauty..come to sniper..”

Did he know it was wrong? Yes, Yes he did.

Did he care? No.

His Sheila was just the cutest thing on this base.

So what if she was on the enemy team? That was a problem Sniper could easily solve with a little persuasion.

—

Your team refused to listen to you at all. You felt like you were being watched. Stalked even.

During battles, you could feel the same pair of eyes on you as you crossed the field to help your teammates out with something they needed. When you would turn to confront whoever it was, you discovered that it was Sniper. But not your sniper. The BLU Sniper.

You remember feeling your breath hitch when he steadied his rifle at you, assuming he would shoot. But instead…he just watched, his head tilting slightly as you made eye contact. You broke eye contact, and it made him smirk, before he fired narrowly missing your head.

Stuff like this continued throughout battles, he would follow you around, always smirking, eyes hidden behind those damn aviators that he wore. Sometimes he would confront you himself, he was taller than you, always using his lanky form to cover you easily, hovering over you, never killing you.

Just…admiring?

And each time you told your team about this, begging for someone to help you, they didn’t take you seriously, Why would the enemy sniper be following you like a lost puppy? It made you frustrated, You just wanted to do your fucking job!

So you took it upon yourself to confront him.

Near the end of a match, you managed to catch him. Using your strength, you managed to force him to turn and face you, your gun now raised and pointed at his chest.

“What..Is your problem?” You finally asked him, glaring at him, your hands were trembling from how mad you were, and he seemed to find that funny.

“Your shakin’ roo.”

“ANSWER MY FUCKING QUESTION BUSHMAN.” You shouted pushing your gun closer to him, and your actions only make him laugh at you.

He laughs for a bit longer before he suddenly lunges at you, snatching your gun away and pinning you back against a wall, and you went to scream for your team when he slammed his hand over your mouth.

“Scream. And I’ll blow your brains out and have My Medic put you back together.” He whispered the threat in your ear, making you freeze, he then smirks before slowly pulling back just to look into your eyes. He lifts his aviators and grips your chin.

“Ain’t it obvious.?” He starts before leaning closer to you. “I like ya..like ya way more than those stupid RED Blokes ever will.”

He pulls your body closer, wrapping his other hand around your waist. “Been watching you, Sheila..watching how you’re treated ova’ there..thinking..what’d i give to have her be mine.”

You went to push him away. “excuse me? We are enemies! You’ve lost your mind!” You squirmed in his grip and he only smirks.

“You’re acting like I’m givin’ ya a choice.”

You didn’t have time to react before he placed a clothe over your nose, you squirmed in his grip, pushing and trying to get away from him, but he starting dragging you towards the BLU base.

He was surprisingly strong for someone so lanky (little did you know he’d been practicing for this moment, and his rifles aren’t light ya know) so you could feel yourself getting tired. He only smirks as he presses a kiss to your cheek as once you go limp in his arms, he changed to carrying you bridal style.

“Hmph..’bout time ya stopped fightin’..welcome to your new home Sheila..”

—————————————————————-

-> Hi everyone! Nova here!! On lilhypernova, you will find my more dark and..down right filthy stuff that i didn’t feel like fit on my main page! Most of these will be based off things that just randomly come to mind! this one was based off this one TikTok I seen! This One 😊

-> You guys can place requests here! I’ll post an actual FAQ soon.

[snorkelborg]

Any gender!reader with temperature problems in that one scene where they hide in the deer from the weather?! maybe some heartfelt words or something from ogata!! That may be out of character, but I’d like to see where it goessss :3

-☎️ 🍒

"Something Warmer.."

⋆｡°✩ Ogata x GN!Reader ❄️ WC - 2,002 I couldn't find a pic that matched the fic so bear with me lol. Anyway, this is Gender Neutral reader x Ogata! It's a little reader-centric :3 I tried to make it as in-character as possible while giving some meaningful dialogue? I hope it came across as such! Anyway, enjoyyy!! Sorry if it's bad, this is my 2nd attempt at writing a fanfic ever haha, I'm still stealing Tumblr formatting from my friend 😭

You've always had trouble keeping warm. This itself wasn’t anything new to the team. Once on a particularly cold night, you’d convinced Sugimoto and Asirpa to dogpile on you so that your fingers literally wouldn’t freeze off.

This was the sort of “agreement” you three had. You and Sugimoto had been longtime friends so it wasn’t exactly difficult to persuade him to agree to this, and Asirpa enjoyed the warmth of the two of you. 

Long before those two, you’d keep warm with animals instead. Every night you’d slink into your parent's farm with a blanket and pillow, squeeze yourself between the herding dogs and sheep and pray that you’d wake up the following day without a ball of fur in your mouth. It wasn’t often that your prayers were met. Sugimoto often teased you about this, remarking that it made you smell like a barn. Your parents weren’t particularly proud of this quirk either.

Rarely did you get a good night's rest without something extra to keep you warm. Blankets weren’t enough- something else always had to fill in that creeping emptiness that you’d begin to feel as your fingers blued and your heartbeat slowed.

When the group began to expand, not only with the addition of Shiraishi but Tanigaki, Ogata, and the others, you stopped sharing a sleeping place and began freezing yourself once again.

Even though you got to stay somewhere nicer every now and then with Hijikata taking charge, you still felt cold. Nothing in the world could quell it. 

The cold wasn’t just a lack of warmth. It was the kind that crept into your ribs and made you feel like a ghost among the living. Like you didn’t deserve to feel their warmth anymore.

Having to share a space with other people meant that you couldn’t request extra blankets without looking greedy, and while you did care about your own well-being a tad bit more than your reputation, getting on people's good side seemed to be something you should keep in mind.

Speaking of which, you never could tell which side you were on with Ogata.

You’d known Sugimoto well enough to practically finish his sentences for him- it wasn’t hard to work with him. Asirpa, despite her stubborn nature, had taken quite a liking to you as well. Shiraishi was simple enough to cohabitate with. Though he was a definite oddball he had a somewhat functioning brain on his shoulders and you two could get along just fine.

The difference between Ogata and those three is that they know how to express themselves while Ogata does not. Or rather, he chooses not to. 

You’d first met him during his fight with Sugimoto, of which you’d witnessed the entirety of. He didn’t greet you then, of course- too busy fighting. He was striking; his figure haunted you ever since. You’d thought that was the end of it, till he showed up again and proved you wrong.

The sound of sniper rifles had pleased your ears since. In a sort of sick way, you wanted to see him again- even if it meant another fight. You thought about it at night in your tent, dogpiled with the others.

You thought about it during fights, getting disappointed when the soldier's faces didn’t match his.

It’s the kind of delusion that somebody has and doesn’t expect to be entertained. The saying ‘be careful what you wish for’ rang in your ears every time your thoughts made their way back to him.

Your wish was granted when you saw him again after the fiasco with Edogai’s skins, where he decided it was a great time to greet you.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Ogata Hyakunosuke,” he said, stretching his hand out in greeting.

You stared at him incredulously.

“I know who you are,” you stated flatly, struggling to keep your composure.

“Is that so?” He replied, keeping his hand outstretched.

“You fell into a river with my best friend and broke your chin. You don’t remember that? I feel like that was pretty significant.”

At this he frowned, his hand finally reeling back as he understood you weren’t going to greet him.

“Holding a grudge? Over that?” His tone was light, almost amused. But his eyes didn’t match.

You shrugged him off and continued what you were doing, ignoring his uncomfortable lingering presence. A poor attempt at ignoring the deafening beating of your heart. Since then, he’d made it a point to linger behind you no matter what you did. You weren’t sure if he was guarding your back out of some sort of misplaced affection or aiming for it.

You told yourself you didn’t care. That the only reason he lived in your head was because he was dangerous- something to be feared. But the truth was harder to swallow- it wasn’t the fear that kept you up at night.

It was the memory of his voice. The way he looked at you like you were prey. Or maybe a puzzle to be taken apart and solved. 

Once, while talking to Sugimoto, you looked away for just a second. There Ogata was, watching. Not just watching- studying. The way someone reads a sniper scope. You froze. He didn’t look away.

A cold prickle danced down your neck.

You turned back to Sugimoto and pretended not to feel the heat blooming in your cheeks. You pretended not to miss the weight of his stare when it was finally gone. 

If Sugimoto noticed, he certainly didn’t speak on it, though you could feel his palpable disapproval.

After the chaotic invasion on the Asahikawa 7th Division and the rescue of Shiraishi a fierce windstorm swept through the plains you had escaped to, dropping the temperature lower than anyone had anticipated.

Your hands become numb within just a few minutes. Asirpa's quick thinking gave you hope for a moment as you prepared to hide inside the deer that had just been taken down.

"Will you be alright alone in there?" Sugimoto asked. "You know, I’d be fine taking my own deer. You could share one with Asirpa."

Only four deer had been downed, and there wasn’t enough space for everyone to have one. It was clear that Asirpa would be the one who needed to share her space with someone else, taking into account her size.

"I d-don’t want to be a burden," you mumbled, your teeth chattering. "I’ll be fine. You and Asirpa should share one."

Sugimoto opened his mouth to argue, clearly aware that you were not fine, but Shiraishi had run off with Asirpa chasing after him to catch up.

He quickly returned on his own though and with Asirpa absence Sugimoto quickly set off to find her, leaving you shivering in the cold with no hope but to crawl inside of the deer and pray that wouldn’t be the last thing you did.

The deer stunk of blood and guts, and it was already losing heat. You couldn’t stop yourself from trembling. Your breath came in ragged huffs, puffing white in the air like smoke from a dying fire.

Your fingers had long since lost their color- it looked as though you were a corpse. You huddled, knees pressed to your chest, but it did nothing to keep the chill from climbing up your spine. The hide barely shielded you from the wind anymore.

You curled into yourself tighter, pressing your face into your sleeve. You told yourself you could make it till morning, that you weren’t going to die.

You began to feel like that was a lie.

Your body wouldn’t stop shaking. Your jaw ached from being clenched so hard and yet still the cold crept in deeper. It felt personal- malicious. Like it knew what it was doing. It wanted to pull you under and take you out of this world so quickly that no one would even notice you were gone. Not in this storm- not in the body of another creature who was too weak to keep even itself from dying, and who you expected to stop you from dying as well.

How dare you demand warmth from something that had long since gone cold.

You bit your lip hard enough to taste iron.

It wasn’t supposed to be this cold. You weren’t supposed to be alone.

For a long time you sat there in silence. Thinking. Weighing. Not just the decision– but what it would look like. What it would mean. What it said about you if you came crawling to him.

And what it said about you that you wanted to.

There were other options- you could go to Shiraishi. You could resign yourself to your fate and sink into the cold grip of death. But Shiraishi wasn’t warm- he wasn’t Ogata either. And you weren’t going to let yourself die. Not like this. Your breath shuddered out of you in a small, broken sound. And then, you began to move.

You pushed the hide aside and staggered out into the cold, barely keeping your balance on half-frozen legs. You weren’t sure what guided you- instinct, desperation, or something far uglier. You just knew where you were going. Knew exactly where he was.

You didn’t have to question if you arrived at the correct deer- you knew you had. It was like your mind remembered him better than it did warmth. 

Thankfully, his deer was much larger than the others. Large enough to fit two, perhaps.

Your stomach twisted in anticipation. Had he meant for this to happen?

And still, you called for him. “Ogata.”

The flap of the hide shifted slightly. Not enough to invite you in- just enough for you to catch the glint of one sharp, catlike eye.

“What happened to your deer?” came his voice, low and unreadable. But you heard it. The edge of amusement underneath.

“It’s cold,” you bit out.

“Mm,” he hummed. “And you want something warmer.”

You said nothing.

The pause dragged, long and deliberate. You felt yourself sinking into the earth.

Then, he shifted again- just a slight shuffle to the side. Enough room for you.

But no invitation.

You hated how you moved anyway. You hated how slow your limbs felt as you lowered yourself into the space beside him, how your breath shook when the flap sealed shut behind you.

Inside, the air was still. Stale, almost- but warm.

Your body moved on instinct, curling in on itself, trying to steal whatever heat you could from the space. You didn’t dare look at him. But you felt him. Right there beside you- quiet and unflinching.

“You should’ve come sooner,” he said eventually, as quiet as a whisper.

You turned your face toward him. “What?” 

He didn’t repeat himself. Didn’t look at you either.

But his meaning lingered, heavy in the silence between you.

You should’ve come to me sooner.

You shivered again, this time not just from the cold.

A long stretch of silence followed. You could hear his breath, feel the humidity against the back of your neck, slow and steady. The faint brush of his cloak against your side. 

Then- his hand. Not on yours. Not comforting. Just there. Resting near your hip. Close enough to make you tense. Close enough to feel deliberate.

“You came here because you needed something,” he said.

“I came here so I wouldn’t freeze to death,” you shot back.

He made a soft sound- half laugh, half scoff. “Not the same thing?”

You clenched your jaw.

Still, when you didn’t pull away, his hand didn’t move.

It didn’t wander. Didn’t grab.

Just stayed. Heavy and certain. Like he was staking his claim.

“You don’t like me,” he said quietly, almost lazily. “But you still came.”

He was watching you. You could feel it- like a weight.

“I didn’t have a choice,” you muttered.

“Mm. That’s what you tell yourself,” he said, then turned his head, the words brushing so close you could feel his breath on your ear:

“But you chose me.”

Credits to @hermes-obsessed for being my editor on this!

[jujumin-translates]

[A3!] Sakuya Sakuma | [SR] Bright Star of Blooming | My performance memories ~Sakuya~

Sakuya: Huh…? It’s morning, but why is it still kinda dark outside…?

Sakuya: (Seems like I woke up a little too early. I could probably go back to sleep, but since I’m already up…)

Citron: Sakuya…? Is it morning already…?

Sakuya: Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up! There’s still some time for you to sleep, Citron-san.

Citron: Ohh, you are right! But you are up quite early, Sakuya.

Sakuya: It’s probably because there’s the screening party today.

Sakuya: To be honest, I was already kinda feeling restless before I went to bed last night…

Citron: That reminds me, you were very nervous during the previous screening, were you not, Sakuya? I remember the way that you stumbled over your introduction even during practice very well!

Sakuya: Yeah. I couldn’t even say my own name right back then. But at least I managed to get through the actual thing.

Sakuya: That’s why I’m thinking of practicing for the talk show, just in case. And thanks to me waking up early, it seems like I’ll have a little extra time for that.

Citron: Then I will also help you with your morning practice, Sakuya!

Sakuya: Really? Thank you so much, Citron-san!

Citron: You are welcome~. Also, I have an idea!

Sakuya: Wait, an idea?

Citron: I think we should invite Tsuzuru and Itaru and all have morning practice together! I will message them on LIME right away~!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Sakuya: Hello, everyone!

Sakuya: Thank you very much for watching today’s screening of “Romeo and Julius ~Rosso e Blu~”! I’m Spring Troupe’s Sakuya Sakuma.

Itaru: Yep. Seems like your intro is already perfect, Sakuya.

Sakuya: I’m glad. I’m sure it’s all thanks to everyone in Spring Troupe rehearsing with me.

Sakuya: Thank you so much for rehearsing so early with me this morning, Tsuzuru-kun and Itaru-san!

Tsuzuru: Nah, don’t mention it. I just so happened to be up early this morning too.

Itaru: And I had an alarm set early so I could spend stamina for a social game event.

Tsuzuru: That said, it was kinda unexpected to see Masumi and Chikage-san come to a morning rehearsal.

Tsuzuru: I mean, I did let Masumi know, just in case, but it’s still pretty rare to see him actually get up at that hour…

Itaru: Real. Senpai was already awake when I found out, though…

Itaru & Tsuzuru: …

Sakuya: What’s wrong, guys? Is there something bothering you?

Tsuzuru: Nothing, it’s just… I know it’s kinda late to say this, but I’m worried about whether or not what we did this morning was really that much of a rehearsal for you, Sakuya…

Itaru: I mean, I don’t really think it was bad, but it was kinda just us talking to Citron and the others like they were the audience.

Sakuya: Yeah. I’m glad that I was able to say my own name right when I did my introduction during rehearsal this morning!

Tsuzuru: The problem is what happened after that. As soon as we finished our introductions, our audience members, Citron-san and Masumi, started fighting for some reason…

Itaru: And by the end of it, Senpai was acting as a security guard and was forced to subdue them. Sure was one hell of an etude.

Sakuya: But I still had a lot of fun doing an etude with everyone, and I feel like it really helped me relax.

Tsuzuru: Well, I guess I can’t deny that.

Itaru: Yeah, I think it really did help you relax, Sakuya.

Izumi: The screening party is done, so it’s about time to be on standby. Make sure you’re ready, guys!

Tsuzuru: Alright. Guess it’s time for us to do this thing.

Sakuya: Yeah!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Itaru: So do you guys have any kinda behind-the-scenes stories for the RomiJuli sequel that you can talk about now?

Tsuzuru: Right. I dunno if I’d call it a behind-the-scenes story, but…

Tsuzuru: The idea of doing a sequel for RomiJuli actually came from doing a workshop aimed at beginners that Spring Troupe did.

Sakuya: Yeah. The people who participated in the workshop were nervous, but it seemed like they were enjoying performing…

Sakuya: That allowed us to go back to our beginnings, too. And that’s why we ended up talking about doing our debut performance RomiJuli again.

Tsuzuru: Yeah. So, after talking it over with everyone, we decided to do a sequel showing the future of RomiJuli, which is something that only the current us would’ve been able to do.

Sakuya: By the way, are any of the people who participated in the workshop here right now?

Audience Member A: Yeah!

Audience Member B: I did it!

Itaru: I can see a handful of you are raising your hands. Then do any of you wanna share what you thought about participating?

Audience Member A: It was so exciting to play a role like that!

Audience Member B: Being under the spotlight like that for the first time was so hot!

Audience Member C: But it was super fun, so I’d love to do it again!

Audience Member D: Same! I’d love it if you guys did another beginner’s workshop!

Itaru: Gotcha. Thank you so much for all those positive feelings, everyone.

Tsuzuru: It was a great experience for us too, so maybe we’ll do one again.

Sakuya: Yeah!

· ❀ —– ٠ ❀ ٠ —– ❀ ·

Izumi: Good work, guys! Seems like everyone was really excited to talk about the workshop.

Izumi: Alright, are you ready to take your instant photo, Sakuya-kun?

Sakuya: Sure. I’m supposed to do a heart pose to show my thanks, right?

Izumi: Yeah, that’s right.

Sakuya: Got it! Okay, I’ll give it a shot.

Izumi: Alright, ready? Three, two, one…

*Camera clicks*

Izumi: There’s that wonderful smile of yours, Sakuya-kun! I think this should be good.

Sakuya: Good! All I did was think about the talk show earlier and I was able to just smile naturally like that.

Tsuzuru: I get that feeling. The audience seemed to respond well and it was a lot of fun.

Itaru: Seems like we were all able to just talk and relax from start to finish. Maybe that morning rehearsal really helped after all.

Sakuya: Yeah. I’m sure it did!

Sakuya: Yawn…

Sakuya: …Ah, sorry! I don’t know why I’m yawning all of a sudden…

Izumi: Hehe, don’t worry about it. You work especially hard today, so you deserve some rest, Sakuya-kun.

Sakuya: Yeah, thank you so much.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

*Dream starts*

Sakuya: Huh, where…?

Sakuya: (I’m pretty sure I went back to my room to rest after the screening party today, but… It almost feels like I’m in some sorta foreign country.)

Sakuya: (But somehow this all seems kinda familiar to me…)

Romeo: What’s wrong? You’ve been in a daze for a while now, but are you okay?

Sakuya: Wait, you’re…

Sakuya: (Romeo!?)

Sakuya: (I get it… Now that I look a little more, this is one of the cities Romeo and Julius stopped in during their journey.)

Sakuya: (I guess my dream is being influenced by the RomiJuli sequel because of the screening party today.)

Romeo: Are you not feeling well? Should I call a doctor?

Sakuya: Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you! I’m okay.

Sakuya: I just never thought that I’d be in a place like this, so I’m just kinda surprised by it all.

Romeo: It is pretty surprising when you first arrive at an unfamiliar place, isn’t it? But that sort of thing is just one of the wonders of traveling…

Sakuya: Huh?

Romeo: I’m also on a journey to see the world, so I sort of understand how you feel!

Sakuya: (I guess Romeo thinks I’m a traveler just like he and Julius are.)

Sakuya: Thank you. Has your journey been fun?

Romeo: It’s been incredibly fun! I mean, it’s not always easy, like when we have to fend off burglars in the middle of the night, and such.

Romeo: But when I was back at home, I had no idea that the world was so big and full of so many things.

Romeo: That’s why I’m so glad I get to experience so many different things every day!

Sakuya: (Romeo’s eyes are sparkling so much. I’m sure he’s really enjoying his journey with Julius.)

Romeo: …Ah, sorry. For some reason, I feel like this isn’t my first time meeting you, and I just wanted to tell you about all sorts of things.

Sakuya: I feel the same way. It’s really fun to talk with you, Romeo.

Romeo: Wait, how did you know my…? I haven’t told you that yet, have I?

Sakuya: You haven’t. But I know you really well.

Sakuya: That’s why I hope you and Julius keep having lots of good times together on your journey, Romeo!

*Dream ends*

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Sakuya: Hn…

Sakuya: Huh? This is my room…?

Sakuya: (I see, I must��ve already woken up from my dream. But it was really nice that I was able to meet Romeo in my dreams.)

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

*Door opens*

Sakuya: Good morning!

Tsuzuru: Morning, Sakuya.

Chikage: Morning. And good work at the screening party yesterday.

Masumi: We heard from the Director that everyone was really excited to talk about the workshop at the talk show.

Tsuzuru: Yeah. And it was really nice to get some feedback from the audience.

Itaru: Oh, and it seems like that ridiculous morning rehearsal we all did was surprisingly helpful.

Citron: …Hm? You seem to be happy about something, Sakuya. Your face is very smiley~!

Sakuya: Yeah! Actually…

Sakuya: (I’m gonna tell everyone about the dream I just had!)

[lovlive]

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ midnight insomnia' - c.yj

SYNOPSIS - its the middle of the night and you have 2 problems; no.1 you cant sleep, and no.2 you miss your boyfriend. PAIRING - choi yeonjun x f!reader GENRE - fluff, established relationship WARNINGS - reader is depicted with a pink colour, reader is called ‘baby’ and ‘girlfriend’, just yeonjun and y/n being really cute with eachother <3 requested from anon: hi! i dont think you've posted yet, maybe your busy or just dont know what to write about since your a new blog, but i want to put in a req.. could you do reader x yeonjun with the prompt “i can’t sleep, come to my bed” id actually die AAH im so curious what you could turn this into, thanks :}

notes: thanku sm for the req! yeah, i havent been writing yet since my brain was blank tbh i had no ideas for a fanfic in mind 😭😭 but now youve added fuel to my fire and ill try start writing more often :3 (and yes, the 127 in the fic was on purpose)

The moon cast a soft glow through the small sliver between your curtains, painting the room in hues of silver. In the quiet of the night, you tossed and turned under your soft blanket, unable to find solace in slumber. As you battled with your insomnia, you just couldnt keep your mind off of one thing; Yeonjun. You couldnt stop thinking about the way he would hold you through these chilly early-spring nights, and how much you missed his warm body next to yours. At this point you’ve realised just how starved you were from him despite only seeing him a couple of days ago.

You gave up on your slumber, rolling like a log from one side of your bed to another to pick up your phone. The sharp glow from the screen hit your eyes, your face instinctively scrunching up since you werent used to the brightness. Your fingers lazily glided over to the message app icon, and then tapped on Yeonjun’s contact. The time at the side of the screen caught your eye, and your realised it was 1:27 AM. You were a little weary of texting your boyfriend at this late hour; you knew that he was probably tired after a long day of practicing and you didnt want to seem selfish or too clingy. But you shook off your bad feelings since you knew that Yeonjun wasnt the type to be able to fall asleep easily either. You began to type your messages…

“jjunieeee..”

“baby… ☹️”

As expected, Yeonjun was of course awake. Your one word messages were opened by him a minute later. He looked at the texts, a little confused on why you’d be texting him right now. Any how, he started typing back.

“y/n? why’re you still up. you better not be up to some weird shi 😐”

“jjunie, i cant sleep. come to my bed.”

“baby, its half 1 in the morning.”

“please..😔 i really cant sleep and i need sum1 by my side 😞”

“y/n you’re going to be the death of me... but what wouldnt i do for my beautiful girlfriend”

“ill be there in 5”

“yippee! 😇 i love you ❤️”

“love you more baby ❤️”

Your face lit up as your boyfriend agreed to come over. You immediately put your phone back on your side table and plugged it back into charging, then quickly tossed the dirty socks that were lying on your bedroom floor underneath your bed to appear a little tidier. After a little while, you could hear a quiet knock echo through your small apartment; your face lighting up once again. Your feet quickly brought you to your hallway, where you rummaged your drawer for your keys. Eventually finding them, you jammed the correct key into the keyhole, twisiting it and gently opening the door. As your boyfriend appears from behind the door, you immediately pull him into a hug, shutting the door behind him. “Whats up with you today?” He teases as he feels your arms lock around him tightly, wrapping his arms around your waist in response. “Just missed you baby.” You responded, taking in his soft scent which you missed badly. “Y/n, we just saw eachother a few days ago..” His chuckle landed right in your ear, warm breath brushing right up against your ear. The sensation of course did not fail to make you blush a little. “Yeah, but ‘just a few days ago’ feels like an eternity to me.” You whisper into his shoulder, finding comfort in just burrying your face in his shoulder and hiding from the world. You feel his hands come away from your waist and up to your back, rubbing small circles. “You really arent a patient person, are you? Now, lets get you to bed.” He whispers as he takes your hand in his and begins to lead you over to your bedroom. You obviously dont resist, and grip his hand back as you walk behind him. None of you made a sound as you walked to your bedroom. Both of your social batteries were drained from the long day you’ve survived today, and all you wanted to do was to hold eachother in peace as you tried to fall back into a slumber.

You walk into your bedroom, and Yeonjun leads you straight to your bed. He lets you crawl in and under the covers as he takes off his jacket and throws it onto the chair you have by your desk. He came just wearing his pajamas, since he knew all you were going to do together was snuggle and sleep. He climbs onto your bed, arms wrapping tightly around your body as your face hides in his chest. His hand runs through your soft hair in a consoling manner, trying to get you to feel more tired and sleepy. His hands work like magic, your eyes beginning to feel heavier by the minute. But before you fall asleep, you give his hand a gentle squeeze and manage to whisper a set of three familiar words.

“I love you.”

[a-lost-crow]

Writing every "Meet the Team" script based on my memory. Enjoy

Meet the Heavy

*Intro plays*

*Heavy drops weapon/Sasha*

"I am heavy weapons guy. And this. This is my weapon... Twelve seconds. Many people think they can outsmart me. Many :(. But no one can outsmart bullet."

*Proceeds to kill mercs in the battlefield. *Outro plays*

Meet the Sniper

*Scene shows camper driving off to the distance* *Sniper hits bobble head*

"Boom, headshot."

*Intro plays*

"Sniping's a good job mate. Becuase at the end of the day, as long as there's two people on the planet, someone's gonna want someone dead. What? I'm not a crazed gunman, I'm an assassin! What the difference be is that one is a job and the other is mental sickness! I'm gonna be honest, my parents do not care."

*Sniper climbs up the ladder*

"I think his mates saw me."

*Gun shots*

"Yep! Feelings? You know who else who has feelings? Bludgeons who (hit) their wives with a gold trophy! Professionals have standards. Be polite! Be efficient! And kill every person you meet!" *gunshots*

*Outro plays*

"P-Put mom on the phone."

Meet the Engineer

*Intro plays*

"What's life?" *Gunshots ensues* "And best hope, not pointed at you."

*Camera widens to show sentry guns killing opponent*

*Outro plays*

Meet the Scout

*It starts with Scout running and not getting killed by a train* *Intro plays* *Scout walks to the front of it*

"I uh, I don't know how to say this. Do you know who I am?"

*Scout pokes BLU Heavy*

"What's up?"

"Do you have any idea who I am?"

*I just know Scout hits the BLU Heavy*

"I'm a force of nature" *more hitting* *Looks at his small ass biceps* "Aw yeah."

"Grass grows, birds fly, and brother, I hurt people!"

*More fighting*

"WOO"

*Outro plays*

*Video ends with Scout eating a sandwich on top of a BLU Heavy*

Meet the Demoman

*Intro plays*

"What is a good demoman?"

*I just know he throws bombs here*

"[Demoman proceeds to dox the Lochness Monster's address, hence why there's a censor]"

*Sticky bomb bit*

*I just know scottish music is playing here*

"They'll have to glue you back together, IN HELL!"

*Outro plays*

Meet The Soldier

*Pyro*

"Sun Tzu"

*Outro plays*

"Zoo farm"

(I love you Soldier I'm sorry)

Meet The Spy

"Intruder alert! The red spy's in the base!"

"The red spy's in the base?"

*Blu soldier picks up a shot gun and goes down the stairs*

"Need a little help here!"

"INCOMIIIIING" "AAAAAAAH" *Door crashes. Intelligence is still safe*

"Aw hey it's still here!"

"Gentlemen?/What's up sluts?"

*Intro plays*

"I see the brief case is safe?"

"Yeah it is!"

"Then tell me, did you happen to kill the red spy along the way?" *Unsure faces*

"Then we still have a problem." "And a body!"

"I killed plenty of spies. The dime a dozen d*ldo sucking c*ck suckers, like you- ow!" *BLU Scout drops knife and BLU Spy hands it back to him*

"If you happen to kill a red spy, there's nothing, nothing like him in this building."

"What are you? President of his fan club?"

"No. That would be your MOTHER." *Spy shows the Red Spy effing Blu Scout's mom* *Blu Scout is shocked*

"Or p**nography of you mom won't be the worst thing that has happened today. The spy has breached out defenses." *Some shit happens here*

"He could be one of us!" "He could be you! He could be me! He could even be-"

*GUNSHOTS*

"What? It's obvious he's the red spy!" "Any second now! See? Red! No that's blood."

"We still have problem."

"Right behind you."

*Screams and stabs that synchronize to the outro.*

*Spy picks up blu mom's photos*

"Ma petit chou fleur."

Meet the Medic

"Medic."

*Intro plays*

"That's how I lost my medical license. Archimedes! It's filthy there! Birds."

"Kill me."

"Later."

"Ribs grow back." "No they don't"

"Let's practice medicine."

*Medic exits infirmary like a god*

"HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS WILL WORK!"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

"I AM BULLET PROOF."

*Outro plays*

*Scene shows everyone waiting in the waiting hall*

*Scout comes out of the infirmary*

"You won't BELIEVE, how much this hurts!"

*Bird noises*

"ARCHIMEDES?!

Meet the Pyro

"I fear nothing. But that thing. It scares me."

"Is she here right now?"

[COPYRIGHT OF "DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC" PLAYS AS PYRO KILLS EVERY BLU WHILE THINKING THEY'RE IN PYRO LAND]

*Outro plays*

[kazarinn]

(Link leads to download links, script file, and translation notes)

Here’s some context for why we did this: the official English subtitles for this movie are dubtitles, or in other words, the English dub script with names and terms swapped out and pasted on as subtitles. There are a few lines changed here and there, but almost all of the lines are a dub transcript in practice. Dubs are a very different form of adaptation that have their own unique requirements, so doing something like this is really bad translation praxis, and to be honest, it’s disappointing to see yet another major piece of Digimon media be stuck with subpar translation standards, again.

Since I figured that it would be helpful to have a more precisely done translation out there, if at least for reference, I went ahead and retranslated the entire thing from scratch.

As far as casual viewing goes, I’ll fully admit that there are a lot of places where the official version is punchier and has better flow than mine, since they had license to adapt things more freely than a fan translator like me would. But once you go beyond that, the official subs have the following issues:

Since they’re actually dubtitles, there is a substantial mismatch between what’s written in the subtitles and what’s actually being said in Japanese to an extent far beyond what should be acceptable for subtitling. As I said earlier, I personally believe they’re still decent enough for casual viewing purposes, but there are enough differences in details and nuance that would matter for people who want to analyze the movie more thoroughly.

The official translation has a number of issues that affect consistency with Adventure series themes, timeline, and lore in places where there were no such issues in the original Japanese dialogue. (This is a problem that also affected LAST EVOLUTION Kizuna‘s official translation.) This is something that can be a huge deal for a lot of Digimon fans, so while it’s not something that would have led to this decision by itself, it was a huge factor.

Originally, I was only planning to release a script file to be used with Blu-ray footage, but it seems that all of the official English subbed/dubbed releases have animation errors that were corrected only in the Japanese Blu-ray, so I went ahead and put together my own encode based on the latter. I’ll take the encode down if they somehow decide to put out an updated release that fixes all of these problems, but…seriously? In 2024? And after the disaster that was LAST EVOLUTION Kizuna‘s official release, too? Come on.

[soundslivemagazine]

When We Silence The Music, We All Lose

Recently, I came across an instrument company called AeroBand that makes wireless MIDI ‘air drums’ with a sort of haptic feedback response, marketed as ‘silent’ drums, and the concept stuck with me for a while. The purpose of these ‘drums’ would be fairly obvious to anyone who has ever lived in shared or rented accommodation: keep the noise down, be a good neighbour! But it also signals a bigger problem with vanishing musical and communal ‘third’ spaces where loud music, loud kids and activity can exist, and the music in turn gets quieter and more invisible until you can’t hear what it is saying anymore.

We have gone from drum kits to electronic pads and deadened practice kits for the domestic drummer, to eventually having people in rented accommodation being so worried about noise complaints that they’ve had to create drum-less drums. No drummer prefers these, they are simply a way of protecting yourself from eviction. Living in matchbox houses with paper thin walls made of cheap and in-no-way soundproof material, packed so close you’re a stone’s throw from your neighbours, we’ve silenced the drumkit entirely.

Is it any surprise then that people are not forming bands in the numbers they used to 30 years ago? Is it a surprise that we moved from bands rehearsing in basements and garages in their houses, to samples, electronic kits, MIDI, solo ‘bedroom’ stuff; even as we lose more and more rehearsal spaces, and schools stop offering kids musical lessons because they must be inferior to subjects that lead to a job in IT or finance? We lose youth centres, community spaces, musical spaces, and everyone’s world gets a little quieter.

Gentrification. People move into the ‘fun’ parts of town and then file complaints against the very things that make an area ‘fun’ in the first place: music, noises, lights, life, later evening events and establishments. A residential permit accidentally granted to a builder in downtown Montreal’s vibrant entertainment and culture district and the subsequent noise complaints from residents who knowingly moved in next to an old, culturally significant music theatre, have recently led to the shutting of the 130-year old La Tulipe. Kingston, Ontario’s BLU Martini, a beautiful 400-capacity bar and music venue located right on the downtown waterfront, shut its doors this September after 41 years of playing an important role in the city’s homegrown music scene, ten in its final location. With no one else wanting to pick up the mantle, the space’s next inhabitants will be Chuck’s Roadhouse Bar and Grill, who aren’t particularly interested in ensuring the space continues to host emerging live musical talent. Cardiff grassroots venue The Moon, known for launching the careers of many of the UK’s best emerging musicians, closed its doors last month.

Tiny Horse (left) and The Wilderness (right) at Kingston's BLU Martini in 2024.

Elsewhere, city councils are so afraid of the word ‘rave’, they aren’t fully sure what it means but think it means ‘illicit drugs-taking event’ and want to ban any instance of it. The raves move out of the city, to obscure, remote locations, or abandon the city altogether. The city loses another piece of its existing culture.

Sometimes we stop the music right at the source: The Rehearsal Factory, a notable rehearsal space with spots all over Toronto, has dwindled down to 2 or 3 locations over the last 20 years, with their notable Richmond St. branch being sold off to a controversial Australian megachurch. Roswell Rehearsals lost its space in Kingston two years ago due to noise complaints, and its absence was sorely felt by the city’s many young, renting musicians who felt caught out by the lack of a dedicated musical space. Fearing hefty fines, potential police action and even eviction if they tried to practise indoors, the warm welcome it received on reopening its doors this October was evidence of how much it was needed in the local music community. As more and more artists live in rented or shared accommodations where practising out loud simply isn’t practical, the loss of rehearsal spaces within reasonable commuting distance is effectively the death of emerging music: it either is forced to spread itself thin hours outside of towns and cities, the congregation sites of culture and events, or it dies altogether, leaving the cultural fabric of the whole nation weaker and less colourful.

I wanted to take a walking tour of historically important music sites in London when I visited. As one of the music capitals of the world, London, and the UK by extension, have been responsible for a large amount of global popular culture: with an annual music export worth £2.5 billion in 2021, they are one of only 3 countries that exports more music than it imports, and the second-largest exporter overall.

The inner city of London alone has had many important venues, clubs, studios— the Blitz, where the New Romantic kids first congregated for their David Bowie nights in the 1980s, The 2i’s Coffee Bar, where many stars of the 1960s were discovered, including Cliff Richards, Tommy Steel, Francis Bacon and much of the skiffle movement, are just two examples.

New Romantic kids at the Blitz in Soho, London in the 1980s.

Neither exists anymore. Three-fourths of the planned London music tour involved looking for ghosts: empty spaces, corporate offices and residence buildings sitting on the burial grounds of moments of cultural significance. I didn’t end up doing the tour, I didn’t think I could bear to look at these places, to try and imagine what they once were and what their downfall means for the health of the modern music scene.

The London-based neo-jazz group Ezra Collective formed in 2012 as teenagers in a youth club: they were in the Tomorrow’s Warriors youth band, a music education initiative at the South Bank Centre in London. Eleven years later, they shone as the first-ever jazz winners of the prestigious Mercury Music Prize for their 2023 album, Where I’m Meant To Be, signalling a shift in how their musical movement blending traditional jazz with RnB, soul, electronic, alternative, Afrobeats and hip hop, has been steadily gaining legitimacy as a uniquely British sound, even within the traditional circles of jazz study where it was once treated as mongrel.

In his acceptance speech at the Mercuries, Ezra Collective percussionist Femi Koleoso took time to celebrate their youth club beginnings, praising the ‘good, special people putting time and effort into [helping] young people to play music’. Much has been made of the benefits music has for young people: everything from developing brains to keeping kids off the street, giving them a sense of community and purpose; something to look forward to and love. Ezra Collective are proof of just how far providing young people with musical spaces can go.

Sure, sites pop up and go down all the time, often shining brightly for a short period of time. That is part and parcel of being in the ideas- and coffee (alcohol?)-driven, volatile, passion-fuelled and chronically underfunded art scene that music is. But when over the years, we are left with less and less: fewer spaces, stricter laws, higher costs, less funding, decreasing importance given to the role musicians play in society, and ultimately fewer venues to play, fewer musicians, and certainly fewer of the vital working class voices that so often hold a mirror to our society, as music becomes the reserve of the rich, there is no doubting that its strength and conviction will dilute without conscious intervention.

It’s the same with the Bluetooth drums. I know the makers only want to do good, bless them for trying, and I don’t doubt a lot of people will find this a better practice solution than drawing MIDI notes on a quantized grid, because it still feels a little like playing live, albeit hitting the air with vibrating haptic feedback. It’ll be AR or VR drums next, inevitably. I’m aware of the passage of time and I don’t wish it ill.

What saddens me is that we lose so much of the spirit of art and culture to this dilution. The music getting quieter as to not offend the neighbours, even as musicians get slowly choked out of gentrified spaces. Writers being unable (or less freely able) to explore darker themes so as to not set the dogs of the ‘problematic writing’ police on them. Artists presenting as less dramatic so as to not appear ‘weird’ to an uninvested audience; TikTok’s adherence to a straitjacketed definition of correctly performed ‘authenticity’. Making fun of anyone who dares to dress weird, look different, say something new. You see it everywhere. Art gets diluted to become palatable with ever-diminishing returns, and in doing so it loses its ability to express itself and say something that needs to be said.

I don’t know. Some could look at it as the weird, twisted, fucked up plant growing through cracks in the pavement, doing what it can to reach the sunlight. Art surviving despite everything; changing, evolving, and somehow being more poignant and posing a stronger message as a result.

But even a 22h everlasting candle has an end. We’ve got to do more to protect our artistic spaces and outlets, and the ability to create without fear, or we risk losing them forever. It takes just one generation to train out habits; we see it with other obsolete things, let’s not let art be one of those.

Read on Sounds Live Magazine.

[dreamsofandroidsndrones]

@klein-klaus

Tessa squints at her registration papers for an engineer weapon load out, sitting in the workshop to better familiarize herself all the while chewing on some snacks. Her revolver had been an okay weapon to add as Tessa was not going to let her gun be left in a drawer somewhere. Although she will have to get to practicing with a shot gun for a secondary and swinging a heavy wrench around as a melee. There should be no problem.... Right? Groans. She better not have to worry about heavy recoil. That damn shoulder just barely finished healing before having joined BLU for work.

[donethatbeforelong]

Cowboy on the field!

Fandom:Team Fortress 2

Pairing: Engineer/Spy; Napoleon Complex; Partical Espionage

Summary: One stupid thing leads to another. No matter how smart the BLU Spy might be, curiosity will always be humanity's worst curse and blessing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mon cher, may I ask a question?" Pierre asked suddenly. His arms snaked around the engineer's waist, feeling the scars here and there left from the Respawn machine not being able to heal everything.

Jack hummed in response, his eyes were more focused on reading his technical manual before but now the spy has his full attention.

Unsurprising to anyone, it was near midnight and the spy was just lucky enough to sneak in undetected. With the flawless victory that the RED team had secured earlier today, it wouldn't be a surprise that they ended up celebrating a little. Some stuck around longer than Pierre anticipated, but they were eventually advised to go rest soon by the RED Spy.

Jack was kind enough to not trap Pierre outside his room again like last time. Although it wasn't intentional, the BLU Spy still felt frustrated with the engineer's forgetful nature. Jack took more than an hour to get Pierre to forgive him that day. Even during battle the next day, the poor engineer still apologize everytime he spot the spy.

"Why do you always have that cable hooked onto your belt?" Spy popped he question, a look of curiosity on his face. "You don't need it for any of your buildings, anyways."

Admittedly, even the Texan doesn't know why he carried that cable around for. It just felt right having it there. Jack sat there silently, unable to form a proper answer to give his lover, his hands slowly lowering his book down. His silence didn't go unnoticed though, as a small chuckle left Pierre as he bury his face into the crook of Jack' neck.

"Mon dieu, you don't even know yourself, do you?" Pierre chuckled light heartedly. He could practically feel the engineer dying of embarrassment at the moment.

"Quiet down, will ya? Mah teammate might hear ya." Jack tried his best to not appear like an idiot in front of the BLU Spy, but he unfortunately failed.

The laughing spy eventually calmed down, snuggling closer to the engineer and leaving small kisses on his neck. Jack snorted and put his book down on his night stand. He laid down and turned to face the spy, kissing him on the cheek and watching a small smile form on his lips.

"G'night, sweetpea." Jack said, a hand trailing along the scar on the spy's neck.

The stitches didn't healed entirely and sometimes needed re-stitching just to make sure his head doesn't fall off again. Jack had Pierre go through Respawn multiple times, but the scar remained stiffly on his neck, refusing to leave.

At some point, Jack broke down in frustration and dread, feeling guilty for everything that his Medic had done to the French. It took Pierre about a week or two to get the Texan to stop bringing up the problem.

"Try finding a use for the cable, will you?" Pierre requested, a hand coming up and holding Jack's.

A small, intrigued smile formed on the Texan's lips. With a subtle nod, Pierre kissed Jack's forehead goodnight before falling victim to incredible tiredness and stress.

•••••

Smoke and gunpowder filled the air, heavily weighing down lungs that aren't adapted to the harsh conditions. The sun beamed down mercilessly, burning skins that aren't thick enough to handle the heat.

Jack wiped a sweat off his brow, mustering up yet another call to tell his teammates that a building is going up. Unsurprisingly, it was a dispenser that had been built, and Scout just happened to be nearby to pick up some ammos before running off.

Badwater Basin, despite its name containing water, was a dry and nearly deserted land. It would be entirely deserted if it wasn't for the mercenaries running around in red and blue uniforms, trying desperately to land hit on their enemy who just happened to be each other.

Jack rested against his sentry, labored breaths escaped his lips as he watched his team trying their best to stop the cart. Of course, he could've just ran over and help them, but the RED Engineer has to be on constant lookout for any members needing any of his buildings which could take a lot out of him.

Just as Jack let out a sigh, his PDA started buzzing and beeping rapidly in his pocket. This shocked him a bit and Jack tried his best to get the PDA out without dropping it. At this point, it's not surprising that one of his sentry just got sapped by his lover, but it still has his full attention.

Picking up his forgotten toolbox on the ground, Jack ran as fast as he could over to where his sentry was supposedly sapped. It did took him a while to get there, but when he laid his eyes on his sapped sentry, the BLU Spy was leaning on it. A teasing smile on his face as he blowed smoke out from his nose. He seemed almost relaxed.

"Sorry, laborer, I didn't mean to throw a wrench into your plans." Pierre chuckled, a foot tapped impatiently and waited for the engineer's next move.

Of course, Jack isn't as furious but mocking is something else. If it's from friends then he'll try his best to take it half-heartedly, if it's from his lover then its's game on.

"I'm gonna lay you out!" The RED Engineer shouted, a wide smile on his face as he chased after the spy with a shot gun in hand.

Unfortunately, Pierre was smart enough to cloak and slip away without notice. Jack stopped dead in his tracks, his smile slowly falling off his face. It was almost obvious that the spy would cloak himself but not this quick into the chase.

Jack sighed, a different kind of smile appeared on his face as he made his way back to his sentry. However, as soon as he reached his little sentry nest, speakers blared with the round's finishing announcement.

Today was again RED's lucky day, the cart almost made it too the last point but there wasn't enough time for BLU to even do any damage. His team's Demo and Soldier were arms in arms, dancing around with wide smiles on their faces. Pyro stood clapping their hand neatly beside a Scout that was groaning heavily on a dispenser.

"Ah, Engineer, zhere you are." Medic said, his arms were crossed behind his back as he leaned down a little to match Jack's height. This gone unnoticed to Jack, even if the RED Spy was eyeing the Medic weird.

"Ve vere planning to go and raid the BLU's spawn, but ve couldn't find them." Medic explained while sounding awfully chipper. Jack listened on without question, just waiting for Medic to finish so he could go and find Pierre.

Scout eventually got off the dispenser and head over to to Pyro, whispering something into their ear before both ran off to somewhere. Sniper didn't bother stopping them, but he followed close behind just to ensure RED Spy that they won't get into trouble.

When Jack turned his attention to the others, Heavy was talking to Demo and Soldier and seemingly looking like he was scolding them. Before Heavy could finish whatever he was saying though, Soldier interrupts him and started pointing fingers at Demo. The Scottish didn't take this lightly as he punched Soldier in the face, breaking his nose.

Medic turned around due to the commotion and grimaced at the sight of Demo and Soldier fighting. No matter how well they get along, there will be at least two or three fights between them each month.

"Ach, not again." Medic sighed in disappointment, a hand came up and rubbed at his temple. "Anyvay, you can go and find any BLU members that you vant to kill before we're sent back, I'll need to deal vizh zhese dummkopfs first."

With a grunt, Medic stalked off towards the two who are fighting while shouting something in German. Jack slipped off without being notice, desperate to go and find Pierre.

It didn't take the Texan long though, as he rounded the corner and found the spy smoking near his own spawn. The spy didn't seem to notice the engineer sneaking up on him. Jack presumed that his mind was wandering again.

The request from last night caught up to him. Somehow, thinking about it makes him feel weird inside.

As swiftly as he could, Jack removed the cable from his belt and tied a precise knot, just tight enough to form a lasso.

"Giddy up!" The Texan shouted, swinging the lasso in the air as he charged towards the spy.

Pierre reacted a bit too late due to the fact that he was thinking of something else and got lasso by the excited engineer. The BLU Spy fell backwards, kicking up some sand and dust as he nearly hit his head on the hard ground.

Without another second to adjust his standing position, Jack pulled the lasso hard and Pierre was inevitably falling towards the Texan.

"Christ, Jack, don't you dare sneak up on me again!" Pierre shouted, an angry and slightly terrified look on his face told Jack everything he needed to know.

"Sorry, darlin'." Jack apologized and untied Pierre from the lasso. "Didn't mean ta spook so hard."

The French let out a frustrated huff, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared down at the Texan. A minute or two went pass that just includes the two standing together and being awfully silent. Jack started to worry that his little antics might have angered Pierre a tad too much, the thought of losing him again clouded his mind.

"Pfft-"

"Huh?" Jack looked up and evidently, a smiling and giggling spy was seen.

Pierre covered his mouth with one hand while the other slowly lowered itself on Jack's shoulder. His eyes scrunched up with an unbelievablly wide smile on his face.

"Oh, mon ami! Is that what you use your cable for?" Pierre laughed, occasionally coughing to get some air for himself.

Jack could basically feel a little smile tugging at the sight of how happy his lover is. Even if he didn't intent for the cable to become a lasso, the engineer still felt like he should make that official. He must ask the Administrator first, though.

"It wasn't mah first intention! Now stop laughin' at me." Jack explained, letting himself relax and enjoy the cheerful atmosphere that he accidentally created.

Pierre leaned heavily against Jack, his laughing fit hasn't subside yet and still he tried to pepper the engineer with small kisses. Jack understood his lover's intention but tried to stop him from doing so. If he keeps laughing like that, he might end up breathless and possibly tired.

"Private!" A very familiar voice shouted out to the two laughing couple, startling Jack violently.

He instinctively reached towards Pierre and hold onto his coat. The BLU Spy pulled out his revolver and pointed in the direction of the voice. It's not surprising to see that it was the BLU Soldier who called out to them, but the thought about being caught was still new and terrifying to the couple.

The BLU Soldier flinched a bit as the revolver was pointed at him, not from the enemy but his own teammate. His arms immediately stuck to his side, his helmet swayed a little with how hard he flinched.

"I am here to ask about the RED Demoman!" Soldier shouted, his voice rang through Jack's ears and a high pitched ring presented itself uncomfortably inside.

Pierre lowered the gun and glanced at his lover, who was still clinging on his coat. Jack looked up at Pierre, even behind the goggles he still tried to give him a skeptical look.

"Sure, he's over there, I guess." Jack said, pointing to a different direction that guaranteed that BLU Soldier would be far away enough from them.

With a stiff salute, BLU Soldier marched off into the direction that Jack pointed.

"Maybe we should pick out somewhere more private when on the field." Pierre suggested, leaving a small kiss on Jack's eyelid.

"Yeah, you're probably right." The engineer chuckled. "Be prepared to wrestle with a cowboy next round."

It was light hearted and maybe he wouldn't even do the same thing again, but Pierre had high hopes to see his lover in action again.

He fell for a fool, and now he's foolishly in love. How ironic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was really hard to write cause I barely have any inspiration :'D

Tagging @gingerale13 here because this is the fic I was talking about!

[freakinblurr]

Er sorry this is like serious to me but not to sum yall so u can skip this is more like a rant AND reminder.

I rlly be usin this as a spam/rant acc… anywho.. those who know me from my MAIN ACC i gotta remind sum of yall… my art is art of me like hell yea i luv seein ppl use my crap,, but pls don’t go out yer way sayin stuff like thats u or sumthin.. the drawins r me and my memory stuff 😭 not yours or sunthin.. IVE STATED IT IN MY PINNED POST AS WELL.. its like i gotta add a warnin on all my post if i want ppl to listen…

Sum yall need to understand… i am NOT like most of you guys… and think n function differently. I am SCOUT IRL. Im him in the flesh cus of my psychosis and attachment. Yea i dont care for doubles ever bc i know yall r your own ppl n stuff but the crap i go through just cus im me is stressful enough 🙏🏽 I don’t care if ur also blu scout just don’t go thinkin and comparin urself to me n my crap yk.

and the problem isn't that I'm bein sensitive or anythin it's that yer practically claimin to be me on my on stuff ya know? you can see why im uncomfortable.

might as well put the link my irl info site cus god i rather go through the horrors of hundred ppl calling me delusional and reality checkin me n then almost starting to split over this crap